All tabs groups lost after updating to Firefox 57.0 Quantum

Question

All tabs groups lost after updating to Firefox 57.0 Quantum

I need to get back not only the open tabs (within the "active" group of tabs) but the rest of them (the ones that were open in "inactive" groups of tabs), which were more than 60 tabs

Is there any way to recover them?

Solution 1

I have restored my tabs from inactive groups by installing the Sync Tab Groups extension.

Solution 2

If you're a Ubuntu user, or similar, you should be able to find the latest backup at

~/.mozilla/firefox/ro51nwle.default/sessionstore-backups/upgrade.jsonlz4-[timestamp of upgrade]

I didn't know anything about the file format, but this gist was basically enough to get me started

With the gist saved to the backup folder, you can export to json with:

$ sudo pip3 install lz4
$ python3 ./mozlz4a.py -d upgrade.jsonlz4-[timestamp of backup] backup.js

There's a lot of data in there (including each tab's entire history) but at least it's not lost!

If you just want to save the most recent url from each tab like I did, something like the following python should do the job:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import json

with open('backup.js') as infile:
    read_data = infile.read()

json_data = json.loads(read_data)

tab_groups = json.loads(json_data['windows'][0]['extData']['tabview-group'])

groups = {int(k): {'title': tab_groups[k]['title'], 'tabs': []} for k in tab_groups.keys()}

for tab in json_data['windows'][0]['tabs']:
    url = tab['entries'][-1]['url']
    group_id = json.loads(tab['extData']['tabview-tab'])['groupID']
    groups[group_id]['tabs'].append(url)

with open('tabs_backup.json', 'w') as outfile:
    json.dump(groups, outfile, indent=4)

Solution 3

If you're freaking out about losing your tabs, and simply want quick assurance that they're not gone forever, the easiest thing is to install the Tree-Style Tabs extension, as suggested by @trrocket. I can verify that after installing it, I was able to find the "lost" tabs in the sidebar.

That said, I just hope that I didn't miss out on any tabs. (If I can't tell the difference maybe it doesn't matter all that much... :P) I have also backed up my sessionstore files, and will take my time to process them to verify that I have indeed recovered all my tabs.

PS: All credit to @trrocket, but I thought it was was worth putting this as an answer instead of having someone panic on looking at the other answer, without reading the comments. +1 to @trrocket :-)

Solution 4

An alternative (what I did, afraid of losing my tabs with all those suggested extensions):

• donwload Firefox standalone v.56-;
• for safety, save a copy of your Firefox profile folder;
• copy the relevant files from your installed Firefox profile folder into the one from v.56- (mainly the sessionstore-backups folder and the sessionstore.js file);
• open v.56-, use TabGroups (already installed on your system) to create a backup file (.json).

Additionally, you can use an addon like Conex to import the TabGroups backup file, converting tabs to Container Tabs.

Solution 5

This Quantum-compatible addon offers similar functionality and will magically find all those missing tabs from your old Groups. I can't speak for how well it works as a replacement as I've only just downloaded it myself, for this very reason, but worst case scenario you can get the tabs back, bookmark them and get rid of Conex, so you've at least got those tabs backed up wile you work out how to cope without Groups.

View more solutions

Comments

[Mokubai]

Tab groups were removed a long time ago. Chances are you were using a (now incompatible) extension to restore the functionality. You can try the information at How can I downgrade Firefox? to get them back. Always backup your profile before you do it.

[Manu]

I suppose this person is in my situation, and was using the "Tab Groups" addon addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups-panorama which isn't compatible with the new FF, as countless others.

[isomorphismes]

Same problem here. Really wish devs would warn or not do things like this.

[jakijem]

Well I´m a W10 user, but in spite I found the files: recovery.jsonlz4 upgrade.jsonlz4 previous.jsonlz4 recovery.baklz4 I have not a clue about what to do with them

[trrocket]

Do you have python installed? If not, maybe there's other ways to convert them in Windows. You might even be able to import them into an old version of Firefox, if you install one?

[trrocket]

Aha! Try the addon addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab

[jakijem]

OK, this addon works, I recovered all the tabs, all mixed up, but at least I didnt loose them. Thank you very much Now, this addon doesnt organize the tabs in groups. Is there any way with this, or any other addon to organize them into groups?

[Pierre.Vriens]

@jakijem from your profile I can tell that you have NOT (repeat NOT) earned this badge yet. Which is probably also why you're not aware of what is written here. Please go read it, and do what is suggested on that page. That is the way to say "Thank you very much".

[koushik]

Awesome Solution + script. Just one thing: If user happened to have pinned tabs (like I did) the entry for that in json_data['windows'][0]['tabs'] won't have extData key. So I modified your script to check if 'extData' in tab.keys(): group_id = json.loads(tab['extData']['tabview-tab'])['groupID'] else: group_id = 1. A new gist with that modification is at gist.github.com/koushik-ms/5e5c273c69ee8d9eafc507362e7f6fa2

[Jesse the Wind Wanderer]

How did you restore them? I have installed Sync Tab Groups but I can't find my previous Tab Groups. Could you explain what you did?

[Arthur]

Not groups themselves, but all the tabs from inactive groups. They all was found in the default group.

[koushik]

Please do note that installing this could lead to private browsing tabs getting persisted as reported here. I noticed when my black friday deal searches started following me...

[isomorphismes]

@JessetheWindWanderer Check the bookmarks folder after installing.