Lost tabs in crash and do not have recovery files in profile folder, and only one profile folder.
Hi - Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I've restored tabs many times over the years and thought I knew just what to do, but I can't seem to find any recovery or backup files or folders. I've read all the articles I can find, and have followed directions, but still nothing. I was using TabGroups 2.1.4 as an extension to help me organize my tabs and the start group that I was in was still pretty big - maybe 40 tabs. Yes, I'm a tab junkie. Please don't judge me, lol. So this junkie could never re-do all that she has lost so I'm pretty much begging for someone to help me find my lost tabs. (Although I have actually lost them all a couple of times, and it took me weeks of therapy to get over it.) So to save therapy money, I truly hope someone here has an idea! Thanks so much for helping! :D
Chosen solution
I don't know whether the Tab Groups extension has its own files/folders, or modifies the standard Firefox session history files.
Have you already backed up everything you can find in Firefox's usual location? (Steps at the end.)
Did you try the extension's built-in backup/restore features? https://github.com/Quicksaver/Tab-Groups/issues/462
Back up Current Session History Files
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 "Open Folder" button.
In your profile folder, scroll down and double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. If not too much time has passed, we may be able to use them to recover your lost tabs.
Note: Do not delete or move the real sessionstore-backups folder.
What files did you find?
The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:
- recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed at the last shutdown and is still closed, 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
Could you take a look at what you have and the date/time of the various files to see whether you think any of them would have the missing tabs?
Note: By default, Windows hides the .js extension. To ensure that you are looking at the files I mentioned, you may want to turn off that feature. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions
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Chosen Solution
I don't know whether the Tab Groups extension has its own files/folders, or modifies the standard Firefox session history files.
Have you already backed up everything you can find in Firefox's usual location? (Steps at the end.)
Did you try the extension's built-in backup/restore features? https://github.com/Quicksaver/Tab-Groups/issues/462
Back up Current Session History Files
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 "Open Folder" button.
In your profile folder, scroll down and double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. If not too much time has passed, we may be able to use them to recover your lost tabs.
Note: Do not delete or move the real sessionstore-backups folder.
What files did you find?
The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:
- recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed at the last shutdown and is still closed, 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
Could you take a look at what you have and the date/time of the various files to see whether you think any of them would have the missing tabs?
Note: By default, Windows hides the .js extension. To ensure that you are looking at the files I mentioned, you may want to turn off that feature. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions
Hi - Thank you so much, jscher2000, for your fast and detailed reply!! I didn't have anything in the usual firefox spots, but thanks for the tip on using the restore feature in Tab Groups, because that worked great! I am so thrilled - every group and every tab was there and everything is back to normal. Whew! Thank you so much! No therapy needed! You rock!!
Although I may need therapy if Tab Groups closes down in November as it is scheduled to do. PLEASE, Mozilla, we need a way to keep track of tabs, so if this nice Quicksaver person can't keep it going because of some major Firefox change, then purchase it from him, make it work, and keep this extension, because it is a Red Cherry Lifesaver!!!
Maybe you are interested in Containers:
If you want to use the Tab Groups extension until the bitter end, you could consider switching to the Extended Support Release of Firefox 52. That is Firefox 52 plus various security updates. It is scheduled to receive updates through next May. You'll miss out on all the fun of Firefox 57 for several months.
https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/organizations/faq/
Note: if that sounds like something you'd like to try, make the switch soon because Firefox 55 likely will be more difficult to downgrade (some data loss).