Why do my tabs keep disappearing?
Hello, After the last MacBook Pro M4 update my tabs keep disappearing. This is quite ANNOYING as I use ALL my tabs. Plus when I go to HISTORY there is NO Restore Previous session...so I am losing EVERYTHING. Do I just need to go out to another browser and make them my default? I can find NO help when I go out to your support for my problem. Thank you, Patty
/edit: moved thread from Firefox for iOS (for iPhone/iPad) to Firefox section as you have macOS.
Athraithe ag James ar
All Replies (8)
Hi Patty, are the tabs missing from the same window you have been using, or has a whole window disappeared?
The History menu has the following items to try to recover closed windows and tabs:
- Recently Closed Windows (up to three windows)
- Recently Closed Tabs (current window)
Can you find missing content there?
Another user recently commented that one of their windows wasn't visible on screen, but could be confirmed to exist (maybe using the Dock icon or the Window menu, I can't recall). Do you notice anything like that?
On Mac closing Firefox can be more complicated because you can close all open windows, but keep Firefox running with the menu bar visible or minimized in the Doc.
Make sure to use "Quit Firefox" with all windows still open, especially if you want to use "Restore Previous Session". Otherwise check "History -> Restore Previous Session" and "History -> Recently Closed Tabs/Windows".
Hi, Your response and question to me. Are the tabs missing from the same window you have been using, or has a whole window disappeared? First I guess I must learn the correct terminology. I call them "tabs". They are the titles of the websites that I go out on. For example...Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and others. I keep these tabs open as I go into them several times a day. What is happening (I have just noticed this after the last Firefox update) that all of a sudden all the tabs have disappeared..just gone. Then I go out to History and there is NOT an option to Restore. Firefox instructions continue to say the same thing and it has not helped me once with my issue. When you change something within your own system such as removing the option to Restore you must then go out and update your instructions on how to solve an issue. It is not fair to have users weed through the garbage. If you could please just tell me how to Restore after your system has removed my tabs. Thank you, Patty
Hi Patty, apps on your Mac can create multiple completely separate windows. And each Firefox window can have dozens of tabs. You can use the Window menu to check on whether Firefox is using multiple windows and to activate any available window (by activate, I mean bring it to the front to make it the active window).
You mentioned that "Restore Previous Session" is not present on your History menu. This can mean either of the following:
- Firefox already restored your previous session
- Firefox did not find a previous session to restore
If it was the first, the next thing to check was these two History menu items:
- Recently Closed Windows (up to three windows)
- Recently Closed Tabs (current window)
Can you find missing tabs on those lists?
This is a question that you (firefox) have asked me: You mentioned that "Restore Previous Session" is not present on your History menu. This can mean either of the following:
Firefox already restored your previous session Firefox did not find a previous session to restore
If it was the first, the next thing to check was these two History menu items:
Recently Closed Windows (up to three windows) Recently Closed Tabs (current window)
Can you find missing tabs on those lists?
First at this time I have not lost any of my tabs so your solution would not work right now. You will not just answer my question. I have been with firefox for years perhaps it is now time to move on. I just asking a simple question and you will not give me a logical answer!!
Can you post a screenshot of your sessionstore-backup folder? This session restore problem is unfortunately common. Here's another example of the issue. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1474307#answer-1688206
I think I misunderstood your question. You wrote:
"After the last MacBook Pro M4 update my tabs keep disappearing. This is quite ANNOYING as I use ALL my tabs. Plus when I go to HISTORY there is NO Restore Previous session...so I am losing EVERYTHING."
"If you could please just tell me how to Restore after your system has removed my tabs."
So it sounded like it was a closed tabs issue and I suggested where to look for them so you could restore them. But more recently you also wrote:
"First at this time I have not lost any of my tabs so your solution would not work right now."
So now I'm not sure what is going on with your Firefox.
Do you mean that your tabs are still open but the tab bar is not visible, maybe unless you move the mouse to the top of the screen? That sounds like Firefox switched to full screen. On Mac, you can press Command+Shift+F to switch full screen mode on and off.
Otherwise, I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.
Can you attach a screenshot?
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
- use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot