This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

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

I have a problem restoring the tabs from the previous session.

more options

After a computer restart I started a new session without restoring the tabs from the previous session. Is there a way to restore those tabs without selecting each one from History ?

After a computer restart I started a new session without restoring the tabs from the previous session. Is there a way to restore those tabs without selecting each one from History ?

Chosen solution

cor-el - Thank you so much. I found a previous version of the .bak file that had all 29 tabs saved. Restoring it saved me an immense amount of time and frustration. You deserve a medal.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (14)

more options

Hi noneedtoregistertoaskaquestion, I'm sorry to hear that the session restore feature is not working well for you. Try the above suggestion to use the Session Manager extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/session-manager/

more options

Hi jscher2000, thank you for the solution. I was trying to download it, but I was told that its author can not be verified, thus I canceled. If author verifies themselves then download and contribution are possible, otherwise, it is strange why the author would not get verified first?

more options

Hi noneedtoregistertoaskaquestion, I think most extensions say "Author not verified". There has been some discussion about that in previous threads:

Based on my 10 minutes of research: it is expensive to obtain a code-signing certificate, and the way it works for Firefox extensions seems a little inflexible, particularly for individual (non-company) authors. So that's probably why most of them aren't signed.

more options

Thanks.

Modified by noneedtoregistertoaskaquestion

more options

Hello Jscher2000

I really been trying to follow the steps but cannot manage to do it. Could help me step by step. I do now know which is the .bak file you talk about.

I really appreciate it

more options

Hi tianguistengo16, did you find this post: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/954785?page=1#answer-421547

The file should be named sessionstore.bak (there may be other .bak files, those are not relevant).

more options

Thanks for replying Jscher2000, I opened my firefox profile folder and found a promising timestamp but that file is not .bak, it is json. I made a copy for safety as you suggested but do not know what to do next.

I appreciate your help

more options

Hi tianguistengo16, Windows may hide file extensions, which can make it hard to know which file you are dealing with. This is addressed in this Microsoft help article: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions

Can you confirm that you have the sessionstore.bak file (the sessionstore.js file has your current session)?

more options

Dear Jscher2000

I did what the windows page said to show the file extensions, it worked. I found the sessionstore.bak but its from today (I lost my tabs yesterday). Inside of the Firefox profile folder there is another folder that says -bookmarkbackups- with a .json file from the date I lost my tabs (yesterday). What can I do now?

Thanks again,

more options

Is there anything I can do Jscher2000?

more options

Hi tianguistengo16, if you do not have the .bak file with your windows and tabs in it, there are no other backups. Some versions of Windows allow you to access earlier versions that are saved when Windows create a "restore point" (for example, before installing Windows updates) and displayed as "Previous Versions". Because these restore points are not created very often, the odds of success aren't very good, but you want to try it, then check out this post: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/954785#answer-421602

more options

thanks a lot

more options

The sessionstore.bak file is created at every start of Firefox as a copy of the sessionstore.js file saved in the previous session to make it possible to restore the previous session via the History menu at any time during the current session.

Does Firefox create a sessionstore.js when you close Firefox?

  • Tools > Options > General > Startup: "When Firefox Starts": "Show my windows and tabs from last time"
more options

HEy Cor-el

I do have the file .json with the date of when I lost my tabs, can I do something with it to restore my tabs? or can I do something else? I alrady have the "show my windiws and tabs from last time"

  1. 1
  2. 2