Cannot delete certain bookmarks

hello!
I've got some problem with deleting certain bookmarks!
While I can rename them and change the url, it isn't possible to move them into another folder or to delete them!
The first time I tried to delete them, the bookmarks lost their icon (now there's just the default opera bookmark icon), but they weren't deleted. Can anybody guess what's the problem with them?!

Thanks!

Moderator note: moved from My Opera: Feedback, questions and discussions

Which bookmarks? You're too vague for me to make a guess yet ...

Well that's hard to explain... what different bookmarks are there?
I just put some bookmarks into a folder in my bookmarks/"favourites".
Maybe the bookmark file has some kind of error as there are some bookmarks I just can't move or delete.
That's all I can explain so far. Please ask me a more detailed question

Can you edit other bookmarks? I'm wondering if maybe you've locked the file somehow ...

Indeed I cannot delete ANY bookmark! However editing a bookmark will work and also adding bookmarks is possible. One weird thing, sometimes I can move a bookmark into a different folder, sometimes it works after a few tries, and some bookmarks won't move at all. Really crazy.
So if the file was locked nothing could be edited at all couldn't it?

well the bookmarks.adr file in appData/roaming isn't locked or anything. Same thing for bookmark folders - can edit their names, but cannot move or delete them.

Originally posted by jbjhjm:

Indeed I cannot delete ANY bookmark! However editing a bookmark will work and also adding bookmarks is possible. One weird thing, sometimes I can move a bookmark into a different folder, sometimes it works after a few tries, and some bookmarks won't move at all. Really crazy.
So if the file was locked nothing could be edited at all couldn't it?

Is this on Windows? Is this a default install or installed as Standalone/USB? If Standalone/USB are your running it as Admin? Sometimes put the Standalone version in a location like on Desktop or right in C:/ on a system that wouldn't let me write to the files unless I ran the Opera as admin. So if I did run it I couldn't save anything. Usually you get a popup or Opera won't run at all. Maybe something like this is sometimes keeping you from writing the address books file? Strange issue though.

Windows 7 x64. no standalone; I'm using the normal installation version. And it's neither located on C:\ nor than on some drives' root folder!
Up to some days ago, everything worked fine. And then suddenly... no I don't get any error messages or anything. It just doesn't seem to be able to execute the actions.

There's one thing I just remembered which might have been the initial error. One day, I started Opera and the bookmark library was just empty! When I tried to bookmark an already known page opera was able to tell me that it already was in the bookmarks. After a restart, everything seemed to be fine. I am not sure, but it's possible the current problems have occurred since then.

Have you tried backing up your Opera bookmarks.adr file to another folder and then (with Opera off) deleting the original? Upon restart, Opera will recreate a new empty version of the file which can be tested by creating, editing, and deleting a new batch of bookmarks to determine whether the original bookmarks file was somehow corrupted or if the problem persists even with a new bookmarks file. (You can always copy back the original file from the saved one if needed.)

Also, are you running Opera as a single-user installation or under multiple user accounts?

Thanks that seems to be a good idea! will try it soon!
To be honest I currently really don't know what I exactly choose for installation. But my laptop only has one account opera saves the user-specific files into the account's appData. I think that's called single-user installation then isn't it?

Ok I think I found the problem!
First it was really weird. I copied & then deleted the bookmark.adr in appData/roaming/opera, started Opera... and still the bookmarks were there!!
That gave me an idea. I took a look at the bookmark.adr's file info and it said it's last change was weeks ago!! FInally when I remembered that I did a backup copy of the bookmarks file (that was when opera one time didn't show any saved bookmarks) I checked the backup file which was located on another drive. And - wohooo - it's last change was yesterday. So somehow Opera used the backup copy which was located on another drive. And Opera didn't seem to have full file permissions.
Now I replaced the original bookmarks.adr with the backup file, reopened it, and for now everything works fine!
Thanks guys!

EDIT:
Seems I was a bit too hasty -.- it's better now, but still not 'good'. Sometimes a bookmark is only deleted after some tries, and in the same way some bookmarks don't wanna move into a different folder. When I first move a different bookmark, I can move that rebellious bookmark. Weird, weird, weird.

Nope now I'm sure. This didn't cchange anything. It's possible the restart of opera (normally my main applications like Opera are running for weeks as I don't shut my notebook down, I just use hibernating) made it work better for some minutes but now everything is like before.

Another edit:
I love opera for making it possible to have dozens of tabs opened. My open tabs are normally between 40 and 100... I just closed my main tab window and now the bookmark errors seem to be gone again. Possible it's some general problem with opera's main application...

Reprising some comments you've made:

"I took a look at the bookmark.adr's file info and it said it's last change was weeks ago!! FInally when I remembered that I did a backup copy of the bookmarks file (that was when opera one time didn't show any saved bookmarks) I checked the backup file which was located on another drive. And - wohooo - it's last change was yesterday. So somehow Opera used the backup copy which was located on another drive. And Opera didn't seem to have full file permissions."
...
"it's better now, but still not 'good'. Sometimes a bookmark is only deleted after some tries, and in the same way some bookmarks don't wanna move into a different folder. When I first move a different bookmark, I can move that rebellious bookmark."
...
"...but now everything is like before."
...
"I just closed my main tab window and now the bookmark errors seem to be gone again."

A significant question remains: why would Opera ever have written bookmarks to your backup copy on the other drive, and (since no specific remedial actions were taken regarding that) is it again/still doing it?

In Opera, if you open the About Opera entry under Help, does the Bookmarks path shown point to the bookmarks file at */appdata/roaming/opera or somewhere else? Does the current "modified" date on the backup file show it's been messed with, especially since you recopied it to Opera's profile folder? Also, if you examine the backup bookmarks file properties, does it have any blocks placed on it, such as read-only, that might have been carried back into the roaming folder when you copied it?

PS: two added questions that need to be asked: are you doing any/all your bookmarks.adr file copying with Opera shut off?; and are you using any type of file-syncing with this system?

Sorry for all this chaotic posts!
Opera uses the bookmark file in it's appData directory now. It's not blocked or anything
Of course I shut off Opera before copying the bookmarks file. And I don't use any file-syncing software.

One important thing I found is that the problem only exists when several windows and/or lots of tabs are open. When I closed everything but a few tabs, I was able to edit/move/delete bookmarks without any problems. Then, when I opened all the tabs again, the problem was there again. So it seems to be a deeper coding problem having it's origin somewhere in Opera's code and it's performance/tab handling.

It indeed seems a peculiar problem. And you may be correct that at least part of it lies within Opera. However, given that few if any other users seem to have reported this same problem in these forums, the first place to suspect would seem to be your particular Opera installation (possibly a corruption problem), rather than a design coding bug.

Have you tried a "profile reset" since the problem began? This involves backing up your */roaming/opera folder and then deleting the contents of the folder (with Opera off). Restarting Opera should cause the folder to be repopulated with new default versions of everything, which should kill off any corrupted profile files. Then use Opera long enough, saving/editing/deleting some bookmarks etc., to satisfy yourself that everything works correctly. Finally, with Opera again off, you can copy in the backed-up folders and files a few at a time and then run Opera a while between copy operations to see if the problem returns with them. Keep notes of what you're copying, so that if the problem does recur, you can zero in quickly on which exact folder or file is causing it. Then leave that culprit uncopied.

If a profile reset fails to resolve the problem, you may want to try re-installing Opera. I recommend starting with a "clean" install if you do try this approach, since merely "uninstalling" Opera via the Control Panel intentionally leaves numerous "personal" Opera files behind that could import a corruption problem into the new installation from the beginning. The easiest approach to a clean install is to simply install a second instance of Opera onto the system, but in a different-named folder than the current one (which was the original install-prompted default one: \Opera). This will prevent you from losing anything related to the original installation until you've had a chance to see if the new install resolves things. For this, I typically use a new folder name at install like \Opera11 or \OperaB. This should place a second, completely independent installation of Opera onto your system. Once installed, test it and see if the bookmark misbehavior recurs with the new installation. If not, with both Opera versions turned off, copy over the original-installation \Opera profile files a few at a time (as suggested under the "profile reset" above) into the new installation's profile folder and test the new Opera installation to see if the problem recurs. If it never does recur, then the corruption lies elsewhere within the original Opera installation files and you should probably uninstall the original Opera version. Of course, by this point, all your profile material should have been copied successfully and tested into the new installation anyhow.

You're missing the obvious. It is not hard in Opera to move the bookmarks file to a different location - Help > About Opera will tell you which file Opera is actually using. If it's the wrong one, then go to Manage Bookmarks and click on the File button in the toolbar, then select Open. Browse to the correct file (or just paste the address in) and open that file.

first @sgunhouse:
Thanks, but I already know that, and checked it. Everything seems to be right so far.

@blackbird71:
Big thanks for such a long and detailed answer!
Yep it's possible it's just a certain build. Currently I'm using the newest stable build available.
Yesterday I reinstalled Opera (without resetting profile) but that didn't change anything.
I'll try what happens if I use a new/empty profile soon.