Session restore only remembers URLs, how can I restore content of tabs without reloading?
Can I make Firefox 3.6.17 save the contents of open tabs when it closes, the way an earlier version did? I have Tools/Options/General and /Privacy tab settings following the advice in the Session Restore article, and when I restart Firefox it DOES remember the tabs I had open when I closed Firefox. But it does not remember the CONTENT of the tabs, all it remembers is the URL. Within the last year or two an earlier version of Firefox DID remember the content. That was very convenient for dialup access. I could look at the pages offline without having to wait for them to load again. Now I must "File/Save Page as" on every tab before closing Firefox. Is there a way to get the old behavior back?
All Replies (6)
As long as you are not clearing the cache when shutting down Firefox, you can get that to happen by setting it not to check what is online versus what is in the cache. This setting in about:config does that:
browser.cache.check_doc_frequency=2 (meaning never)
As long as the page is in the cache, Firefox will just load it from the cache.
Modified by finitarry
I think that did not change anything, if I did it right.
about:config showed
browser.cache.check_doc_frequency=3
I changed it to 2, shut down firefox, restarted firefox, went online, loaded a few tabs with web pages, went offline, shut down firefox, restarted firefox. The tabs say "problem loading" because "work offline" is checked. I uncheck it and refresh the tabs, but they still do not remember their content, only the URL. They show the "server not found" message, unless I go online and refresh them.
Options/Privacy settings are:
Firefox will: use custom settings for history NOT checked : Automatically start firefox in a private browsing session NOT checked : clear history when firefox closes
about:config shows browser.cache.check_doc_frequency=2
I do not know. It works for me. I use that setting to reduce bandwidth, and pages I revisit load instantly from the cache.
I just tested to see if pages I revisit load from cache -- nope, they load fresh. But that is not behavior I want to change. I want to see the content of tabs be loaded from cache WITHOUT going online and revisiting the site. If I revisit the site I want to get refreshed content.
Once I have received the content for a tab, and I don't close the tab, but I shut down Firefox, and then I reload Firefox, I want the cached content to be displayed in the tab, the way it was a year ago by default. Now I only see a blank tab -- session restore remembered only the URL.
That's the first time I've used about:config in case I didn't do that right or need to check another setting. I have not reverted, it still says browser.cache.check_doc_frequency=2
Make sure that you do not use Delete browsing, search and download history on Firefox to clear the 'Browsing History' when you close Firefox.
Thanks, but I said that box is NOT checked, in my first reply.