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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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

Was this answer helpful?

8 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

74 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-10-21T04:23:51+00:00

    Thanks. I found the collections yesterday, but I couldn't figure out how to get it back on my toolbar. I went to settings: Customize toolbar: Select which buttons to show on the toolbar. Next, I selected the button to turn on the button for collections.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-21T11:03:09+00:00

    Wow, awesome. Your reply helped me out greatly, thank you. I like having a few certain buttons for quick access. I also at one time could not find my collections, but that was a different kind of question all together, but this reply helped me to the next step. Thank you. Much quicker this way :)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-10-21T11:08:28+00:00

    Nice. I just learned that you can customize your toolbar to show a button for "Collections" and / or other things you would like. Go to Settings / Customize Toolbar / select which buttons to show on toolbar. I chose Collections and Screenshots.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-10-22T12:14:48+00:00

    It seems there was an update that did some kind of reset. I was able to rediscover my collections by going to "settings" -> "appearance" -> "Select which buttons to show on the toolbar".

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments