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Tree Style Tabs enabled in add ons not showing up on browser (Help me pls- Essential for my visual needs)

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Earlier this week after upgrading I had an issue in which pages weren’t rendering. It turned out to be a simple settings change in options which was easily resolved here by cor-el. I’m hoping this will be as easy.

Running Win 7 Pro SP1. Upgraded to FF 38.01 ESR from a much older version. I only felt comfortable doing so because the most essential extensions for my visual needs were available, one of which is Tree Style Tabs. This is huge issue for me.

Once things were rendering correctly I was doing some work and the tree style tabs were working great as usual. Missing some of the features and visuals of my no longer compatible old themes I started to customize the toolbar with the Undo Closed Tab button (which is now disabled), the Restartless Restart button and a few others. I also looked for a few new themes and disabled a few old extensions after a few restarts things were still fine with the Tree Style Tabs.

After last restart suddenly Tree tabs was gone! It remains listed and enabled in add ons but it is not showing up on browser.

I’ve tried disabling it, restarting, removing/ reinstalling different versions, rebooting I’ve disabled and/or removed all add ons, restarted everything etc.. Then disabled everything and only enabled Tree Style Tabs and still doesn’t work.

I returned to the default theme, tried other themes but nothing has brought it back.

PLEASE help me get them back! Visual issues make it difficult for me to see the tabs w/o this add on. And I have tried other tab options, believe me.

I am not tech savvy but I will try. I can't risk losing my info with a reset of FF. Is there another way?

Any help as soon as possible would be very gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Earlier this week after upgrading I had an issue in which pages weren’t rendering. It turned out to be a simple settings change in options which was easily resolved here by cor-el. I’m hoping this will be as easy. Running Win 7 Pro SP1. Upgraded to FF 38.01 ESR from a much older version. I only felt comfortable doing so because the most essential extensions for my visual needs were available, one of which is Tree Style Tabs. This is huge issue for me. Once things were rendering correctly I was doing some work and the tree style tabs were working great as usual. Missing some of the features and visuals of my no longer compatible old themes I started to customize the toolbar with the Undo Closed Tab button (which is now disabled), the Restartless Restart button and a few others. I also looked for a few new themes and disabled a few old extensions after a few restarts things were still fine with the Tree Style Tabs. After last restart suddenly Tree tabs was gone! It remains listed and enabled in add ons but it is not showing up on browser. I’ve tried disabling it, restarting, removing/ reinstalling different versions, rebooting I’ve disabled and/or removed all add ons, restarted everything etc.. Then disabled everything and only enabled Tree Style Tabs and still doesn’t work. I returned to the default theme, tried other themes but nothing has brought it back. PLEASE help me get them back! Visual issues make it difficult for me to see the tabs w/o this add on. And I have tried other tab options, believe me. I am not tech savvy but I will try. I can't risk losing my info with a reset of FF. Is there another way? Any help as soon as possible would be very gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance,

All Replies (5)

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I have not tried this add-on myself, but after a glance at its page on the Add-ons site, it seems to use the sidebar. Do any other sidebars work, such as Bookmarks (Ctrl+b) or History (Ctrl+h)?

tracytemp said

I’ve tried disabling it, restarting, removing/ reinstalling different versions, rebooting I’ve disabled and/or removed all add ons, restarted everything etc.. Then disabled everything and only enabled Tree Style Tabs and still doesn’t work. I returned to the default theme, tried other themes but nothing has brought it back.

It sounds as though you did not try a Refresh, so perhaps the issue is a corrupted settings file. The file that stores window layout information and some toolbar customization information sometimes becomes corrupted and it is very difficult to edit by hand so the usual medicine is to rename the file and customize from scratch. Here's how:

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. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename xulstore.json to something like xulstore.old. If you see a file named localstore.rdf, rename that one to localstore.old.

Start Firefox back up again. Does the Tree Style Tab sidebar display again?

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Appreciate your speedy reply. I am always reluctant to do something that I may not have the skill to undo. I checked this page re refresh: [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-se...] and it says: These items and settings will be Removed: Extensions and themes, website permissions, modified preferences, added search engines, download history, DOM storage, security settings, download actions, plugin settings, toolbar customizations, user styles and social features will be removed. However :Passwords, Open windows and tabs, Cookies, Bookmarks, Browsing history, Web form auto-fill form and your Personal dictionary will not be touched. (1) Will the info in my removed extensions be lost? Based on info below I am confused. If I create an old FF data file on desktop and am refreshing FF, it will create a new file somewhere else. Let’s say this refresh works. How do I get the info that was stored with removed extensions or is it gone? (2) Below it says if the refresh doesn’t work I can restore some info. What info is that? And what is lost?

It Notes: Your old Firefox profile will be placed on your desktop in a folder named "Old Firefox Data". If the reset didn't fix your problem YOU CAN RESTORE SOME OF THE INFORMATION not saved by copying files to the new profile that was created. It is possible to recover data from the old profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems. How does that apply to my questions above?

These may sound like dumb questions but I really have no experience and if I mess this up (which I have innocently done by following direction in the past when I tried something or another) I will really be SOL. I need basic info with a bunch of alternate info since there always seems to be exceptions to the instructions LOL. 

Any other suggestions? Thanks again for taking your time to reply.

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If your extensions have been heavily customized or if they store a lot of data, that will NOT be carried over after the Refresh. The ease or difficulty of transferring those detailed settings to the post-Refresh profile vary depending on what the extension stores. I think it will take a lot longer than trying the xulstore.json/localstore.rdf rename.

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I understand the first of what you are saying: that it will be complicated but without knowing how or what is involved I cannot endeavor the risk. I'm sorry to say, I have difficulty even following your references, for example, xulstore.json" /localstore.rdf rename . I can assume it would be one of the files that will be stored somewhere.. Sorry my brain just doesn't work this way no matter how hard I try. Instructions can make no assumptions. I think I will wait to see if another option or set of instructions appears here. Thanks, really appreciate your time though.

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In my previous post, if you skip down to the part following "Here's how:" I listed the steps for renaming the file(s): https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1071473#answer-751708