Restoring a Firefox session
When it comes to choosing a browser, users are often spoiled for choice. Leading web browsers such as Chrome, Safari or Firefox offer so many similar features that the choice is often purely a matter of taste. Firefox has long been one of the most popular solutions on the web thanks to its strong security and privacy features.
What’s more, the Mozilla browser is extremely user-friendly and even has a convenient option for restoring accidentally closed tabs. In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to restore your previous Firefox session or reactivate individual tabs.
Firefox: Restore previous session – Quick guide and tips
Firefox allows you to quickly restore your whole session, including all open tabs. However, before you can use this option, you must configure Firefox to remember your history, otherwise the browser won’t have the information it needs to perform this convenient function. Once you've allowed Firefox to save your history, you can restore a previous session as follows:
- Open Firefox.
- Click the menu button (three horizontal lines on the upper right side of the address bar).
- Click the Restore previous session button.
If you’ve disabled the history option, there’s another way to restore recently closed tabs of your current Firefox session if you haven’t quit your browser yet. To do this, open the library (button with three vertical lines and a diagonal line) and select History, followed by Recently Closed Tabs and then Restore All Tabs.
The most common reasons to restore a previous session in Firefox
There can be many different reasons why you might need to restore recently closed tabs or your entire previous session in Firefox. The most common reason is that you accidentally closed a page or quit the browser. Another common reason is that you need to restart after a Firefox update or an add-on problem (requires restart with add-ons disabled). Of course, errors in Firefox can also cause the program to crash, closing your current tabs to close completely unexpectedly. However, in this case, the Mozilla application will automatically restore your previous session without you having to follow the steps described above.
How to restore individual tabs in Firefox
If you've only closed a single page and want to restore it, you can do this at any time in the Mozilla browser. Thankfully, there is a special feature that allows you restore Firefox tabs on an individual basis. To do this, simply right-click anywhere in the tab bar and click Undo Close Tab in the menu that appears:
How to automatically restore your Firefox session at startup
If you want basic protection to ensure you don’t accidentally lose currently open tabs, you can also enable the automatic session restore feature in Firefox. This feature is linked to your browser’s startup settings, meaning it runs each time you open Firefox. To use this feature, you first have to allow Firefox to remember your history:
- Open the menu (three horizontal lines).
- Choose Settings.
- Go to “Privacy & Security.”
- Select the Firefox will Remember history option.
- Restart Firefox.
Once you've configured Firefox to remember your history, you can turn on the automatic session restore feature:
- Open the Firefox menu again.
- Click Settings.
- Select the Restore previous session checkbox.
Related articles
How to clear the Firefox history
Sites you’ve visited, active logins, individual website settings – Firefox provides you with the option of saving any user data in the browser-specific history, but this practical feature always comes with the risk that such information could end up in the wrong hands. We’ll show you how to counter this risk, and clear your Firefox history.
Firefox private browsing – what is it and how do you turn it on?
Surf the web without leaving a trail – that’s possible in Firefox using “private mode.” It’s quick to activate and can be used temporarily or permanently. Here’s a quick guide on Firefox’s incognito mode, explaining which data is actually concealed (and which data isn’t).
How to restore Tabs and Session in Google Chrome
Trying to restore your tabs in Chrome? Accidentally closed your Chrome browser or individual tabs and simply can’t find those pages again? As a Google Chrome user, you can prevent this from happening, thanks to a built-in feature that lets you restore your most recently closed tabs. How do you restore tabs in Chrome, and does it make a difference if you want to restore individual or multiple tabs?
Rawpixel.comShutterstock Installing add-ons in Firefox, Chrome, and more
Whether you’ve chosen Firefox, Chrome, Edge, or Safari as your standard browser – when you install an add-on, you’re extending your browser with useful features. For example, you could improve the search experience with suitable extensions, or you could optimise work processes. In our step-by-step guide, we’ll show you how to install add-ons in some of the most popular browsers.
Opera GX – The gaming browser in check
Opera GX is the variant of the popular Opera browser carefully tailored to the demands of gamers. In addition to an individual design, the Special Edition is characterised by many practical functions and well-structured news feeds, among other things. We have summarised the gaming browser’s most important features and innovations for you.
