Suddenly I have no sync-clippings any longer

[Carl H]

So long story short, computer crashed, as it does more often when the weather is changing, but never had a recovery situation this messed up with Firefox and Clippings before.   No symptoms from any other apps.   Windows 10 & Firefox latest version, clippings 6.1.4.1.

Now, even though I've selected the correct folder for my sync-clippings, it comes up with nothing, as if there wasn't any clippings-sync.json already there.   I've removed and re-installed the add-on.   Verified I can open the clippings-sync.json in Notepad.  No problem from the other computer that accesses the same clippings-sync.json file that's on a network drive. 

Short of scrubbing Firefox and starting again, what else can be done?  Debug mode/log?   Full reset of the add-on (how)?

[ateng]

First off, confirm that the network drive on the computer that crashed is accessible, with the same drive letter as before. For example, if you previously mapped the network drive under H:, make sure it hasn't changed to something else (e.g. Z:).

Uninstalling Clippings (or any Firefox add-on) is essentially a "full reset," as that removes all its settings and data from Firefox.  There is a possibility that your Firefox profile may have gotten corrupt when your computer crashed, in which case you may want to start over with a new profile.  You would need to reinstall Clippings (and other add-ons), and turn on Sync Clippings from the add-on preferences page.

That said, there is one more thing you could try:

If you haven't already, make a duplicate copy of the clippings-sync.json file, just to be safe.

On the computer that recently crashed, launch Firefox, then navigate to about:debugging. Look for Clippings in the list of installed add-ons, and make note of its Internal UUID.

Then open your Firefox profile folder (in Firefox, Help -> Troubleshooting Information, then under Application Basics, click the button next to Profile Folder). Go to the "storage/default" folder and look for a folder named "moz-extension+++f<Clippings internal UUID>".  You will need this in the steps below.

Go back to Firefox, then uninstall Clippings, and then exit Firefox.  Uninstall the Sync Clippings Helper. To be sure that the uninstall is complete, check that the Sync Clippings settings file is gone (look for the file named "syncClippings.ini" under C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Sync Clippings).  Go back to the Windows Explorer window where the Clippings storage folder was selected -- that folder should now be gone. 

Restart your computer. At this point, you should now be starting over with a clean slate. Once your computer is booted up, reinstall Clippings and the Sync Clippings helper app, and turn on Sync Clippings from Clippings preferences.

Hope this helps,

Alex

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[Carl H]

OK I haven't done quite all of that yet but I removed the add-on and uninstalled/re-installed the helper and re-installed the add-on without any change.   Perhaps the attached screenshot will better define the problem.  I can't add new sync-clippings after turning it on - regardless of the location of the folder (I used a new local folder for the screenshot).   I can't drag the test clipping into Synced Clippings.    There's no + to the left of Synced Clippings.   And if I've clicked on Synced Clippings and then click New Clipping or New Folder, the new clipping/folder isn't created within the Synced Clippings folder.   Maybe that gives some idea as to the origin of the issue?   I'll try the bit with the profile cleanup in a few minutes.

  

[Carl H]

OK, I've now done the complete wipe, insuring the profile moz* folder was gone - it was not automatically deleted, so I deleted it.  Uninstalled the helper, deleted .ini, re-installed helper, re-added Clippings, turned on sync clippings, all with no change to the problem.  I notice this oddity in the profile folder following that activity (attached pic).

[Carl H]

I've now even created a new profile, and the problem carried over to that.

[ateng]

This is quite a head scratcher.  Seeing that the problem has persisted even with a new Firefox profile, my guess at this point is that the Firefox installation on that computer is corrupted. I would suggest uninstalling Firefox, reboot your computer to ensure all traces of it are gone, then download a fresh copy from the Mozilla website, reinstall it and start over with a brand new profile.  Aside from that, I'm out of ideas....

[Carl H]

My head is starting to hurt from all the scratching.  So a full cleanout and re-install of Firefox didn't change the behavior, at least not obviously, though my testing may not have been too thorough after that.  I discovered in the process that I still had Firefox 57, and 60.3.0 ESR, as well as 66.0.5 installed, but I have been using 66.0.5.   I had removed all of those and deleted all Mozilla folders in my profile before re-downloading the latest and trying again.

So since then I've done a Windows System Restore back to before all of this trouble, which got back all of those Firefox installs and strangely got back the profile I'm pretty sure I deleted, but it was missing Clippings, so I re-installed the add-on.  And it's STILL not wanting to use my clippings-sync.json, BUT with one important difference: I can now create new folders and files in the Synced Clippings hierarchy, which wasn't working before.  As soon as I do that, the 426,592 byte clippings-sync.json file that was there is overwritten with a 122 byte file.  (fortunately, I have a backup).

So I think this now puts the problem more firmly in the hands of Clippings 6.   Obviously the helper app has read/write capability to that folder but for some reason isn't reading what's there when I turn on sync clippings.   Any debug for that?

[Carl H]

Saving you the trouble - I went to the other computer and made a minor change to synced clippings so it would write out a new .json file onver that 122 byte file, then returned to the troubled computer and did a reload, and got them all back on that computer.   Finally!

[ateng]

It sounds like a profile that was previously used in one of your Firefox installations ended up being used in another, thus causing the corruption.  Hopefully this is now resolved?