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Missing feature? Can't save all open FF windows when exiting FF.

  • 7 replies
  • 14 have this problem
  • 19 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I think I saw this addressed in the forum under another question about sessions, but wasn't particularly excited with the add-on solutions.

Simply put: I have 2 FF windows open, each with multiple tabs. When I close the first window, it just warns me about closing multiple tabs. When I close the 2nd (last) window, it asks me if I want to Save all Tabs and exit.

Problem is, I want to Save all Tabs for BOTH FF windows. I see no way to do this, and am curious as to why this isn't an option in FF (at least that I can find). Any pointers anyone? Thanks. (I guess I could start Task Manager anytime I wanted to close all my open FF windows, close (crash) the FF process, and then get the chance to open all windows up when it starts up again!) :P

I think I saw this addressed in the forum under another question about sessions, but wasn't particularly excited with the add-on solutions. Simply put: I have 2 FF windows open, each with multiple tabs. When I close the first window, it just warns me about closing multiple tabs. When I close the 2nd (last) window, it asks me if I want to Save all Tabs and exit. Problem is, I want to Save all Tabs for BOTH FF windows. I see no way to do this, and am curious as to why this isn't an option in FF (at least that I can find). Any pointers anyone? Thanks. (I guess I could start Task Manager anytime I wanted to close all my open FF windows, close (crash) the FF process, and then get the chance to open all windows up when it starts up again!) :P

Chosen solution

You always need to use File > Exit if you want to make sure that all open windows are restored the next time.

If you use the close X on the title bar then you only close the current window, which you can undo via History > Recently Closed Window and try again via File > Exit

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All Replies (7)

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Sorry, that's the way Firefox works. If you want session management for multiple windows, you need ti install an addon.

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Hmmm...that's too bad. I wrote that Q because at that very moment I had 2 windows open and multiple tabs on both, but needed to restart from some Updates AND save both windows. So I did what I said I could do: open Task Manager, crash the FF process, and have them come back up when I opened FF again. Not the cleanest workaround, but hey it worked! :P I guess I'll have to see if....gag...IE has this feature to save multiple windows.

There are some add-ons I saw from a previous post, but even the highest rated ones had some bad comments about crashes, etc. etc. and it's just not worth my time and effort to try them all out. I'll just use the Task Manager method I guess for now, until the Mozilla team comes out with that capability.

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Chosen Solution

You always need to use File > Exit if you want to make sure that all open windows are restored the next time.

If you use the close X on the title bar then you only close the current window, which you can undo via History > Recently Closed Window and try again via File > Exit

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Well, thanks. Ha. I've never used File > Exit to close a browser window (which as you point out closes and saves ALL open browser windows). I've always closed a browser windows with the X.

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You're welcome

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another method suggested in these forums in the post "session manager stopped working with firefox 3" by Charles Anderson works for me and allows me to use my little X.

go to options -> General tab under startup/when firefox starts -> change to something other than "show my windows and tabs from last time".

I've had this on show my homepage previous and it got changed somewhere and I think it was from an update or addon which is why a few others are having the same issue.

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You can only use the close X reliably if you do not have any additional browser windows open. If you use the close X and find that there is still another forgotten browser window open then only that last widow closed will be restored. You do however have less chance when using "show my windows and tabs from last time" instead of relying on Save & Quit that your tabs aren't reopened if there are other windows open like the download manager or the library or a crash.

Modified by cor-el