Open with last tabs does not work

[ChrisKa]

MacOS 11.2.3 German on a 2021 MacBook Pro 13 M1

I have again the problem that when I close Safari/Chrome/Opera/Edge and open again all open tabs are gone.
- when I click the yellow - button the tabs are still there
- when I click (by mistake) the red X button the browsers open with a new tab and all previous are gone
All browsers has the option "Open With Last Tabs" activated, but still tabs are not saved and will not open again.
As I need to have 5-15 tabs open it is very annoying to reopen them all each time I open the browser.
I guess that there is a problem with permissions but as it is my first Mac i can't find the solution for that problem.

Thanks in advance

Chris

 

[smargendorf]

I have been trying to figure out the same problem for a while too actually. All of my browsers have the "save tabs" option clicked, but they never do. They always open to the home page.

In fact, even non-browser programs such as VScode are having the same problem too, and I can't find a solution anywhere. I am using a M1 air that I got a few weeks ago, and it has stumped me.

I had not thought of it being a permissions problem though. I will try looking into that.

 

[ChrisKa]

Thanks smargendorf for your reply!
Good to know that i am not the only one with this annoying problem.
As far it seems that problem occur only on some machines but it's on all browsers on the market.,
I also installed the Safari Technology Preview what is awesome fast but the püroblem persists.
I will a open a suppoert ticket at Apple to see what they say and if i find a solution i will post it here.
Have a great Dayè!
Chris

 

[smargendorf]

Let me know what you find!

 

[smargendorf]

Ok so I figured out what is wrong, at least for me. Turns out that it's actually the expected behavior on MacOS. Pressing the red x on a program "closes" the program, rather than "quitting" the program. On other operating systems, these are the same thing, but on macOS, they are not (for some reason).

So, to save tabs in safari (or any browser), you have to "quit" the program but right clicking it on the dock and choosing "quit", or by using the "quit" shortcut (command-q). If you "close" a program, it will not save where you were.

Honestly I see no use at all in the "close" function to begin with. There seems to be programs out there that make the red x "quit" rather than "close".

Hope this helps.

 

[2021]

An application is not the same as a window belonging to the application. An app may have one window, none or multiple. Some apps quit when the last window is closed.

Safari may have multiple windows and it doesn't quit. Safari windows are better understood as organisational units, you may either minimise it with the yellow button or close it with the red one, or you can hide the application entirely without closing any windows with command-h. macOS window management may seem cumbersome but it makes complete sense in the end.

When you call the app after the last window was closed it opens a new window, but you can restore the last closed window with shift-command-t. This will restore your tabs if you accidentally closed the window instead of minimizing. If you closed the last window and moved to a different application, you can return to safari without opening a new window with command-tab.

 

[rohitkashyap]

Is this issue resolved for you guys now? I am still facing it, and hating Mac each day because of it.

Any way to put an official bug report with Mac OS's team? I'm relatively new to mac, so am not aware of how to go about it.

 

[callistasgraves]

An application is not the same as a window belonging to the application. An app may have one window, none or multiple. Some apps quit when the last window is closed.

Safari may have multiple windows and it doesn't quit. Safari windows are better understood as organisational units, you may either minimise it with the yellow button or close it with the red one, or you can hide the application entirely without closing any windows with command-h. macOS window management may seem cumbersome but it makes complete sense in the end.

When you call the app after the last window was closed it opens a new window, but you can restore the last closed window with shift-command-t. This will restore your tabs if you accidentally closed the window instead of minimizing. If you closed the last window and moved to a different application, you can return to safari without opening a new window with command-tab.

This happens to not be relevant for me, as no matter what I do, my tabs do not save between sessions, even if I only "close" Safari, and not quit, I lose all tabs. It's absolutely infuriating.

 

[Gregg2]

@callistasgraves
Did you read post #5 above? Closing the Safari window will ensure that you will not get your open tabs back when you open a new window. In normal behavior, quitting Safari can enable restoring to the previous session's tabs. At the very least, those tabs should be available by selecting Reopen All Windows from Last Session in the History drop-down menu. I don't know if that will work after closing but not quitting, but you could try it and find out.

 

[callistasgraves]

@callistasgraves
Did you read post #5 above? Closing the Safari window will ensure that you will not get your open tabs back when you open a new window. In normal behavior, quitting Safari can enable restoring to the previous session's tabs. At the very least, those tabs should be available by selecting Reopen All Windows from Last Session in the History drop-down menu. I don't know if that will work after closing but not quitting, but you could try it and find out.

I did read it, and it still does not work correctly for me.

 

[Hippie chick]

Ok so I figured out what is wrong, at least for me. Turns out that it's actually the expected behavior on MacOS. Pressing the red x on a program "closes" the program, rather than "quitting" the program. On other operating systems, these are the same thing, but on macOS, they are not (for some reason).

So, to save tabs in safari (or any browser), you have to "quit" the program but right clicking it on the dock and choosing "quit", or by using the "quit" shortcut (command-q). If you "close" a program, it will not save where you were.

Honestly I see no use at all in the "close" function to begin with. There seems to be programs out there that make the red x "quit" rather than "close".

Hope this helps.

Thank you for posting this explanation. This post and the one right below yours helped me out so much today with a new understanding as well as a few shortcut tricks. This issue was really stumping me. I thought the answer was to go into the Safari setting and change the setting to 'open all windows from last sessions', but it actually didn't do anything...and that's because I was using the red circle and 'closing' the app. I'm a new Macbook owner and this 'close vs. quit' issue is so different than what I am used to doing (on my pc and my iPad). Now I know how to make sure I don't lose my tabs. Thank you!

 

[Gregg2]

Hmm. But for the person who posted just above your post, it didn't work. That's very curious.