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My tabs don't re-appear if I closed Firefox with the "X" in the upper right corner...

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by cor-el

Vincent Andrunas
Vincent Andrunas
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Hello, dear Firefox Help people!

I keep a lot of tabs open in my Firefox browser (121.0 64-bit for Windows 10). Starting just recently, if I closed Firefox by clicking on the "X" in the upper-right corner of the window, then the next time I start Firefox it opens without my tabs! (It never used to do this before...) It's very disconcerting, but I found that if it starts up without my tabs, Ctl+Shift+N will open Firefox in another window--with all my tabs! I can then close the original window (the one without my tabs), and go on using Firefox in my normal way.

If I have Firefox running with my tabs present, and I close Firefox by using Ctl+Shift+Q, the next time I re-open it, all the tabs are there. (That's also the case when I close Firefox using the three-line menu and "Exit".) But I used to be able to close Firefox by simply clicking on that "X" in the upper-right corner of the window, and next time I started Firefox it would open with all my tabs intact. I'd like it to work that way again... What must I do to get it to return to working that way?

(Please note that under Settings/General/Startup, I do have "Open previous windows and tabs" checked...)

Thank you for any help you can provide...!

Hello, dear Firefox Help people! I keep a lot of tabs open in my Firefox browser (121.0 64-bit for Windows 10). Starting just recently, if I closed Firefox by clicking on the "X" in the upper-right corner of the window, then the next time I start Firefox it opens without my tabs! (It never used to do this before...) It's very disconcerting, but I found that if it starts up without my tabs, Ctl+Shift+N will open Firefox in another window--with all my tabs! I can then close the original window (the one without my tabs), and go on using Firefox in my normal way. If I have Firefox running with my tabs present, and I close Firefox by using Ctl+Shift+Q, the next time I re-open it, all the tabs are there. (That's also the case when I close Firefox using the three-line menu and "Exit".) But I used to be able to close Firefox by simply clicking on that "X" in the upper-right corner of the window, and next time I started Firefox it would open with all my tabs intact. I'd like it to work that way again... What must I do to get it to return to working that way? (Please note that under Settings/General/Startup, I do have "Open previous windows and tabs" checked...) Thank you for any help you can provide...!

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
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Ctrl+Shift+N reopens a closed window: History -> Recently Closed Windows/Tabs It is possible that you still have another, possibly hidden, window open.

Use one of these to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the Firefox Title bar, especially if you have multiple windows or Private Browsing windows open to prevent losing tabs in unnoticed windows.

  • "3-bar" menu button -> Exit (Power button)
  • Windows: File -> Exit
  • Mac: Firefox -> Quit Firefox
  • Linux: File -> Quit

See also:

Vincent Andrunas
Vincent Andrunas Question owner
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Cor-el, thank you for your swift reply. It does seem to make sense that if there was another Firefox window open, it might cause this sort of problem--but nothing on the task bar indicates another window being open, and switching to Cascade Windows or Show Windows Stacked does not reveal any hidden windows.

So I'm still at a loss. Every time I start Firefox after having closed it by clicking on the "X" in the upper right corner of the Firefox window, I get the sort of default opening screen--with just one tab, labeled "New Tab". Only if I use Ctl+Shift+N do I then get a Firefox window with all my tabs. And yet if I close Firefox by using File Exit, or by opening the three-bar menu and then clicking Exit, then the next time I start Firefox I it opens in a window with all my tabs present...

This is really bugging me--got any other ideas?

Thank you...

cor-el
cor-el
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Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or if userChrome.css/userContent.css is causing the problem.

  • switch to the Default System theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window