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.

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

Two devices synced, but firefox will not show most tabs from other devices.

  • 8 replies
  • 35 have this problem
  • 32 views
  • Last reply by guigs

more options

I have had my laptop and my PC synced forever. Up until a week ago when I clicked "tabs from other devices" it would show me all of my tabs from the other computer, and if I closed one or opened a new one it would show up in the list almost instantly. Now all of a sudden when I click show tabs from other devices it will only show one or two of the tabs I have open on the other computer and ignore all the rest. No matter what I do I can only get it to show like google and facebook. Everything is still synced properly, bookmarks and all that jazz work fine. It's just the show tabs from other devices that isn't working, and that's the only feature I care about. If your suggestion is to make a new sync profile, don't bother responding, as that is not the problem or the solution.

I have had my laptop and my PC synced forever. Up until a week ago when I clicked "tabs from other devices" it would show me all of my tabs from the other computer, and if I closed one or opened a new one it would show up in the list almost instantly. Now all of a sudden when I click show tabs from other devices it will only show one or two of the tabs I have open on the other computer and ignore all the rest. No matter what I do I can only get it to show like google and facebook. Everything is still synced properly, bookmarks and all that jazz work fine. It's just the show tabs from other devices that isn't working, and that's the only feature I care about. If your suggestion is to make a new sync profile, don't bother responding, as that is not the problem or the solution.

All Replies (8)

more options

Please update the browser on all devices. Sync has transitioned over to Firefox Accounts. Once you have 29 installed on a desktop computer, visit about:accounts in the URL bar to get started with Firefox Accounts.

more options

I don't understand your response. These two computers have been synced for a long time already, and both computers are running the same version of firefox, whatever the newest stable release is. Once I have 29 installed on a desktop computer? I don't understand how that relates to me, and does it have to be a desktop? What about my laptop? The sync feature still works beautifully, everything except showing tabs from other devices. Bookmarks and everything else sync almost instantly, however "show tabs from other devices" takes like 30 minutes minimum to catch up, and when it does re-sycn it will only show like one or two tabs out of 5 or 6 I have open. It's making seemingly random decisions as to what tabs to show. If I have 5 open why would it show 2 and not the other 3? Like I said before, up until like 3 days ago if I opened a new tab it would show up in tabs from other devices instantly. Now it's taking forever and missing most tabs. Like I said the Desktop and the Laptop are both running the same, most recent, version of firefox.

Modified by tdkevin

more options

Oh yea, and I tried going to "about:accounts" but it does not work. When I use about:home or about:config it comes up, but when I try "about:accounts" I get this error

"The address isn't valid

The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded.

   Web addresses are usually written like http://www.example.com/
   Make sure that you're using forward slashes (i.e. /)."
more options

If you use Outlook.com (Windows Live for the e-mail) then that is a known problem and is being worked on.

If you have an email address with another provider then you can try to use that. You can follow the discussion in the bug.

  • bug 1003082 - Verify/verification link broken in mails for confirming registration of a Firefox Accounts for sync if reading mail in Outlook

Please do not comment in bug reports
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html

more options

@Cor-el Ok you really lost me? My problem has nothing to do with email accounts OR verifying my email during account set up. The account link/sync is already DONE AND WORKING. It's just the "tabs from other devices" that is not working correctly. You said "If you use Outlook.com (Windows Live for the e-mail) then that is a known problem and is being worked on." What is a known problem? I never said I was having trouble verifying my account, it has been verified and working fine for a super long time. I don't wanna sound like a jerk, but I don't think you even read my question. THE SYNC AND ACCOUNTS BETWEEN MY COMPUTERS ARE ALREADY ACTIVE AND WORKING, but the "tabs from other devices" feature has stopped working properly. I really don't understand what my email provider has anything to do with,

Modified by tdkevin

more options

Oops, sorry about that.

You won't be able to create a Firefox account in Firefox 28 or access the about:accounts page as that page got added in Firefox 29. You can see valid about: pages on the about:about page.

Note that if you would use the new Sync, Firefox 29 or later need to be installed on all devices (computers).

more options

As far as I know I have 29 on both devices. When I go to about firefox and manually check for an update it says I am up to date, on both devices. Like I said, everything else about account sync is working. Bookmarks, passwords, add ons, etc. It's just the "tabs from other devices" that isn't working. Even then, it kind of works, it shows me SOME tabs from other devices. But it's really crazy slow and flat out doesn't show some of the tabs I have open.

more options

Hi tdkevin, This is strange you were not asked to try the new sync. As the old sync has the tab sync feature, but the new one has a new place for them. In order to move to the new sync you have to remove all the devices from the old sync and then it will allow you to set up the new one.

In Firefox for Android In the new one in a new tab, tap on History, then on the bottom there are two icons: a clock and one with 4 grey squares. Tap that one and look at the recently synced tabs.

In Firefox for Desktop if you have not set up the new sync the Tabs will sync every interval of time set by default in the about:config page. (search for sync interval I think). In the new one the about:accounts page will have a manage button that will take you to the preferences of sync. There you can check the Tabs tick.

I hope this clears up the differences between the old and new. The original question though was why some tabs were syncing and others not. I do not know, we can look at about:sync-logs if you have any errors in those log files. This may help lead to some more info.