The tab groups in open windows? I believe those are stored as part of your session data, so when you restore a previous session, the groups also should be restored.

If I'm correct that they are part of session history, what is the best description of the problem you're running into:

• Firefox did not restore the session at all, and/or Restore Previous Session is grayed out (for this problem, try the Session Manager extension to start saving more sessions so you can skip back to an earlier session)

• Firefox restored the session, but the window that had the tab groups was missing (check the History menu for Recently closed windows, and exit Firefox using its menu instead of letting Windows close Firefox)

• Firefox restored the window that had the tab groups, but all the tabs got "ungrouped" and displayed in a disorganized fashion

• Firefox restored the window that had the tab groups, but only the last displayed tab group is present and the other groups are missing

Jscher2000, Closest answer above, I think:

Firefox did not restore the session at all, and/or Restore Previous Session is grayed out (for this problem, try the Session Manager extension to start saving more sessions so you can skip back to an earlier session) .

I have 5 FF windows open. Each has 9 tab groups. Each group has 1-15 tabs. What usually happens is that 2-4 of the windows get lost. (One time, all the windows got lost). I came here, and was able to restore everything only one time. The last time it happened, I didnt remember how to do it, and wrongfully shut down FF. History then did not show lost windows. Jstore file (or whatever it's called, had by then lost the relevant information I guess)

I have been reading reviews, particularly about Session Manager, and all the recent reviews are pretty bad. Often that doesnt worry me, but right now no one seems happy with it.

I think ALL I NEED is an old fashioned macro, to save it every day. I save all my important open office stuff, by just adding another digit (1,2,3 etc) whenever I want a backup version, after a lot of work. At least weekly I back up my entire C drive (ALL OF MY DIRECTORIES WHERE I SAVE DATA) to a stick.

Maybe I dont get it, but as far as I know, all I really need to do is have a quick copy of the file, to another location. Then if something happens I can figger it out, before I wreck it!

Thanks so much for the help

You need a backup copy of the sessionstore.js file to recover lost App (pinned) tabs and Tab Groups.

The sessionstore.js file in the profile folder is still used to store session data, but is only present when Firefox is closed. The sessionstore.js file is created from recovery.js when you close Firefox and is removed and copied to previous.js when you start Firefox. The sessionstore.bak file is no longer used and has been replaced by the recovery and previous files that you find in the sessionstore-backups folder. The upgrade files in this folder with the build ID appended are created when Firefox updates.

Try to restore a previous version of the sessionstore.js file.

• Right-click: Properties > Previous Versions

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Previous-versions-of-files-frequently-asked-questions

cor-el,

Thanks, that is about what I accomplished once. I just went to do that now, and gave up as I often have, because even it I have it written down (where the sessionstore.js file is, it takes forever to get there, and find it.

I've run computers for 31 years, but like cars, can no longer diagnose or fix them. I need to run my business, and computers are becoming more of a drain all the time.

Can you send me somewhere that will show me how to write a macro, to do this for me? Or maybe a reliable little backer-upper?

Thanks

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

• C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\

Windows hides some file extensions by default. Among them are .html and .ini and .js and .txt, so you may only see file name without file extension. You can see the real file type (file extension) in the properties of the file via the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer.

cor-el

This looks like it will help! Cant get through it tonight, but I'll do it tomorrow. I have always had windows set to show all my files.

After searching the user files, I had just copied & pasted the sessionstore.js file to one of my directories, for my daily work. I just need a simpler way to do it, every day or so (even every week or so).

In over 30 years, this particular hassle has been the WORST for me. Always did backups, always had backup hardware, software. I just cant see why something that seems so simple as this, should be more than a 2 second, daily chore.

THANK YOU!

MozUsr999 said

I have 5 FF windows open. Each has 9 tab groups. Each group has 1-15 tabs. What usually happens is that 2-4 of the windows get lost.

If you are not exiting out of Firefox using the menu -- either

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• (menu bar) File > Exit

-- then Firefox may not save all your windows. The reason is, if Windows shuts down Firefox, it sends sequential close window commands. Depending on the pace at which this occurs and the timing of Firefox updating session history, you may be considered to have closed several of those windows you want to see again. But there is a limit on the number of "closed" windows you can restore, so they might be gone for good.

You can increase that limit so in the case that those windows do not reopen automatically, you can use the History menu, Recently closed windows list, to re-open them:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste sess and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click browser.sessionstore.max_windows_undo preference and increase it to switch it to at least 5

Please be cautious and research any other preferences you might consider changing to make sure the feature will still work as expected if you do so.

But if you make it a habit to use the Exit command, you shouldn't need to worry about it.

jscher2000,

Yes, I somehow learned years ago, that FF was much more sensitive to being shut down than some other programs. I ALWAYS shut FF with File/Exit now, and I think several of the lost sessions were when I just "X'd" FF off, or when Windows shut FF for me. In fact, I even click into each window, in an orderly fashion from right to left, and then File/Exit the leftmost window. It used to matter in what order they reloaded themselves, but doesnt seem to anymore.

Gotta think through the rest you said, but I think I understand most of it.

MY PROBLEM, is that by the time it happens again, I forget it all. thats why I've been searching for a simple "Save sessionstore.js under another name" solution, which is what I do with everything else that matters on a daily basis.

Incidentally, I reread a lot of posts about Session Manager, downloaded it, and am trying it again.

Thanks!

If you want to back up your current session windows and tabs without exiting Firefox, you can copy the recovery.js file from the sessionstore-backups folder. Usually, you can see that it was updated within the last minute after you opened a tab. There may be older files in the same folder, but there's probably not much point in backing those up.

If you're looking for a script, you can save this into the sessionstore-backups folder as a new text file with a .vbs extension. When you double-click the file, it should immediately make a backup copy of recovery.js in a subfolder named sessbkup.

Dim oFSO Set oFSO = WScript.CreateObject("scripting.filesystemobject") ' Check that the recovery.js file is present If Not oFSO.FileExists("recovery.js") Then   MsgBox "recovery.js was not found. Nothing to back up!", 16 Else   ' Check for destination subfolder and create if needed   If Not oFSO.FolderExists("sessbkup") Then    oFSO.CreateFolder("sessbkup")   End If   ' Prepare date/time string to add into the destination file name   Dim datNow, strDT   datNow = Now   strDT = Year(datNow) & "-" & _    Right("00" & DatePart("m", datNow), 2) & "-" & _    Right("00" & DatePart("d", datNow), 2) & "_" & _    Right("00" & DatePart("h", datNow), 2) & _    Right("00" & DatePart("n", datNow), 2) & _    Right("00" & DatePart("s", datNow), 2)   ' Copy the file   oFSO.CopyFile "recovery.js", "sessbkup\recovery_" & strDT & ".js" End If ' Clean up object Set oFSO = Nothing