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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Lost all open tabs, unsure why this has happened

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

Deocyn
Deocyn
more options

I had a whole bunch of tabs that had been open for quite some time on my browser that I was planning to go through. I have my browser set to restore tabs / previous session each time I open so all the previous tabs remain there, and have had no problems for a long time. However the last time I tried to close Firefox it gave a warning saying I was trying to close x amount of tabs. I thought it a bit strange considering it hadn't asked me this before when closing but didn't think anything of it and closed the browser, only to open it next time to find all my open tabs had gone rather than being restored as normal.

I hadn't knowingly changed any of my settings and its still set to 'Restore previous session', and I can't work out a) why it hasn't restored it and b) what changed to prompt it to ask me if I wanted to close my tabs and then remove them rather than what it has always done!

I had a whole bunch of tabs that had been open for quite some time on my browser that I was planning to go through. I have my browser set to restore tabs / previous session each time I open so all the previous tabs remain there, and have had no problems for a long time. However the last time I tried to close Firefox it gave a warning saying I was trying to close x amount of tabs. I thought it a bit strange considering it hadn't asked me this before when closing but didn't think anything of it and closed the browser, only to open it next time to find all my open tabs had gone rather than being restored as normal. I hadn't knowingly changed any of my settings and its still set to 'Restore previous session', and I can't work out a) why it hasn't restored it and b) what changed to prompt it to ask me if I wanted to close my tabs and then remove them rather than what it has always done!

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Firefox can give the warning if you try to close the current window using the close X and there are still other windows open.

Did you check "History -> Recently Closed Windows" for possible windows that you can restore ?

Note that best is to use one of these to close Firefox if you are currently doing that by clicking the close X on the Firefox Title bar. That way you always close Firefox properly and avoid surprises with unnoticed hidden windows.

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