My collections have disappeared, how do I recover them? Where is the "Get Started" button for Collections?

Anonymous
2023-02-12T17:25:24+00:00

I turned my computer on today, accessed Edge, went to Collections, and discovered that none of my saved items under Collections headings are available, they have disappeared. Previous Help articles say to click on the "Get Started" button -- I do not see the button. Where is the "Get Started" button on the Collections sidebar. Please help, I have important items in Collections which I need to access today. Thank you.

Microsoft Edge | Favorites, history, and downloads | Windows 11

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Anonymous
2023-04-04T19:47:10+00:00

Here's what I did:

-I browsed to: edge://sync-internals/

-Located "collections" at the bottom and saw my number of collections at 128.

-I clicked the three dots and created a new profile in edge browser and it generated as "profile2" (yours may different, like profile3)

-Went to C:\users\*****\AppData\Local\microsoft\edge\userdata\default\ in File Explorer

-Closed the browser

-Copied the "Collections" folder within that default folder

-Pasted the "Collections" folder into "profile2" of "userdata" (C:\users\*****\AppData\Local\microsoft\edge\userdata)

-Opened the Edge browser

-I clicked the three dots again and opened my original profile and clicked the settings wheel and selected "sign out" on the next page that came up.

-I checked "clear favorites, history, passwords..... from this device". Finished the prompt and signed out.

-This is the most important step: I went back to the home page of the browser in my newly created profile "profile2", clicked the three dots again and signed in with my original profile's credentials (email and password) while in "profile2".
-The browser did a full sync (took a minute) and kept the pasted collections from "profile2" which then all magically became my new original profile.

My collections are now synced across all of my devices, I've confirmed.

I've also saved the original "Collections" folder in safe place in case this happens ever again.

Daniel Stewart

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-06-13T13:45:37+00:00

    Yeah, Chrome is my default browser. But the Windows Spotlight pics that I get on my desktop (in lock screen when I log on to my PC) are the reason I go to Edge. If it would open automatically in Chrome, it would be cool. I tried the copy and paste the web address from Edge to Chrome, but as you can figure, what a nuisance that became.

    I just want to know where they all went, so I can save them a different way, one that won't fail? Like maybe even download them to my PC.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-06-10T08:32:31+00:00

    Hi, I have the same problem: on one computer it says " content blocked", on this computer the collections are empty but i get the list below, but none of the 80 collections are visible.
    If I had known this could happen, never ever had I switched to Edge or to this "collection" system which is a total unreliable thing, I need them back

    Model Type Total Entries Live Entries Message State
    Bookmarks 794 794 Running
    Preferences 77 77 Running
    Passwords 221 221 Running
    Autofill Profiles 95 95 Running
    Autofill 4190 4190 Running
    Autofill Custom Data 4 4 Running
    Typed URLs 189 189 Running
    Extensions 12 12 Running
    Sessions 21 21 Running
    Extension settings 1 1 Running
    History Delete Directives 0 0 Running
    Device Info 11 11 Running
    User Consents 0 0 Running
    Send Tab To Self 0 0 Running
    Web Apps 0 0 Running
    Collection 80 80 Running
    Edge E Drop 0 0 Running
    Tabs 0 0 Running

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-05-16T17:21:32+00:00

    I see that I have 153 collections, but I can't RENAME them because I can't find them, despite putting in the information several times.

    WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED?

    Thanks in advance.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-04-06T01:17:15+00:00

    You can follow the steps to check if you can find your missing content:

    Create a new Profil for Edge, then copy the files under the following path to another Profil, and check whether the collections can be viewed normally in the new Profil.

    %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Collections

    Note: The second step should be done with Edge closing, because if Edge is on, it will synchronize the collections.

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