Hi WestofYouLB, the menu command should appear in these places:

• "3-bar" menu button > Restore Previous Session
• (menu bar) History > Restore Previous Session

If they are missing or grayed, then either:

• the session was already restored, or
• Firefox did not find an earlier session

In case the session was restored, check for:

• "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)
• (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)

Any luck?

What were you using before for session storage? For example:

• "Session Manager" Legacy extension (stopped working in Firefox 57)
• "Tab Mix Plus" Legacy extension (stopped working in Firefox 57)
• Tab Session Manager extension
• MySessions extension
• Session Boss extension

In Firefox 56-60 you can set this pref to "1" on the about:config page to have a restore session button on the Tab bar.

• browser.tabs.restorebutton = 1

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

jscher2000 said

Hi WestofYouLB, the menu command should appear in these places:

• "3-bar" menu button > Restore Previous Session
• (menu bar) History > Restore Previous Session

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If they are missing or grayed, then either:

• the session was already restored, or
• Firefox did not find an earlier session

In case the session was restored, check for:

• "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)
• (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)

Any luck?

Thanks for coming in. I have not had any luck with any of this. But I deleted (and saved a copy) of my restore files. I do not have the Restore button under the three line menu at all. And I have exited/re-entered FF a few times, now.

cor-el said

In Firefox 56-60 you can set this pref to "1" on the about:config page to have a restore session button on the Tab bar.

• browser.tabs.restorebutton = 1

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

I modified about:config but no joy. I don't see a "Tab Bar" on my FF desktop, either, unless we're talking about the horizontal where all the tabs appear. No Restore button there.

Make sure you do not use Private Browsing mode.

In case you use "Clear history when Firefox closes".

• do not clear the Browsing History

• Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
  Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history":
  [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" -> Settings
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/delete-browsing-search-download-history-firefox

• clearing "Site Preferences" clears exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, and software installation and exception for password and other website specific data
• clearing "Cookies" will remove all selected cookies including cookies with an "Allow" exception you may want to keep

WestofYouLB said

I do not have the Restore button under the three line menu at all. And I have exited/re-entered FF a few times, now.

So is your Firefox set to restore your previous session automatically? You can check your startup setting on the Options page:

• Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
• Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
• Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
• Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

Right near the top, your choice in "When Firefox starts" should indicate whether Firefox is set to restore your session automatically. In that case, the menu item/button won't be displayed.

Here's another thing to check: are you saving history between sessions?

In the left column, click Privacy & Security. Then on the right side, check:

History section

• Firefox will: Remember history => ok

• Firefox will: Never remember history => problem (automatic private browsing flushes history between sessions)

• Firefox will: Use custom settings for history => next check
  
  
  • ✓ Remember my browsing and download history => must be checked
    
    
  • ❒ Clear history when Firefox closes => not checked, or if it is checked, when you view "Settings" using the button on the right, "Browsing & Download History" is not checked

jscher2000 said

WestofYouLB said

I do not have the Restore button under the three line menu at all. And I have exited/re-entered FF a few times, now.

So is your Firefox set to restore your previous session automatically? You can check your startup setting on the Options page:

• Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
• Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
• Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
• Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

Right near the top, your choice in "When Firefox starts" should indicate whether Firefox is set to restore your session automatically. In that case, the menu item/button won't be displayed.

Here's another thing to check: are you saving history between sessions?

In the left column, click Privacy & Security. Then on the right side, check:

History section

• Firefox will: Remember history => ok

• Firefox will: Never remember history => problem (automatic private browsing flushes history between sessions)

• Firefox will: Use custom settings for history => next check
  
  
  • ✓ Remember my browsing and download history => must be checked
    
    
  • ❒ Clear history when Firefox closes => not checked, or if it is checked, when you view "Settings" using the button on the right, "Browsing & Download History" is not checked

Thanks, very helpful. I had thought that FF had a default setting to save the two previous sessions. Tab Mix Plus did, and I used it when I could still use it. So I'm delusional about that.

I have my settings 100% as you suggest, so the only remaining issue is that when I exit and don't get my session restored (as happened when this thread started), the option to restore another previous session is useful.

cor-el said

In Firefox 56-60 you can set this pref to "1" on the about:config page to have a restore session button on the Tab bar.

• browser.tabs.restorebutton = 1

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

Thanks. I made the setting in about:config, but do not see the button. Is this because FF only saves one previous session, and if it hasn't done that, I'm sort of out of luck and have to rebuild my screen as I like?

Hi WestofYouLB, Firefox should always be able to restore the immediately previous session. A couple years ago I switched to automatic restore because I was tired of accidentally losing it; it's not for everyone, but could be useful if you use it often.

To capture more sessions, including "on demand" snapshots, you can try one of the new extensions I mentioned here: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1221573#answer-1122039