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no session restore option appears in new fancy version as specified in help article

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  • 2 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by willard124

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I have used firefox for and until yesterday closing it with the upper right X simply closed it and upon reopening mys previous session was always restored (as selected in my options). Suddenly, since yesterday's update this did not happen and i have lost my tabs (despite having again selected the session restore option immediately).

Furthermore, reading the support article the option session restore does NOT appear in my menu as indicated and I can find no information on what to do about fixing that.

I am also trying to log in and requested my username but no email arrived and so I have had to register anew to access support.

LOUSY

I have used firefox for and until yesterday closing it with the upper right X simply closed it and upon reopening mys previous session was always restored (as selected in my options). Suddenly, since yesterday's update this did not happen and i have lost my tabs (despite having again selected the session restore option immediately). Furthermore, reading the support article the option session restore does NOT appear in my menu as indicated and I can find no information on what to do about fixing that. I am also trying to log in and requested my username but no email arrived and so I have had to register anew to access support. LOUSY

All Replies (20)

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Hi tessos, Firefox 67 should be the same as recent versions.

These are the usual locations:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Restore Previous Session
  • (menu bar) History > Restore Previous Session

If they are missing or grayed, Firefox either (A) already restored your previous session or (B) didn't find a usable session history file.

For (A):

Could you check whether you have items in one of these three spots:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)
  • "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)
  • (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows (and within each restored window, Recently Closed Tabs)

For (B):

Can you double-check your History settings to make sure your Firefox is storing history and not clearing it when you close the browser?

You can check that here:

  • Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
  • Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
  • Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
  • Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

In the left column, click Privacy & Security

On the right side, scroll down to the History section. What do you have here?

  • Firefox will: Remember history ==> All should be well
  • Firefox will: Never remember history ==> Automatic private browsing, impossible to restore previous session
  • Firefox will: Use custom settings for history
    • Make sure there is NOT a check mark for "Always use private browsing mode"
    • Make sure there IS a check mark for "Remember browsing and download history"
    • Make sure there is NOT a check mark for "Clear history when Firefox closes" or if there is a check mark here, click the Settings button to the right and make sure that history is not selected to be cleared

Does that all check out so far?

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By the way, users who close out with the X button sometimes discover there was a pop-under window behind it, and that makes session restore show the wrong window at the next startup. To avoid that, when you want to exit/quit Firefox, it is safer to use the menu item. Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit
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I have changed nothing in my preferences but after the last update was done, after I had rebooted, Nothing about restoring, is the same in my new 3 bar menu. I checked in 'Options' my History is saved. and the Restore previous session is check marked, When I use the Library it it shows previous history, but there is no choice (as there used to be) of Restore previous session. I have to recreate each tab one by one when I had 5 or 6 tabs open

Modified by willard124

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Hi willard124, in Options, do you have Firefox set to Restore Previous Session on the General panel (the first first thing, not under Privacy & Security):

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In that case, it's normal not to find Restore Previous Session on the menu because it should have already been restored. To find a missing window, please check one of these:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows
  • "Library" toolbar button > History > Recently Closed Windows
  • (menu bar) History > Recently Closed Windows

By default, Firefox remembers up to 3 closed windows. Can you get any of them back?

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Yes the option begins with a checked box of Restore Session

"3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows = I'm shown a single URL, not the 5 or 6 tabs that all disappeared.

Modified by willard124

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Formerly When I restarted Firefox a pop-out window would say something to the effect that Firefox had closed and ask whether I wanted to restore the last session. Now it is a Blank page in a single New Tab waiting for me to do something.

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willard124 said

"3-bar" menu button > Library > History > Recently Closed Windows = I'm shown a single URL, not the 5 or 6 tabs that all disappeared.

I think Firefox identifies the window by the active/foreground tab at the time it was closed, but that isn't an indication of the number of inactive/background tabs (there could be zero or hundreds). When you restore that window, how many tabs come back? From there, you can check the "Recently Closed Tabs" list for missing tabs.

willard124 said

Formerly When I restarted Firefox a pop-out window would say something to the effect that Firefox had closed and ask whether I wanted to restore the last session. Now it is a Blank page in a single New Tab waiting for me to do something.

How do you usually restart Firefox?

I can't recall ever seeing a pop-out message. Could that have been added on by an extension?

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Nowhere is there any option to Restore my last session.

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Pop-out maybe the wrong term. It was a boxed message that appear in the middle of the screen and the Tab above was titled restore session

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Often when I'd cleared the browser cache and Firefox still bogged down to a Crawl, I'd open Microsoft's 'Task Manager' and Highlight the lead Firefox , and ask for the task manager to restart the process, in order to dumped the memory overload that climbed to a point that it consumed 25% of CPU and 5 or 6 Mb of working set and private bytes.

Modified by willard124

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It was the same opening, when we had a power outage, I'd reboot and Click on Mozilla and up would open a session with that same boxed message stating that Firefox had closed abnormally and would I like to restore my previous session. I'd click yes and "Wallah" All my tabs would reappear and expand into the session that I had prior to the shut down.

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Hi willard124, intentionally crashing Firefox by killing its processes would trigger a crash recovery at the next startup. By default, Firefox will attempt one automatic restore. If it works, "Restore Previous Session" will not appear on the menu as the session was already restored. If the automatic restore fails, you then get the "Sorry. We’re having trouble getting your pages back." screen with the option to restore some or all of your tabs, or to start a new session. Or if the files were damaged in the process, you might not get anything.

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Whether intentional or brought down by a Electrical interruption of power, The Opening has always returned the option of Restoring the old session. This NEW situation was not triggered from an intentional Shut-down. I received a notice that updates were available and if I didn't chose a time it would be done remotely at a time when it was early hours of the morning. Closing All open applications and restarting was a normal shut-down and a reboot and I waited for the new up-dates to be completed. It was then when I reopened Firefox that my entire choices of ability to reopen the browser was changed to a blank page without an inquiry as to whether I would like my old session restored. I then clicked on the 3 bars, where I normally could manually choose the option and found it wasn't there. Then I opened the Library and opened history thinking there I'd find a chance to choose and all I found was a choice of listing recently closed tabs and found only one tab listed. After manually opening 5-6 tabs, I then closed the Browser with the exit option, to see if I could reopen those same tabs, but found the same problem of having no option. Maybe I should retry downloading the latest version of Firefox, to see if the last up-date was corrupted?

Modified by willard124

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Hi willard124, does Firefox restore your session automatically if you use Exit? What I mean is:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

As long as Restore Previous Session is selected on the Options page, but should happen is that all the windows and tabs open at the time you choose Exit should be restored automatically.

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I did go back into Firefox Website and downloaded another Firefox again and installed it. I was surprised it did not over write my previous Firefox APP but instead installed a new second Firefox browser on my computer. Which meant establishing a new profile (not a problem) and it found my old Firefox APP and I was able to sync the two together. At which point My option to restore reappeared in both sessions. I think the automatic Update, must have been interrupted at some point and corrupted a portion of the files in Installation process. So now I have Two Firefox browsers and haven't lost password or Bookmarks by being synced. One final question would be, can I now uninstall the older version and still retain the Password and Bookmarks from it while keeping the latest download? or will they be purged if the two don't retained their current synced status?

Modified by willard124

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Hi willard124, do you have two different Firefoxes in the Windows Add/Remove Programs or Uninstall a Program list? If so, what versions are they?

Usually running the uninstaller will not remove your Profile folders with your data. But you could consider making a backup just in case: Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.

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I'll check that before attempting to uninstall. Thanks for the backup info!! very helpful and I thank you. I'll let you know how it goes.

Bill

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I'm only given a sinle choice to uninstall. It appears to be the earlier one that was corrupt, but I have no faith that it won't wipe-out the new download from last night.

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I'll do this uninstall and back-up file restoration tonight when I have peace & Quiet and can concentrate on the one job.

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I uninstalled the earlier version without any problem and before proceeding, it displayed the Directory of the earlier version that would be removed. When complete the later version was still there and Bookmarks and Passwords are still intact. Thanks for your help in the steps to backup . Attached are the two versions with their history of Updates.