Firefox isn't saving my session when I close the browser
I keep my browser set to remember my open tabs when I close Firefox. Since the most recent update, however, I have been unable to make this happen. I checked in my preferences and the option to remember tabs when Firefox is closed is still selected. When I go to close Firefox, however, I get the "you are about to close X tabs" message and all tabs are forgotten. When I open Firefox again the tabs I had open are all gone. I have tried re-selecting the "save my tabs" option multiple times but it has not made a difference in the browser's performance, though the settings are always correct when I check again. I am unsure of what to do about this issue, but it is rather maddening and I would really like to find a solution, preferably before the frustration induces me to find another browser to use.
Mafitar da aka zaɓa
Use "Firefox > Exit" (Windows: Firefox/File > Exit; Mac: Firefox > Quit Firefox; Linux: Firefox/File > Quit) to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the Firefox title bar.
In case you use "Clear history when Firefox closes".
- do not clear the Browsing History
- Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history": [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" > Settings
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history
Does Firefox update the recover files in the sessionstore-backups folder and create a sessionstore.js file when you close Firefox?
You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
All Replies (6)
What are your settings under menu/options/privacy history? Are you asking the browser to forget its history. If you are, than it won't save tabs.
Zaɓi Mafita
Use "Firefox > Exit" (Windows: Firefox/File > Exit; Mac: Firefox > Quit Firefox; Linux: Firefox/File > Quit) to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the Firefox title bar.
In case you use "Clear history when Firefox closes".
- do not clear the Browsing History
- Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history": [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" > Settings
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history
Does Firefox update the recover files in the sessionstore-backups folder and create a sessionstore.js file when you close Firefox?
You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
noalternative said
What are your settings under menu/options/privacy history? Are you asking the browser to forget its history. If you are, than it won't save tabs.
I have it set to remember history. The only thing I wonder about is that I DO have the "ask when I try to close multiple tabs" option selected, but that's always been selected and it's only been a problem for the past few days.
This problem has just started to happen here. It occurred once, a few weeks ago, on the laptop. I re-opened FF and used 'restore previous session' and everything's been fine until yesterday. It occurred again (FF had crashed earlier on). It now seems to be permanent, what's more, as of yesterday, the problem is also exhibited on the desktop PC (they are synced). Interestingly (perhaps) the laptop had had a secondary FF window open during that session, first one for a long time, but it was closed as soon as I spotted it ( some time ago I know that closing these secondary windows last caused the next startup to have only those tabs). Concerning the responses/questions above: 1. The 'Chosen solution' doesn't warn about closing X tabs, but it doesn't remember the tabs either. 2. I do (still) have the option to restore tabs on start up. 3. I don't have history set to clear on close 4. I assume the recover files are updated as I have always (so far) been able to 'restore the previous session'.
Does Firefox create a sessionstore.js file in the profile folder when you close Firefox via Quit Firefox (i.e. not via the close X on the title bar)?
cor-el said
Does Firefox create a sessionstore.js file in the profile folder when you close Firefox via Quit Firefox (i.e. not via the close X on the title bar)?
In the sessionstore-backups folder there are recovery.js, recovery.bak and previous.js files. If I exit using File/Exit then the dates on these files change appropriately.
However, the problem seems to have gone away. Having checked over two days on both machines, checking the options settings, closing and re-opening, as well as 'normal' session use, the settings were all as reported previously and the problem persisted. I have again checked the options and this time found the startup option set to 'show my home page' - this was NOT set by a user on these machines. I have changed it to show previous tabs and a shutdown/startup has worked correctly. The other machine also shutdown without warning about closing X tabs - presumably because the two machines are synced (I assume this comes under the 'sync preferences' option).
I cannot explain how the problem started (unless it was due to the FF crash), but it appears that the startup option was showing 'previous tabs' when it was actually executing 'home page'. After two days the option has reverted to showing what it was executing. When the problem first appeared I did try swapping the startup option to 'home page' and back to 'previous tabs' but it didn't have any effect. Since then I have checked the setting before shutting down (many times) and it has always been (until now) set to 'previous tabs'.