Join the Mozilla’s Test Days event from Dec 2–8 to test the new Firefox address bar on Firefox Beta 134 and get a chance to win Mozilla swag vouchers! 🎁

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

How to restore tabs from previous session

  • 2 replies
  • 8 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by loondance

more options

A recurring problem with FF (currently v. 31.0) is that open tabs from a previous session are lost. It's annoying enough -- if, perhaps, understandable -- after a crash but today all of my tabs were lost when I just closed FF and reopened it.

FF is set to restore the previous session when it is launched and this time I did not even get the "Well, this is embarrassing" window complaining about problems restoring the previous session. The tabs were simply all gone. I tried reverting the sessionstore.js file and, even though I get a message confirming the operation, nothing changes when I close and launch FF again.

Perhaps it is worth noting that when I choose a version of this file to restore by navigating to:

sessionstore.js --> Properties --> "Previous Versions" --> <version>

<version> disappears from the list of restore points but it is always there again when I navigate back to that option.

Any advice is appreciated.

A recurring problem with FF (currently v. 31.0) is that open tabs from a previous session are lost. It's annoying enough -- if, perhaps, understandable -- after a crash but today all of my tabs were lost when I just closed FF and reopened it. FF is set to restore the previous session when it is launched and this time I did not even get the "Well, this is embarrassing" window complaining about problems restoring the previous session. The tabs were simply all gone. I tried reverting the sessionstore.js file and, even though I get a message confirming the operation, nothing changes when I close and launch FF again. Perhaps it is worth noting that when I choose a version of this file to restore by navigating to: sessionstore.js --> Properties --> "Previous Versions" --> <version> <version> disappears from the list of restore points but it is always there again when I navigate back to that option. Any advice is appreciated.

Modified by loondance

All Replies (2)

more options

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in permanent Private Browsing mode (Never remember history).

  • Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"
  • Deselect: [ ] "Always use Private Browsing mode"

You can check for problems with the sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak files in the Firefox profile folder that store session data.

Deleting sessionstore.js will cause App Tabs and Tab Groups and open and closed (undo) tabs to get lost and you will have to recreate them (make a note or bookmark them if possible).

more options

"Always use private browsing mode" was already de-selected.

I already found the sessionstore.js file but attempting to restore an early version had no apparent effect. I am not sure how to check this file for errors -- it is not human readable.

Out of curiosity, I temporarily replaced sessionstore.js with sessionstore.bak and this too had no apparent effect. However, now there is an extra sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak.