Firefox deletes over half session history on a tab
Hi,
I have my session history length set at 50 and as long as my session is open this seems to work fine. However, most of the times, after I close Firefox (by clicking the red X) and then open it again the next day or so, although the tabs are still there now only the 10 last items show in the session history for that tab. All the other 40 are gone. Is this normal? I find it very annoying. I would greatly appreciate if you guys show me how to fix it.
Thank you.
Chosen solution
Yes, by default, session restore doesn't save the whole tab history. You may want to modify these settings:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste sess and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.sessionstore.max_serialize_back preference and enter the desired value:
- default is 10
- use any higher number you like
- according to the source code file, using -1 saves all of them but I haven't tested this myself (you may want to back up your session files before experimenting, details below)
(4) Double-click the browser.sessionstore.max_serialize_forward preference and enter the desired value
- default is -1 which is supposed to save any/all forward history
I don't think these changes are retroactive, but should affect new tab history you accumulate after the change.
Before closing Firefox and seeing what these new settings do, please back up your session history files to a safe location for potential recovery/salvage operations.
You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button.
In the window that launches, scroll down and double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore backup files are:
- recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed, your last session)
- recovery.bak: a backup copy of recovery.js
- previous.js: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
- upgrade.js-build_id: the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update
All Replies (3)
Chosen Solution
Yes, by default, session restore doesn't save the whole tab history. You may want to modify these settings:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste sess and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.sessionstore.max_serialize_back preference and enter the desired value:
- default is 10
- use any higher number you like
- according to the source code file, using -1 saves all of them but I haven't tested this myself (you may want to back up your session files before experimenting, details below)
(4) Double-click the browser.sessionstore.max_serialize_forward preference and enter the desired value
- default is -1 which is supposed to save any/all forward history
I don't think these changes are retroactive, but should affect new tab history you accumulate after the change.
Before closing Firefox and seeing what these new settings do, please back up your session history files to a safe location for potential recovery/salvage operations.
You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button.
In the window that launches, scroll down and double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore backup files are:
- recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed, your last session)
- recovery.bak: a backup copy of recovery.js
- previous.js: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
- upgrade.js-build_id: the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update
Thank you very much. That was really helpful.