Save and Restore Firefox Tabs and Tab Groups
Install from Firefox Add-onsWhat BelayTab Supports in Firefox
- Save & restore sessions
- Automatic snapshots
- Version history
- Tab groupsFirefox 139 and later, when extensions gained the tab groups API.
- Recently closed windows on the Recovery screen
- FaviconsFirefox has no favicon API for extensions, so some site icons may be missing.
- SyncPaid plan.
What Firefox Does on Its Own
- Restore previous session: History → Restore Previous Session, or set Settings → General → Open previous windows and tabs.
- Reopen closed tabs with Ctrl+Shift+T and closed windows with Ctrl+Shift+N (Cmd on Mac).
- Firefox View lists recently closed tabs and, with a Mozilla account, tabs from your other devices.
- Tab groups: named, coloured groups you can save and close, available to everyone from Firefox 138.
- Session files: Firefox writes your session to sessionstore.jsonlz4 in your profile, with backups in the sessionstore-backups folder.
Where Firefox’s Tools Fall Short
Restore Previous Session works once. If Firefox starts again before you restore, or a Refresh resets your profile, the session is harder to reach.
The sessionstore files are compressed in a Mozilla-specific format, so you can’t open them in a text editor to copy your URLs out. There is no built-in way to export a session.
How BelayTab Fits Into Firefox
Install BelayTab from Firefox Add-ons. It saves windows as named sessions, snapshots them every 5 minutes and on close, and keeps the last 20 versions of each. In Firefox 139 and later it saves and restores tab groups.
Exports are plain JSON, CSV, URL lists or HTML bookmarks, so a session saved in Firefox opens in any other browser.
Firefox doesn’t give extensions a favicon API, so BelayTab shows a fallback icon where it can’t find one.
Firefox Tab Shortcuts
| Action | Mac | Windows / Linux |
|---|---|---|
| Reopen the last closed tab | Cmd+Shift+T | Ctrl+Shift+T |
| Reopen the last closed window | Cmd+Shift+N | Ctrl+Shift+N |
| Open a new tab | Cmd+T | Ctrl+T |
| Close the current tab | Cmd+W | Ctrl+W |
| Jump to the next tab | Ctrl+Tab | Ctrl+Tab |
| Show the History sidebar | Cmd+Shift+H | Ctrl+H |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I restore my previous session in Firefox?
Open the History menu and choose Restore Previous Session. To do it every time, turn on “Open previous windows and tabs” in Settings → General.
Where does Firefox store my open tabs?
In your profile folder, in sessionstore.jsonlz4 and the sessionstore-backups folder. The files are compressed, so you need a tool to read them.
Does BelayTab save Firefox tab groups?
Yes, in Firefox 139 and later. Earlier versions don’t let extensions read tab groups, so BelayTab saves the tabs without their groups.
Why are some site icons missing in BelayTab on Firefox?
Firefox doesn’t offer extensions a favicon API. BelayTab shows a fallback icon when it can’t get one; the saved tabs themselves are unaffected.
Related
- FeaturesHow to Recover Tabs After a Crash, a Close or an UpdateHow to recover tabs in any browser right now, with shortcuts for each. Then how BelayTab snapshots, version history and trash stop you losing them again.
- BrowsersSave and Restore Chrome Tabs, With Automatic BackupsManage Chrome tabs: what Chrome’s own restore, Recent tabs and saved groups do, where they fall short, and how BelayTab keeps your sessions safe.
- BrowsersSave and Restore Edge Tabs, Beyond WorkspacesManage Microsoft Edge tabs: what Workspaces, sleeping tabs and session restore do, what replaced Collections, and how BelayTab adds backups.
- BrowsersSave and Restore Brave Tabs, With Version HistoryManage Brave tabs: what Brave’s session restore and Sync chain do, where they stop, and how BelayTab adds snapshots, history and exports.