TAB GROUPS die upon closing the window, session restore does not apply and neither does history! I do not think I was warned!
Upon quitting firefox, then updating, then restarting I lost the ability to restore sessions. I've restored the tab group in the past; this is different. My tab groups are lost for ever and I don't recall even being warned about losing them when closing the window (like usually happens and then I avoid closing it.)
I sync my tab groups but it must have sync'd their demise because I lost them. Tab groups really should have always been separate from the window (like a form of bookmark folders) - I don't know why I ever ended up adopting this overpowered feature knowing how poorly it was supported. I actually had named groupings with 2do reading lists etc... a year's worth of groups... and I shared it between devices...
Chosen solution
Actually I looked over the sessionstore.js file, it looked ok - I do javascript professionally. I think I may close this because it seems to be a browser functionality/design flaw than a problem we can solve. my other computer does the same thing with chucking my tab groups along with closing the window.... it's a "feature" not a bug. I thought perhaps somebody knew of something I didn't as to why this feature is so flawed.
I will just have to live with being careful to restore or restore from backups the sessionstore.js if for whatever reason it gets lost. Including me accidentally closing the window and pressing enter without thinking (yes, I get that I can restore it; but the problem is I shouldn't have to restore tab groups because they are so easily killed in multiple ways.)
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maybe you have a problem with The option in <Tools/Options> to show my windows and tabs from last time has suddenly stopped working and all tabs are deleted when Firefox is re-opened? If this is your problem see thi thread https://support.mozilla.org/it/questions/972950?esab=a&s=&r=1&as=s
I've been backing up sessionstore.js for sometime and occasionally I've had to restore from that; but this is not about sessions really. I restored from backup AGAIN and it solved my immediate problem. However, this continues to cause troubles and I shouldn't have to be resorting to this.
It really IS a problem when tab groups being tied to windows/sessions in general. All those other problems are somewhat related to this design mistake. If tab groups were not session based and locked to 1 specific window but bookmark based a lot of these issues would be resolved (and easier to access with sync than having to go to about:sync-tabs - since it could just be a submenu under bookmarks which update like the RSS bookmarks do.)
My problem that caused the posting was I closed a window and didn't notice a warning preventing me from losing my huge number of tab groups (I swear it didn't ask me like it usually does!) So I lost them and long enough for firefox to clear out the restore feature because I restarted and updated the browser. (BTW, I changed about:conf so it has higher numbers of tab undos and max_restore etc hoping that would help in the future.)
App (pinned) tabs and Tab Groups (Panorama) are stored as part of the session data in the sessionstore.js file in the Firefox profile folder.
In case you are using "Clear history when Firefox closes":
- do not clear the Browsing History
- Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history": [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" > Settings
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Clear+Recent+History
Note that clearing "Site Preferences" clears all exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, software installation, and passwords.
You can try to restore the sessionstore.js from the Time Machine
Thank you but I'm having to restore it using timemachine already; the problem is that I should not be having to restore that file everytime I somehow close the window and lose all my tab groups.
I have it set to remember just about everything; I even used about:config to up the undo tabs and max session restores. Ok. I just tried closing this window and it ASKED me if I was sure I wanted to do that. So it is asking me again before I do it. I don't know how it managed to not ask last time (perhaps the update process or it quit uncleanly.) So I suppose I'm ok but why can't I get it to KEEP my tab groups instead of putting me into this situation of not closing the window ever?
If you lose the tab groups then there might be a problem with the sessionstore.js file.
Did you try to delete this file and start with creating new tab groups?
Is Session Restore otherwise working (i.e. can you undo closed tabs and windows during a session)?
Chosen Solution
Actually I looked over the sessionstore.js file, it looked ok - I do javascript professionally. I think I may close this because it seems to be a browser functionality/design flaw than a problem we can solve. my other computer does the same thing with chucking my tab groups along with closing the window.... it's a "feature" not a bug. I thought perhaps somebody knew of something I didn't as to why this feature is so flawed.
I will just have to live with being careful to restore or restore from backups the sessionstore.js if for whatever reason it gets lost. Including me accidentally closing the window and pressing enter without thinking (yes, I get that I can restore it; but the problem is I shouldn't have to restore tab groups because they are so easily killed in multiple ways.)