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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74 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-10-17T22:56:11+00:00

    Collection is running but the icon at the top of the Edge window is missing. How do I recover?

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-18T14:14:52+00:00

    My system says that Collections is Running; however the entries says zero

    This is horrible. I have so many saved pages.

    How does this happen?

    I used to always use Favorites but was told that Collections was better. Think not since I have no list of the items that was stored there.

    Anyone have a plain english assist on how to possibly retrieve my data?

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-10-18T18:20:57+00:00

    Easy, uncomplicated fix. 1. Settings 2. More Tools 3. right click Collections 4. Show in Toolbar. Try this before you try the Microsoft nerdy directions.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-10-20T20:03:10+00:00

    Was coming here to say the same thing, kudos!

    Found my "Collections" by going to settings (3 dots right side tollbar) click then, go down to "more" click then, my Collections were at the top. I clicked on it, and they all came up. I right clicked on that same top area that said "Collections" and added to extensions. So far, so good. Thank God!

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