Blank bookmark favicons in Firefox

Hi Kish (aka CoolGeek)

I have a strange problem that has been plaguing me for years now. I find it strange that there are many Blank bookmark favicons in Firefox, that have no icons (favicons) beside them, in my bookmark toolbar. I thought it was a problem that would go away by itself and after so many years I find that it has been there like a permanent scar on my Firefox browser window. 

I cannot see the small icons for many bookmarks - some of them are even the highly popular ones like gmail.com. I am not sure if there is even a solution for this as I have a feeling that it is more user-related than browser-related bug.

So is there a way to get the lost or blank bookmark icons in Firefox, in my Firefox bookmark toolbar?

Thanks - Hemant Sareen.

Most bookmark icons (favicons) are blank in Firefox - CoolGeek answers:

Hi  Hemant. Your problem is not something that has no solution. In fact I too had this problem some time back and when I researched the case of the missing favicons I found that they got corrupted after Firefox 3 and later versions of Firefox due to some changes in the way they are stored and exported..

Many years ago after synchronizing my FF bookmarks on other laptops I lost all my favicons. The only way I could restore those favicons was to open each bookmark to reload the favicon. It was a good solution then but now that I have more than 1000 bookmarks... that wouldn't work for me. 

Fortunately I found something that works perfectly for me :)

Bookmark toolbar shows missing favicons.

Then there are also some plugins that are culprits like Ad muncher that prevent sites from changing favicons resulting in missing or blank favicons.

Another reason I found out was due to user negligence. 

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in permanent Private Browsing mode. Sometime you may tell Firefox to "never remember history" when you enter Private Browsing mode and select: Tools > Options > Privacy > History>Never Remember History" from the drop-down menu. See screenshot above.

Now that we discussed some possible reasons with regard to the missing icons let's see what we can do about it.

I have used this addon for Firefox that solves my and your problem immediately. 

Its aptly called  - 'FavIcon Reloader'. A small tool to reload/rebuild the Favorite icons.

How to install and use this addon:

Click on the Green Button that says 'Add to Firefox'

Visit this page in Firefox - Favicon Reloader and click on the green button that says Add to Firefox. See screenshot above.

Restart Firefox after you have given the OK to install this addon in the popup window.

After installation you will find the addon in the bookmark menu and in the context menu.

It finds those bookmarks that are without FavIcons and tries to fetch them from their web site.

Press the Play shaped button at the bottom of the addon window and wait for a few minutes (depending on how many bookmarks you have in your bookmarks folder).

It will start the process of downloading all the favicons for all your bookmarks and after its complete you can close the window.

I have tried that Addon and I must say that I am mighty pleased with it. This addon is exactly what I needed. I hope I have solved the case of the missing favicons!

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