Won't restore tabs, lost tabs, where are bookmarks

Browser Support
1

Win 11. Suddenly Brave became very balky, taking minutes to switch windows when before there was no problem. In one window I had over 4000 tabs open, but that was not a problem, and about 12 other windows each with 2 to 5 tabs open. There was the “Update” button in the upper left. I clicked it and it appeared to update. After relaunch it was still balky and slow.

I reinstalled Brave new, right over what was installed. All my tabs and windows were gone. Somehow my bookmarks remained, I hope, although those seem to be less than I remembered.

Even now, when I have maybe 10 tabs in one window and 5 tabs in another window, and that’s all, after closing Brave and starting it again, the “Restore” button appears, but clicking it does not restore those tabs and windows.

What can I do to fix this? Is there anything I can do to retrieve my 4000+ tabs that I had open? I did ZIP the brave-browser directory before installing fresh Brave over the existing one.

What file holds the bookmarks? Where is the file or whatever that had my 4000+ tabs and 12 windows to restore?

2 Likes
2

And, I left out: the mouse cursor sometimes randomly changes from page to page. From the normal pointer, to the left-right arrow, right now on the magnifier with plus sign. What is the problem?

3

And I left out - plugins don’t work.

I will have to completely scrub this off my machine and reinstall. But where are my bookmarks? Where are my missing tabs - or what file contains the list of tabs to be opened next run?

Why aren’t those files just called “bookmarks” and “opentabs” instead of confetti folder and filenames?

4

Stable releases of Brave Browser, can be found at:

https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/blob/master/CHANGELOG_DESKTOP.md

Locations for some items . . .

Brave Browser installation location on Windows OS

Application “brave.exe”

64 architecture

C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\brave.exe

The initial Brave Browser Profile is, by default, named “Profile 1” (unless you change that name → brave://settings/getStarted).

The folder that contains the initial Brave Browser Profile, is the Default folder (a name that you must not change):

C:\Users[UserName]\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\

That path may also be written:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\

If you create 1 additional Profile (aka “Profile 2”), it will be stored in folder Profile 1:

C:\Users[UserName]\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Profile 1\

If you create a 2nd additional Profile (aka “Profile 3”), it will be stored in folder Profile 2:

C:\Users[UserName]\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Profile 2\

IMPORTANT - Replacing Profile folders

When replacing Brave Browser Profile folders:

Folder named Default (including its contents) can only replace its likeness: the folder named Default.

Folder named Profile 1 (including its contents) can only replace its likeness: the folder named Profile 1.

Folder named Profile 2 (including its contents) can only replace its likeness: the folder named Profile 2.

IMPORTANT - Brave Browser Preferences

Some Brave Browser Preferences are stored in the Preferences file:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Preferences

The contents of that Preferences file, are not exactly the contents of, brave://prefs-internals/.

Some Brave Browser Preferences are stored in the Local State file:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Local State

Bookmarks and Bookmarks.bak files:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Bookmarks
%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Bookmarks.bak

Cache (folder):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Cache\

Cookies (file):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Cookies

History (file - usually lots of data):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\History

Brave Browser includes various Components:

Looking over that list, you will find Component IDs that match the names of folders in the Brave-Browser folder:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\

About backups and restoration:

5

Thank you. I did reinstall using the download from the Brave website, which is supposed to be the latest stable version, and the github page directs to that page.
I will have to use Revo and scrub Brave completely off my machine and reinstall.
Where are my 4000+ tabs? Are those somewhere in Default or elsewhere? I have the ZIP file saved from when it was balky but all the tabs were there.

6

In each of the BB user’s profile folders, there is a folder named Sessions.

In the Sessions folder, files like:

  • Session_13382221894366221
  • Tabs_13382477836056428

The long numbers in the file names, are time-and-date info.

I suspect that some senior-ranking, settings-monitoring function keeps track of those numbers.

Meaning, the probability of successfully copying such a Tabs_13382477836056428 file (hoping it is a “known good one”) with intent to replace another such file (possible “bad one”) . . . I do not know, I have never tried.

In the User Data folder, there is a folder named Snapshots.

In the Snapshots folder, other folders with names that match Chromium version numbers - for example:

  • 131.1.73.105
  • 132.1.74.51

Within those folders, there are user profile folders - and within each of those profile folders, Sessions folders containing files like:

  • Session_13382221894366221
  • Tabs_13382477836056428

My two cents are, that the probability of successful replacements of items, is highest by replacing the entire User Data folder of interest. Next highest chance, replacing the entire profile folder of interest.

But you may find, thru some experimentation, what works at more granular levels.

With Brave Browser not running, it is easy to replace the Bookmarks files and expect good results.

Recommended:

. . . and the BraveSoftware folder, if MacOS / Linux OS. User Data folder, if Windows OS.

Every 24 hours.

7

Honestly, that could and should be problematic. While browsers are getting better in terms of suspending tabs, this still would potentially be a lot of drain on your device.

Usually just in session storage/cache. If they are ever important to you, then should always be saved to bookmarks. When you leave just tabs open with no backup, they can be completely lost forever if the browser crashes or anything.

Even for whatever might be left in cache, it will likely be extremely limited and nowhere near your “4000” tabs or so. You could get some of them by opening and Ctrl+Shift+T to reopen previously close tabs, but if you’ve been active on it a while since, then that likely won’t do you much good.

Yeah, likely. To quote from ChatGPT…as I’m not too personally knowledgeable:

  • Navigate to User Data\Default
  • Look for:
  • Last Session
  • Last Tabs
  • Current Session
  • Current Tabs
  • If available, you can try renaming Last Session to Current Session and Last Tabs to Current Tabs, then restart Brave.

And then there’s also:

Brave stores session and tab information in a cache folder. You might be able to restore lost tabs by checking these files:

  • Windows: C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Sessions

Inside the Sessions folder, look for files like:

  • Session_XXXXX (Most recent session)
  • Tabs_XXXXX (Tab data)

If Brave has not overwritten these files, you may be able to restore them by replacing the current session files (while Brave is closed) with an older one.

8

Thank you. (now making 20 characters)

1 Like
9

Thank you. (now making 20 characters again)

10

Your bookmarks are stored in the Bookmarks file located in C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default.

For the 4000+ tabs, session data is in the Sessions folder (C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Sessions). If you have a zipped backup, try restoring the session files (e.g., Current Session, Last Session) by replacing them in the new installation folder.

For performance issues, clear the cache, disable unnecessary extensions, and consider reinstalling Brave while backing up your profile first.

11

Thank you. (now making 20 characters)

12

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.