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Firefox does not ask to save tabs on exit and display them on restart.

  • 33 replies
  • 1272 have this problem
  • 59 views
  • Last reply by ferlopalv

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Closing a FF4 session with multiple tabs, I am not asked to save tabs and so they don't redisplay upon restart.

In Tools-Options-Privacy I have unchecked Remember my browsing history Clear history when Firefox closes

The other options there are checked.

In Tools-Options-Tabs I have checked Warn me when closing multiple tabs.

Are my settings incorrect? Basically I want any open tabs to be reopened across sessions, but I don't want any other history to be retained.

Closing a FF4 session with multiple tabs, I am not asked to save tabs and so they don't redisplay upon restart. In Tools-Options-Privacy I have unchecked Remember my browsing history Clear history when Firefox closes The other options there are checked. In Tools-Options-Tabs I have checked Warn me when closing multiple tabs. Are my settings incorrect? Basically I want any open tabs to be reopened across sessions, but I don't want any other history to be retained.

Chosen solution

One change in Firefox 4 is to by default stop Firefox displaying the warning message, but it can be turned back on by changing some preferences.

  1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
  2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
  3. Locate the preference browser.tabs.warnOnClose, if its value is set to false, double-click on it to change its value to true
  4. Repeat this for these 2 preferences browser.warnOnQuit, browser.warnOnRestart
  5. Starting with beta 12 there will be an additional preference that needs to be set to true - browser.showQuitWarning
Read this answer in context 👍 646

All Replies (20)

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Chosen Solution

One change in Firefox 4 is to by default stop Firefox displaying the warning message, but it can be turned back on by changing some preferences.

  1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
  2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
  3. Locate the preference browser.tabs.warnOnClose, if its value is set to false, double-click on it to change its value to true
  4. Repeat this for these 2 preferences browser.warnOnQuit, browser.warnOnRestart
  5. Starting with beta 12 there will be an additional preference that needs to be set to true - browser.showQuitWarning
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Thank you for your reply, which will get me the warning messages. Presumably I'd have to reenter these commands with each beta release until final.

But will it save my tabs so they'll appear when I reopen Firefox again? That's mainly what I'm looking for here. Currently with each new session, I'm not seeing the tabs I left open in the immediately prior session.

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TonyE, PROBLEM SOLVED.

I made your changes (the first was already set to true, I changed the 2nd and 3rd from false to true), and it solved the problem. I am receiving the "Save Tabs" message now upon closing FF4, AND seeing my saved tabs in my next FF4 session.

Many thanks!

msilvers50

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This was a very nice feature in firefox. It should automatically be set to true. On first action of its type the user can click 'do not ask again' and choose his action / stick to the pop-up each time.

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TonyE that was the solution! Finally I have my tabs back in beta release!!!

In linux this is not happening, just in Windows 7. I hope will not happen y final release for Windows.

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thanks

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Hello, I tried, all values are true, yet closing the page is done without warning. Can it be that some add-in apps cause it?

Thanks Arik

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it works after i follow the instructions, but i think it should be set as true by default when you install the program, just like FF3

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Tank you it works. You are the greatest.

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Sorry but your solutions doesn't help me. I set everything as you said, also I set "remember session and tabs" in the settings, still nothing helps. (I also tried creating a new profile, still no luck)

Intersting thing is: The App-Tabs are remembered, only the normal tabs not. I guess it's a bug and a really annoying one. For now Panorama is completly useless to me because the tabs won't be remembered.

Any more ideas?

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Hi, Sorry but mmcat17 answer was not helpful, I followed TonyE's instructions and the tabs are close all at once without warning as it should. Probably all are set as true by default as mmcat17 mentioned, because I did not do any changes. Any other suggestions?

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Hi, Thanks for your suggestions. I have followed all your recommendations. However, the problem persists: when I close Firefox 4 no warning message appears, and the tabs I used during the last session do not appear when I reopen the browser. Is there perhaps something else I am missing?

Thank you for your support!

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Thanks, TonyE. Worked like a charm. Howver, I agree that this should be the default settings for FF4 with an option to turn it off if I don't want it.

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This didn't work for me...any suggestions?

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The new version doesn't show save option.If you want to save your session then do this: Go to File - and then click on Exit. Its so simple. So next time when you want to open your previous session go to History and click on restore previous session. And its done.;)

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Just go to File > Options > Options > General Tab > When firefox Starts > Select "Show my windows and tabs from last time"

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This is so asinine! I went to close Firefox, saw a warning about closing multiple tabs, and as a creature of habit, thinking the warning was offering to remember my tabs, as it always had, I clicked "okay, close," expecting all my tabs to be restored when I restarted. But no! They weren't!

Asking to remember tabs is no longer the default option? Not even once with the option of "never ask me this question again"?! Well, sometimes I do want Firefox to remember my tabs, and sometimes I don't; I usually do want Firefox to reopen the tabs I last had open, but often times I actually want Firefox to start up fresh without reloading the few dozen tabs from my last session -- without me having to manually close each one before I quit. (Yeah, I know about private browsing which never remembers your last tabs, but that is not the issue here.)

I next found my way here, found the above stated solution and implemented it. I not only double, but triple-checked to make sure I set all the mentioned settings to true... Sure, it now remembers the tabs I last had opened, but now it never warns me before quitting while I have multiple tabs open. This is especially infuriating because I work with two monitors, and so sometimes I don't realize that Firefox has focus when I press Alt-F4 to close some other program. This means I have to restart Firefox and wait for it to reload before I can do anything, hope that form data wasn't lost, and, oh, I was in the middle of debugging a webpage that's designed to NOT cache, so the unique state I was examining won't be there when the page reloads.

This has been one damned unproductive day, all because I decided to upgrade to firefox 4.

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Thanks. Did the suggested changes- problem solved. :)

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Best solution

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The only item I needed to change to enable the original FF3 behavior was to set browser.showQuitWarning to true (from false). FF4 now asks if you want to save your tabs just like FF3.

All of the other aforesaid settings were still at the default setting: browser.tabs.warnOnClose = true browser.warnOnQuit = true browser.warnOnRestart = false

FF4 build 20110318052756

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