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Trouble transfering grouped tabs and add-ons to Firefox 30

  • 5 replies
  • 3 have this problem
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  • Last reply by John99

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I recently upgraded to Firefox 30 and was forced to quickly revert back to version 29.

One of my most important uses for Firefox is grouped tabs. I have several set up, each one dedicated to a different topic- from reading, to job applications, and various other web related things.

I also have one add-on that allows me to recover lost tab groups and sessions, as I quite often have crashed in the past and lost everything, called Session Manager. I also use an external program called Firefox Backup Tool to occasionally back up sessions just in case.

When I upgraded to 30, my session was gone. I tried using both backup tools to recover my prior session but neither worked.

Can somebody explain why this is happening? Is Firefox 30 ill-equipped to deal with transferring sessions? Could there be a problem with my Firefox profiles in AppData?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm sticking with 29 until I can figure this out.

Matt

I recently upgraded to Firefox 30 and was forced to quickly revert back to version 29. One of my most important uses for Firefox is grouped tabs. I have several set up, each one dedicated to a different topic- from reading, to job applications, and various other web related things. I also have one add-on that allows me to recover lost tab groups and sessions, as I quite often have crashed in the past and lost everything, called Session Manager. I also use an external program called Firefox Backup Tool to occasionally back up sessions just in case. When I upgraded to 30, my session was gone. I tried using both backup tools to recover my prior session but neither worked. Can somebody explain why this is happening? Is Firefox 30 ill-equipped to deal with transferring sessions? Could there be a problem with my Firefox profiles in AppData? Any help would be appreciated. I'm sticking with 29 until I can figure this out. Matt

All Replies (5)

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Firefox 30 is still supposed to have tab groups support built in.

IIRC there was a decision to deprecate the little used and unreliable feature. The ordinary sessionstore facilities themselves are fairly fragile in my opinion. Bookmarks are at least relatively robust and backed up. You should possibly consider not becoming overly reliant on Tabs Groups.

There is Firerfox Sync, and that is built-in, & has been improved recently and will Sync to a Mozilla server. Sync should be capable of backing up both bookmarks and sessionstore but be aware it is apparently still capable of duplicating and corrupting bookmarks.

You will need to contact the sites of the extensions or applications that you use to find out if they are still fully compatible with Firefox 30 and with each other.


Feel free to use whatever software you choose. Please however remember Firefox 29 is no longer supported. Not updating Firefox is usually considered bad practice.

Once a new Released is out and security fixes are made and publicised bad guys take advantage of the exploits and that puts your System and Personal Data at an increased risk.
Those with strong reasons for using an insecure version and understanding the risks may take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk. Possibly using a Virtual Machine, maybe having a well rehearsed bare metal restore procedure.

Modified by John99

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Thanks for your reply,

I tried syncing and it did nothing.

I tried bookmarking all the tab groups, then opening all the bookmarks in different groups in 30. All the tabs would open, technically, but they would be blank. It would show the address in the url bar but they would just show a blank page.

I then decided just to use bookmark folders instead of groups. Same thing: every time I went to open a link from bookmarks, it would open a blank page, that couldn't be reloaded nor retyped into the address bar.

So basically I can use Firefox 30 one page at a time. No bookmarks, no tab groups. Hopefully this gets fixed.

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You should be able to use tab groups. You should be able to use bookmarks.

So basically I can use Firefox 30 one page at a time. No bookmarks, no tab groups. Hopefully this gets fixed.

It is not a case of waiting for a magical fix from Firefox. Unfortunately I am afraid it will be down to you to fix your installation of Firefox.

I am not sure what is happening on your machine. Tab groups and bookmarks are different procedures and use different files. I am presuming that your tab groups are corrupt and therefore not opening the correct tabs, and those are not bookmarkable.

The files used for session restore and the tabs are fairly ephemeral and unless you know; in advance; what to do and catch it fairly quickly when something goes wrong there is little that can be done. I still do have suggestions for you to try.


Backup your profile That preserves information. It prevents loss of any current and potentially useful files, that otherwise get overwritten.

Create a new additional Profile Both for test purposes and as potentially a new working profile. it is good practice to

An easy alternative would be the Firefox reset, IF you just want Firefox to work and are not worried about recovering anything, or losing extensions


Try with a new profile then please post back with how you get on. Firefox will hopefully then work with tab groups and bookmarks. Next if you wish we will see if anything useful may be recovered.

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I tried with a new profile exactly as instructed. No tab groups.

I've done exactly that with previous versions of FF and had success. So I'm familiar with the process. It just isn't working this time.

So I'll either keep bookmarks in 30, or rough it out with 29 until maybe a later version starts to work, or Session Manager updates to work with 30.

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Sorry that did not work, so back to troubleshooting.

Firefox 30 should work with bookmarks and with tab groups. Something has gone wrong on your installation it is not a Firefox 30 problem; AFAIK; and so not going to get fixed by Firefox.

I guessed a profile problem was the most likely cause.


Maybe it is one of your extensions causing the problem, try the new profile in Firefox's safe mode


When you say no tab groups, are you actually seeing the tabs groups icon ?

Try the customize button to customise your toolbars

  • Use Use NewButton New Fx Menu → Customize [+] →
    1. Note the options menu [Show/hide Toolbars] if you need to display a toolbar.
    2. Drag icons to the customize palette to remove them or drag them to the New Fx Menu menu or to a toolbar.
    3. If necessary use the [Restore Defaults] button to undo existing changes
  • See Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars for full instructions including a video clip and screenshots.

Otherwise maybe it is a problem with the actual installation files &/or prexisting program files if so you will need to try a clean install involving deleting the program files