You open Microsoft Edge, reach for a site you saved months ago, and the favorites bar is empty. Maybe a whole folder is gone, or every bookmark vanished after an update or a fresh sign-in.
Most of the time your favorites are not actually deleted. They are hidden, sitting in a different profile, or waiting on a sync that has not finished. A smaller number of cases are genuine deletions, and those have their own recovery paths.
Work through the fixes below in order. They start with the instant checks that solve the majority of cases and move toward file-level recovery only if the quick fixes come up empty.
Check You Are in the Right Profile and Account
Edge stores favorites separately for each profile. If Edge opened in a different profile, your favorites will look gone even though they are safe in another one.
Select the profile icon in the top-right corner of Edge. Confirm the email shown is the account your favorites belong to. If it is the wrong one, switch to the correct account, or choose Add new account and then Sign in to sync data.
This matters because favorites sync is tied to the Microsoft account signed into Edge, not your Windows or Mac login. Signing out, or signing in with a different email, can make synced favorites disappear until the right account is active again.
Show the Favorites Bar If It Is Just Hidden
If only the bar across the top is missing, your favorites may still exist; the bar's visibility might simply be set to Never. Press Ctrl+Shift+B to show or hide the favorites bar.
To set this permanently:
- 1.Select Settings and more (the "..." menu, top right) > Settings.
- 2.Select Appearance.
- 3.Under Other appearance settings, select Toolbar.
- 4.In the favorites bar dropdown, choose Always to always show it, Only on new tabs to show it only on new-tab pages, or Never to hide it.
You can also press Ctrl+Shift+O at any time to open the full Favorites pane and confirm what is actually saved.
Turn On Favorites Sync and Give It Time
On a new or reset device, favorites can take several minutes to download after you sign in. If Favorites sync is switched off, they will not appear at all.
- 1.Select Settings and more (...) > Settings > Profiles > Sync.
- 2.Make sure the Favorites toggle is turned on. Edge can sync favorites, passwords, history, extensions, settings, open tabs, autofill form entries, and payment info.
- 3.Wait a few minutes for sync to download your favorites onto this device.
Note that when you sync favorites, saved collections, reading lists, and previously set-aside tabs sync along with them.
Verify Sync on the Edge Mobile App
If your favorites live on your phone, or you want them to appear there, confirm the app is signed in and syncing. The steps are the same on the iOS and Android Edge apps.
- 1.Open the Microsoft Edge app and select the profile image.
- 2.Select Accounts, then select your account.
- 3.Choose Sign in to sync.
- 4.To check what is syncing, go to More options ("...") > Settings > your profile image > Sync settings, and make sure favorites are enabled.
Stop Sync From Re-Deleting Your Favorites
This is the fix for the frustrating pattern where favorites keep vanishing, or deleted ones keep coming back. It happens when a "deleted" favorites state on the cloud (often from another device, or another app signed into the same account, such as a Bing mobile app) gets pushed down and overwrites your local copy.
- 1.On every other device and profile signed into the same Microsoft account, confirm the favorites are present there, or temporarily turn off Favorites sync on those devices so a deleted state cannot be pushed down. Check other apps signed into the account too, and disable their favorites sync if present.
- 2.On this device, turn off favorites sync: Settings > Profiles > Sync, then toggle Favorites off.
- 3.Restore or recreate the favorites locally while sync is off (use a file-based method below if needed).
- 4.Reset sync data from Microsoft's servers via Settings > Profiles > Sync, which clears the inconsistent cloud state. A user-confirmed sequence also ran Settings > Reset settings first.
- 5.Re-enable sync by toggling Favorites back on. After a server reset, the deleted items stayed gone in the confirmed case.
Be careful here: deleting or resetting sync data while signed in removes that data from all synced devices. Confirm your favorites are safe somewhere before you reset.
Recover an Earlier Version of the Bookmarks File
If favorites were genuinely deleted, this is the method Microsoft now recommends on current Edge. It only works if System Restore or File History was already enabled before the loss.
- 1.Close Microsoft Edge completely first.
- 2.Open File Explorer, paste this into the address bar, and press Enter: %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default. If you are unsure of your profile folder, type edge://version in Edge and read the Profile path.
- 3.Locate the file named Bookmarks.
- 4.Right-click Bookmarks > Properties > Previous Versions tab.
- 5.If an earlier version is listed, select it and choose Restore. This replaces the current file with the previous one.
- 6.Restart Edge.
If sync is on and the cloud copy is in a deleted state, Edge can overwrite your restored file on launch, so turn off favorites sync first. Microsoft also warns that if this step fails, the data may be permanently gone from both your PC and the cloud.
Restore From the Automatic Bookmarks.bak Backup
Edge keeps an automatic backup named Bookmarks.bak. You can swap it in, but Edge regenerates this file on launch, so a stale or already-empty backup may not help.
- 1.Close Microsoft Edge completely. This is critical, because Edge overwrites the .bak on launch.
- 2.Open your Edge profile folder, for example C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default. Find the exact path via edge://version > Profile path.
- 3.Locate both the Bookmarks file and the Bookmarks.bak file.
- 4.Rename Bookmarks to Bookmarks.old.
- 5.Rename Bookmarks.bak to Bookmarks (remove the .bak extension).
- 6.Launch Edge.
Recovery can fail if Edge had not kept a good backup, and you may lose some favorites or fail to restore them. As with the previous method, turn off favorites sync first if a deleted cloud state could overwrite the restored file.
Re-Import From an Exported HTML Backup
If you previously exported your favorites to an .html file, you can bring them straight back.
- 1.Select Settings and more (...) > Settings.
- 2.In Profiles settings, select Import browser data.
- 3.Under Other import locations, select Import next to Import browser data now.
- 4.In the Import from list, select Favorites or bookmarks HTML file.
- 5.Select Choose file, locate your exported .html file, select it, and choose Open.
- 6.When complete, select Done.
Imported favorites appear in a folder that may be named Imported on the favorites bar, so check there rather than expecting them to merge into the root.
Import From Another Browser Still on the PC
If your favorites also exist in Chrome or Internet Explorer 11 on the same machine, you can pull them in as a recovery source.
- 1.Select Settings and more (...) > Settings.
- 2.In Profiles settings, select Import browser data.
- 3.Select Import next to the source, for example Import data from Google Chrome or Import data from IE11.
- 4.Under Choose what to import, tick Favorites or bookmarks, plus any other items you want.
- 5.Select Import, then Done.
Again, the imported items land in a folder that may be named Imported on the favorites bar.
About the Old "Restore Deleted Favorites" Button
You may find older instructions telling you to open the Favorites menu and click a trash-can "Restore deleted favorites" icon. That feature was removed in Microsoft Edge version 128.0.2739.42 and later, confirmed by Microsoft staff, so it no longer exists on current Edge.
If you are still on an Edge version older than 128.0.2739.42, the option is in the Favorites menu (open it via Ctrl+Shift+O), as the Restore deleted favorites icon in the top-right corner; right-click a favorite or folder and select Restore. On up-to-date Edge, skip this and use the file-based or sync methods above instead. Rolling back to a pre-128 version to regain the button is impractical, since older versions are generally no longer available to download.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Edge store my favorites on Windows?
In your profile folder, reachable by pasting %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default into File Explorer. The favorites live in a file named Bookmarks, with an automatic backup named Bookmarks.bak. If you are unsure which profile folder applies, type edge://version in Edge and read the Profile path.
Why do my deleted favorites keep coming back?
A deleted state on one device or app can be pushed to the cloud and then synced down to your other devices, undoing your changes. Turn off Favorites sync, make the change, reset the sync data from Microsoft's servers to clear the inconsistent cloud state, then turn sync back on.
My favorites vanished right after a Windows or Edge update. Are they gone?
Not necessarily. First confirm you are in the correct profile and signed into the right Microsoft account, then check that Favorites sync is on and allow several minutes for it to download. If they are still missing, try recovering an earlier Bookmarks file via Previous Versions or the Bookmarks.bak rename.
Why is the file recovery method not working for me?
The Previous Versions option only works if System Restore or File History was enabled before the loss. The Bookmarks.bak method only helps if Edge had kept a good backup, and you must close Edge completely first because Edge overwrites the .bak on launch. Microsoft notes that if local recovery fails, the data may be permanently removed from both your PC and the cloud.
How do I stop this from happening again?
Export a backup copy of your favorites to an .html file, which Microsoft explicitly recommends, and store it somewhere safe. Press Ctrl+Shift+O to open Favorites, then use the More options menu to export. After re-adding any lost sites, you can save the current page as a favorite with Ctrl+D.
I deleted just one favorite by accident. What is the fastest fix?
On current Edge there is no one-click undo, since the Restore deleted favorites button was removed in version 128.0.2739.42. If it was a well-known site, the quickest route is usually to re-save it with Ctrl+D. For bulk loss, fall back to the Previous Versions or Bookmarks.bak recovery, or re-import from an HTML backup.
