how to close firefox without closing incognito tabs?
hopefully a basic question that can be answered
when I used to use edge, I would browse in incognito. sometimes I would accidentally open a link that would open in the normal browser, but I was able to simply exit without closing all my windows, including my incognito tabs
with firefox, when I'm browsing incognito, something similar would happen.
part of the problem is, that my main tabs are multiple windows, and when i choose to close them, it closes the incognito tabs as well
is there a way to prevent that?
All Replies (4)
In Firefox you would have to close each non-private window individually as I'm not aware of a way to easily close multiple windows like you want. If you want to keep tabs in a normal window since Firefox may open a website in an already open regular window. Note that there might be issues in case you have pinned tabs.
See also the new Firefox View page to only see non-private windows.
cor-el said
In Firefox you would have to close each non-private window individually as I'm not aware of a way to easily close multiple windows like you want. If you want to keep tabs in a normal window since Firefox may open a website in an already open regular window. Note that there might be issues in case you have pinned tabs. See also the new Firefox View page to only see non-private windows.
if I do that though, won't it not save the session, only the last closed window?
at the moment I'm using an extension to save my tabs just in case for moments like this, but I also had issues with the extension as well, so I rather avoid relying on it too much
Yes only the last closed regular window would be restored (you can't restore PB mode windows). Firefox can by default undo three closed windows (browser.sessionstore.max_windows_undo). I'm not sure I understand what you want to do with closing window(s). Is your normal session having a set of regular windows and during this session you open additional PB mode windows and during this session you open external links in Firefox ? Do the external links open in a new window or open in an existing window? In a scenario like this, what do you want to close and what to keep?
cor-el said
Yes only the last closed regular window would be restored (you can't restore PB mode windows). Firefox can by default undo three closed windows (browser.sessionstore.max_windows_undo). I'm not sure I understand what you want to do with closing window(s). Is your normal session having a set of regular windows and during this session you open additional PB mode windows and during this session you open external links in Firefox ? Do the external links open in a new window or open in an existing window? In a scenario like this, what do you want to close and what to keep?
say I have 2 incognito windows
for some reason, say like a third party program opens a link using firefox
I have firefox set to open to previous sessions/windows, so it opens, say 3 normal windows(non incognito)
If I pick close all windows, it'll ask me if I want to close all tabs on each 3 windows, which means I have to close each one manually, and next time I open firefox normally(non-incognito) it'll only open the last window I closed because that was the last "session"
if I choose to "exit firefox" it closes the incognito windows as well
so what I'm trying to ask is, in this case
I want to be able to close the 3 normal windows, without closing the 2 incognito windows but also have it so next time I open firefox normally, not in incognito, it'll open the 3 windows, instead of the last window I closed normally
if I exit firefox, it closes everything, including the incognito windows
If I pick Close all windows, it'll only open the last window closed, instead of all of the ones from before