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I lost all my tabs I had since my last 'saved&close' ?

  • 15 replies
  • 179 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by ffxsf

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It has been some times that Firefox didn't keep the tabs I had when my last use. So, all the tabs were gone when I restart Firefox, despite that I already chose the 'save and close' option. This problem occurs now and then, about twice a month. Two issues raised; 1. Is it possible and How to retrieve those lost tabs, when I find the tabs are missing the next time when I start my Firefox? and 2. Can I myself fix this problem, or it is just can be fixed by Firefox ?

It has been some times that Firefox didn't keep the tabs I had when my last use. So, all the tabs were gone when I restart Firefox, despite that I already chose the 'save and close' option. This problem occurs now and then, about twice a month. Two issues raised; 1. Is it possible and How to retrieve those lost tabs, when I find the tabs are missing the next time when I start my Firefox? and 2. Can I myself fix this problem, or it is just can be fixed by Firefox ?

All Replies (15)

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Hello.

Yes, it is probably possible to retrieve the last session, if you instructed Firefox to save it (or if it crashed when you were browsing). Access about:sessionrestore in your location bar. Should be the session be saved, it will allow you to restore it. Of course, you mustn't have closed Firefox since then, otherwise you will be restoring another "last session".

Hopefully that will help?

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...and if I HAVE close FF since?

IE has won hands-down over since our last crashed FF upgrade which failed to....

Looks like Chrome's the flavor of this eon now

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Hey, chasps... I KNOW there's an army of volunteers backing up this fabulous browser.... I hate sounding so ^*&% ungrateful.... but it is intolerable to this old newbie (I've only been so bloody tryin' for a mere ten years....) that FF gives me so many migraines... I haven't the skill or patience to figure out all the very-well-meaning tech-talk debuggery. I embarrass myself every time I'm forced back to IE when FF has completely frozen .... IE, that old dog of a browser, then becomes a racehorse

Modified by hommedespoir

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It's not possible to retrieve a session more than one session old (if that makes sense). That means that if you have closed Firefox since, your session is lost.

Suggestions though:

  • user your browsing history to find the pages you've been to;
  • configure Firefox to always restore the last session in Options > General: Startup and put it to show your windows from last session.

Also, if Firefox gives that many headaches, there is something wrong with either your profile or your computer. Try creating a new profile [ http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_manager ] and see if it helps. Of course you'll loose your configurations, but you can always go back to your old profile if you want or if the new one doesn't work.

If a new profile keeps giving you problems, it's probably something with your computer. If you're not very able with that stuff, ask someone to make a virus/malware check and remove unwanted software.

Oh, and if you just want to give up, you don't need to go back to IE. There are plenty of pretty cool browsers out there, but chances are, if they work and Firefox doesn't, then it's your user profile acting up.

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Good GOD Firefox, I have clicked "remember my browsing history", "show my window and tabs from last time", and every other do this and that, and STILL I lose tabs. I'm not stupid how to set up my Firefox. I have had both Firefox AND Opera installed on my PC for 2 years now and have this problem regularly on Firefox NEVER on Opera. Could it be a problem with Firefox and not everyone using it. Come on now.

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"Everyone"? Only you are having this problem, that I know of.

Please specify what you mean by "I lose tabs".

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Fire Fox looses my open TABS on re-start as well & its a PITA. So much so, that i may go back to Opera.

I am also having an issue in that FF minimises to the taskbar on start and i can either not get is visible at all or only in full screen. Another PITA.

Maybe FF has too many bells & whistles and needs to concentrate on getting the core program sorted.

Other than these 2 issues, i like FF

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I have (or had) a lot of tabs open and FF started misbehaving - the current tab was not being shown in the tab list; the tab list would not scroll and there was no way to see all the tabs. It was obvious FF had gotten itself into a bad state so I closed the window (half expecting it to crash). When I restart I get a new window with one tab for my homepage - my last session was not saved. I go to history to re-open previously closed windows and see what appears to be my lost session, but when I open it I get a window with nothing but a couple of dozen "New tabs" - all my actual data has been lost. Session restore has nothing to offer.

Seems like a definite bug in tab management to me.

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Things are more broken than I thought. Just tried to recreate my tabs and the "tabs" are not showing. I do "open in new tab" and I get the new page but it doesn't have a "tab". The only "tab" is for my homepage, but clicking on it does now change pages. However the "list all tabs" drop down is showing all the pages. I close and re-open and get a window with two "New tab" tabs. :(

Time to create a new profile I think.

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I've had a similar problem several times before, and the cause of it generally seems to be that there was a second Firefox window open and that window got its tabs restored. Just now I had this happen where FF wasn't working, not closing tabs. I checked to make sure I only had 1 window open, and then closed FF. Upon relaunching it gave me the tabs from a previous window I'd had open but had closed.

Even in this case, you can go to History -> Recently Closed Windows, and you can hopefully find the window that had the tabs you're interested in, and reopen it. If so all the tabs should still be there.

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I just lost something like 30 tabs in tab groups and they were IMPORTANT.

I WANT THEM BACK

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Are they still available in History -> Recently Closed Tabs?

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Go to Tools in Firefox Menu, choose Add-ons. Go to Tab Manager Preferences and in Session change "Session backed-up on Firefox exit ... sessions" to how many sessions you want to be backed-up. Tick "Display the session menu in Group Bar Menu". Go back to your Firefox window and right-click on the Group Bar (not on a group tab, but next to it) and choose Session. You can now choose which session you want restored. Hope this was of use!

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