[Tip] How to Restore Live Bookmarks and RSS Feed Reader in Mozilla Firefox
Live bookmarks (also known as dynamic bookmarks) and built-in RSS/Atom feed reader features were two popular and very useful features in Mozilla Firefox web browser. Unfortunately both the features i.e. live bookmarks and RSS feed preview have been removed from Firefox 64 and later versions.
You might be wondering why did Mozilla remove these features? Well, according to Mozilla, they reviewed the usage data and considered various options such as technical maintenance requirements and heavy investment in updating the code for these features and they realized that these features have an outsized maintenance and security impact relative to their usage. These features are not offering functionality that Firefox users want. They found that 99.9% Firefox users don’t use these features. That’s why they took decision to remove the RSS feed reader and Live Bookmarks features which will allow them to focus on other important features.
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Removal of these features made Firefox users unhappy and frustrated. Many Firefox users are saying that they were using Firefox only because of these two features specially Live Bookmarks feature. According to many Firefox users, Mozilla disappointed them by discontinuing these two useful and essential features.
If you are also among those Firefox users who are unhappy with this decision and want to restore Live Bookmarks and RSS feed reader features in Firefox, this article will make you happy.
Today in this tutorial, we are going to tell you how to bring back or add the missing Live Bookmarks and RSS feed reader features in Firefox newer versions.
Table of Contents
What Happened to Your Existing Live Bookmarks?
Don’t worry! If you already have many Live Bookmarks in Firefox and you upgrade to newer version which doesn’t come with Live Bookmarks feature, Firefox will automatically export all your live bookmarks to an OPML file with the name “Firefox feeds backup.opml” on your Desktop. Now you can import this OPML file into a 3rd party RSS feed reader program (which we’ll discuss later in this article) and you’ll get all your bookmarks back.
Also Firefox will automatically convert your live bookmarks into regular static bookmarks which will point to the RSS feed’s origin page.
How to Restore Live Bookmarks and RSS Feed Reader Features in Firefox?
You’ll now need to install add-ons to bring back live bookmarks and RSS feed reader features in Firefox.
Mozilla has already created a collection of Firefox add-ons which can bring back live bookmarks and RSS feed reader functionality to Firefox. Following link provides a list of these suggested add-ons:
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Mozilla Firefox Refined Reading Add-ons Collection
We’ll suggest you to check the Livemarks add-on which brings RSS feed bookmark folders, that are auto-updated regularly, similarly to Firefox’s old Live Bookmarks.
Livemarks features list:
- Auto updating RSS bookmark folders
- Detect RSS/Atom feed availability on webpages
- Import and export feeds as OPML file
- Feed preview
Download and Install Livemarks Add-on in Mozilla Firefox
You can import your old Live Bookmarks OPML file created by Firefox into Livemarks add-on and you’ll get all your previous Live Bookmarks back in Firefox.
Install 3rd Party RSS Feed Reader Programs as Alternate:
You can also install a 3rd party RSS feed reader software program as an alternate. We’ll suggest FeedDemon and QuiteRSS which are free RSS feed readers.
Download Popular RSS Reader FeedDemon 4.5 Pro Version for Free
QuiteRSS: Best Free and Portable RSS Feed Reader Client
You can now import your previous Live Bookmarks OPML file created by Firefox into FeedDemon or QuiteRSS. It’ll check for new articles on all added websites at regular intervals and will update the list as soon as it finds new articles. It also notifies you about new items by showing alerts and notifications.
The best thing about FeedDemon and QuiteRSS is that you can create a portable edition of these software which doesn’t need any installation. You can also carry it on your USB drives. Following tutorial will help you in creating portable version of FeedDemon:
Create Portable Version of FeedDemon RSS Reader for USB Drives
If you decide to install and use FeedDemon, don’t forget to check out our exclusive Minimal theme for FeedDemon which provides a simple, clean and minimal look to FeedDemon:
Download Clean and Minimal Newspaper Skin for FeedDemon RSS Reader
Bonus Tip for Windows Live Mail desktop client users! If you are using Windows Live Mail program, you can use it as an RSS feed reader program as well. Following tutorial will help you in using Windows Live Mail program as an RSS feed reader:
How to Import Feeds into Windows Live Mail from Other RSS Feed Readers
Livemarks add-on could not be added because it appears to be corrupt. Go figure!!! Firefox apparently does not want this added because it would allow the live bookmarks to be put back in place. They also must not care that they are going to lose a ton of people who use their browser, like me. I have been a faithful user since I can remember but without the use of live bookmarks I have no use for Firefox!! I pay to have some of the live bookmarks so why keep a browser that won’t allow me to utilize them?! Jerks! I hate companies who make claims about things they know are untrue!!!
^^ Currently they are having problems in installing addons:
https://www.askvg.com/firefox-fix-all-existing-add-ons-got-disabled-cant-install-new-extensions/
This has to be the most frustrating thing ever! There is no ‘backup’ file on my desktop to access as in these terrible instructions, bookmarks completely gone, can’t restore from any date of backups, & there’s no instructions or help if this isn’t accessible. I’m never going to recommend using Firefox ever!
Potential workaround: Paste the URL for the RSS feed in the address bar and go to the site. The ‘Add Live Bookmark’ button should appear, and choosing it seems to bypass the removal and adds a Live Bookmark to your feed as previous.