What happened to my tabs and tab groups when I synced to a new computer?
I have spent the morning trying to sync Firefox. On my previous computer, I was running FF31, but not as a clean install--as an upgrade from FF28. In the Sync screen, I saw my email address and recovery key, so I thought I was good to go.
Turns out that that wasn't the case, and I needed to set up a new Sync account.
Here are the steps I took to get my data back:
1) I uninstalled FF31, reverted to 28, used my email address and recovery key, and got my information back.
2) Then I updated to FF31.
3) In FF31, I unlinked my computer, created a new Sync account, and logged in to sync my data.
However, I was unable to access my tab groups. And when I upgraded to FF31, my tab groups still weren't back.
I tried looking in "Tabs from Other Devices", and there were no other devices listed.
How can I get my tabs and tab groups back? I had literally dozens of hours of work-related research saved in these tabs. I have so many visited sites in my history that there's no way I'd be able to recreate all of them.
Please help--I'm desperate. I can't lose all of those tabs.
Modified by kari_marie
All Replies (2)
Hello,
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings, disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu:
- In Firefox 29.0 and above, click the menu button
, click Help 
and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
- In previous Firefox versions, click on the Firefox button at the top left of the Firefox window and click on Help (or click on Help in the Menu bar, if you don't have a Firefox button) then click on Restart with Add-ons Disabled.
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
It is possible that this is caused by problems with the Sync servers, so you may have to wait until this is fixed and try again later.