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How to restore closed tabs FF72
Hi, I have firefox version 72, I run the browser in normal mode, where I have about 90 cards open. Additionally I opened firefox in incognito mode today and worked there on facebook pages. I closed the browser in normal mode first, then the one in incognito. Now when I open the normal mode I don't have those 90 cards. I have "Restore previous session" enabled, I was logged in to my firefox account at shutdown. Is there any way to restore these many cards? I do not have the "Restore previous session" button in the drop-down menu.
Izabrano rješenje
Hi jkaczmarkiewicz, perhaps that order of closing down created this problem. (I don't plan to test that myself right now!)
Could you check whether either of these are available (not hidden or grayed out):
- "3-bar" menu button > Restore Previous Session
- (menu bar) History > Restore Previous Session
If they are missing or grayed, check either:
- "3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows
- "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows
- (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows
Within each window that can be restored, if you are missing tabs, check those same menus for the Recently Closed Tabs list.
If that doesn't help...
Firefox creates numerous session history files, but because session history is only for the immediately previous session, it is unfortunately too easy to lose it. Could you start by making a backup of your existing session history files? Here's how:
Do not exit Firefox, or if you closed it, don't re-open it.
(1) To open your profile folder...
If Firefox is still running:
You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > 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" (or "Show in Finder") button.
If Firefox is closed:
Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.
(2) Copy out session history files
In your profile folder, double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location such as your Documents folder.
(3) What files did you find?
The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:
- recovery.jsonlz4: 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.baklz4: a backup copy of recovery.jsonlz4
- previous.jsonlz4: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
- upgrade.jsonlz4-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?
To preview the contents of a file, you can drag and drop it onto this page, then click Scrounge URLs:
https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/scrounger.html
That tool is on my site, so please let me know if it doesn't work for you.
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Odabrano rješenje
Hi jkaczmarkiewicz, perhaps that order of closing down created this problem. (I don't plan to test that myself right now!)
Could you check whether either of these are available (not hidden or grayed out):
- "3-bar" menu button > Restore Previous Session
- (menu bar) History > Restore Previous Session
If they are missing or grayed, check either:
- "3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows
- "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows
- (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows
Within each window that can be restored, if you are missing tabs, check those same menus for the Recently Closed Tabs list.
If that doesn't help...
Firefox creates numerous session history files, but because session history is only for the immediately previous session, it is unfortunately too easy to lose it. Could you start by making a backup of your existing session history files? Here's how:
Do not exit Firefox, or if you closed it, don't re-open it.
(1) To open your profile folder...
If Firefox is still running:
You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > 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" (or "Show in Finder") button.
If Firefox is closed:
Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.
(2) Copy out session history files
In your profile folder, double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location such as your Documents folder.
(3) What files did you find?
The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:
- recovery.jsonlz4: 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.baklz4: a backup copy of recovery.jsonlz4
- previous.jsonlz4: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
- upgrade.jsonlz4-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?
To preview the contents of a file, you can drag and drop it onto this page, then click Scrounge URLs:
https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/scrounger.html
That tool is on my site, so please let me know if it doesn't work for you.
PB mode windows aren't part in Session Restore, so you need to be cautious if you have PB mode windows open.
Make it a habit to use one of these to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the Firefox Title bar.
- "3-bar" menu button -> Exit (Power button)
- Windows: File -> Exit
- Mac: Firefox -> Quit Firefox
- Linux: File -> Quit
Closing Firefox this way will close all open windows and prevent losing tabs in other windows.
You can use the "Show my windows and tabs from last time" startup setting to be safer.
Hi, Thank you, jscher2000, best solution in my case was using your page and decode links to active tabs. Thanks again. cor-el, I didn't know that, thank you, I keep this on my mind.