Restore Grouped Tabs

Question

Hi there,

I have seemed to have lost all my grouped tabs I worked very hard to get. None of the other suggestions have helped so far with restoring them. Is there a way I can contact Microsoft for help with this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi, this happened to me recently as well. Luckily I managed to find the log of tabs that open on browser startup. It turns out that when the browser starts, it doesn't make a request to the web pages of the restored tabs, it just leaves them there without loading (until you click on them). When the browser loads them, it throws a message to the log, and the page is logged, along with the date from when it tried to "load" the page.

This log saved my life and thousands of hours!!!, it is located at:

*C:\Users%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\EDGE_PROFILE_NAME*\Workspaces\Logs

%USERNAME% is your windows user name, ex. "MikuLover", it will be automatically pasted with the magic of variables, just leave it as %USERNAME%. Also, you can get there by typing %LOCALAPPDATA% an then going to *\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\EDGE_PROFILE_NAME*\Workspaces\Logs

*EDGE_PROFILE_NAME* is your edge browser profile name, for me it was "Profile 1", so you simply change *EDGE_PROFILE_NAME* to "Profile 1" (only if it's your profile name). Theres a lot of folders under **\User Data**, so its a bit hard to guess which folder is for your edge profile..

in the end, your log location should look a bit like:

C:\Users%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Workspaces\Logs

or a short one:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Workspaces\Logs

You can find your pages logged, with the date and so on, here is an example of a tab log:

{"logTime": "0627/233905", {"lineNo":0,"logLevel":2,"message":"Validation Log - URL = https: // www . learn . microsoft . com/en-us/nuget/api/registration-base-url-resource#registration-leaf-object-in-a-page - Message = Navigation not sent because it was restored from a previous session.","source":"Fluid Local Collaborator","timestamp":"2025-06-27T23:39:05.205Z"}}

If you want to filter your URLs from the log, and get non-duplicates follow the next instructions:

Search for "Windows PowerShell" in the windows search bar (WIN+S) and open it, you don't need to run it as administrator.

paste the following script on the console:

# change here for your full location...
$your_x_location = "$($env:USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Workspaces\logs"

# alternative locations:
# $your_x_location = "$($env:USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Sessions"
# $your_x_location = "$($env:USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Sync Data\LevelDB"
# remove '#' to execute code.
# Try '\Sessions\' folder for better luck, and finally '\Sync Data\LevelDB\' (although I wouldn't be so sure it would be useful)

$LINKS = Get-ChildItem -path $your_x_location -recurse | Where-Object Attributes -EQ "Archive" | ForEach-Object {
    ($_ | Get-Content | Select-string 'https*://([\w\-._~:/?#[\]@!$&''()%*+,;=]*)').Matches.Value
}

# write your URLs to console (ignore duplicates)
$LINKS | Sort-Object -unique

voilá

Select your URLs and press Ctrl+C to copy them.

Or simply paste the next script, and put ALL LINKS inside your clipboard, then you can paste them with Ctrl+V:

# normal copy
$LINKS | Select-Object -unique | Set-Clipboard

#
# Alternative Copy
# 
# sort and copy
# $LINKS | Sort-Object -unique | Set-Clipboard
# copy all links (with duplicates)
# $LINKS | Set-Clipboard
#

---

There's also a DataBase (LevelDB Database) which contains all the details about your Group Tabs (tabs inside it, tab titles, urls, etc.) under the following location:

C:\Users%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Sync Data\LevelDB

There you can find your Group Tabs, along with its Tabs, only if you have not manually closed/deleted them.

If you close a Tab from any Group Tab, then your DB will be immediately updated. You can retrieve all your Group Tabs from this DB, ONLY if you didn't close them manually. So, if your Tabs/Group Tabs simply disappeared, they are still inside it.

You will need to use a Database Manager to open it.

Note: with LevelDB, the whole folder, named 'LevelDB', IS the Database.

I have written the following script to read your DB and retrieve every URL inside it:

(since this is a DB, and not plain text, your URLs might have weird symbols contained on them)

# change here for your full location...
$your_level_db_location = "$($env:USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Sync Data\LevelDB"

$LINKS = Get-ChildItem -path $your_level_db_location "*.ldb" | ForEach-Object {
    ($_ | Get-Content | Select-string 'https*://([\w\-._~:/?#[\]@!$&''()%*+,;=]+)(?=\")').Matches.Value
}

# write your URLs to console (ignore duplicates)
$LINKS | Select-Object -unique

As an alternative, if you don't succeed in getting the amount of URLs that you were expecting, you can try the following script:

# change here for your full location...
$your_level_db_location = "$($env:USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Sync Data\LevelDB"

$LINKS = Get-ChildItem -path $your_level_db_location "*.ldb" | ForEach-Object {
    ($_ | Get-Content | Select-string 'https*://([\w\-._~:/?#[\]@!$&''()%*+,;=]+)').Matches.Value
}

# write your URLs to console (ignore duplicates)
$LINKS | Select-Object -unique

You can also try to read the .log under LevelDB, and get missed urls.

Here i will leave a script to list every URL from the .log file inside the folder **\LevelDB**:

# change here for your full location...
$your_level_db_location = "$($env:USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Profile 1\Sync Data\LevelDB"

$LINKS = Get-ChildItem -path $your_level_db_location "*.log" | ForEach-Object {
    ($_ | Get-Content | Select-string 'https*://([\w\-._~:/?#[\]@!$&''()%*+,;=]+)(?=\*)').Matches.Value
}

# write your URLs to console (ignore duplicates)
$LINKS | Select-Object -unique

#
# alternative method (less filtering)
# remove initials '#' to run...
# $LINKS = Get-ChildItem -path $your_level_db_location "*.log" | ForEach-Object {
#     ($_ | Get-Content | Select-string 'https*://([\w\-._~:/?#[\]@!$&''()%*+,;=]+)').Matches.Value
# }
# write your URLs to console (ignore duplicates)
# $LINKS | Select-Object -unique
#

(also, just found out this .log will be updated along your Group Tabs. So, if your group tabs are missing or you closed them, you can't retrieve them from this .log file. Give it a try anyway, maybe this .log file still has your Group Tabs, you never know).

Hope it helps. Good Luck!

Answer 2

Hello, 

Welcome to the Microsoft Community. 

Thank you for reaching out regarding the loss of your grouped tabs. I understand how important your work is, and I’m here to help. 
 
First, may I confirm which browser you are using? 
If you are using Microsoft Edge, here are a few steps you can try to restore your grouped tabs: 
 
1. Check for Recently Closed Tabs or Windows: 

• Click the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of Edge.
• Go to History.
• Look for any recently closed windows or groups and try reopening them.

2. Restore from a Previous Session: 

• If Edge was closed unexpectedly, you may see a prompt to restore your previous session when you reopen the browser.
• If you don’t see the prompt, you can try going to History as above.

3. Sync Across Devices: 

• If you have Edge sync enabled and use the same Microsoft account on another device, your tabs may be recoverable there.

4. Check for Edge Updates: 

• Make sure you are running the latest version of Microsoft Edge, as updates may fix issues with tab groups.

5. Contacting Microsoft Support: 
If the above steps do not help, you can contact Microsoft Edge Support for further assistance: 

• Microsoft Edge Support: 
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge
• Contact Microsoft Support: 
  https://support.microsoft.com/contactus

Please note: 
Once tabs or tab groups are closed and not recoverable via the History menu, they may not be restorable unless you have a backup or are using a session manager extension. 

Best regards, 

Huy-K | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 3

There was a recent update (during the last week) of Microsoft Edge. That update also made me think that I lost my tab groups, because when I opened Edge, the tab groups were not seen any more where they used to be. In the past, when tab groups vanished, I used to recover them using option 1 above from Huy-K. But this time, after this update, my tab groups weren't listed under "History" either. I just could not find my tab groups, until I did. (This solution, my opinion, should be added as option 6)

This latest update of Edge, in my case, is Version 138.0.3351.55 (Official build) (64-bit).

There are two ways:

1st way: This version has a small icon in the favourites bar called "Tab groups". (When you hover over it, that's when it shows that name.) Clicking on it shows you your tab groups. (The Favourites bar is the bar just under the address bar, which may or may not show depending on your settings) That "Tab groups" icon is visible in the Favourites bar depending on whether there is a tick next to "Show tab groups" in the Favourites menu.

2nd way: Another place to find your tab groups, is in the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of Edge. Just under the menu item "History" you'll find "Tab groups" (with the same small icon mentioned above). I am not sure whether this used to be there before last week, but that's one of the ways I could find my treasured Tab groups.

I am now looking for information on how to best work this new approach to Tab groups, because it works differently from before last week. The sort order is different; it's neither alphabetical, nor chronological and different to the manual order I had created. So, I'd like to find out how to re-order them. By the say, looking up this question is how I bumped into this topic here.

Also, when in the list of Tab groups, you select a group, the group then comes back to the old place where your tabs used to be. But, only that one, not the others. I wanted to figure out how to deal with the new way of working.

It appears that this new way has a benefit concerning memory use, which is an improvement. So, I wanted to know how to remove that re-opened tab group from the Tabs (to save memory as intended), without losing the tab group altogether. It turns out, for this, you right-click on the opened tab group, and select "Close grouped tabs". The group will be removed from your Tabs, but you can later still find that closed group in the list of Tab groups as explained in my 1st paragraph.

My first paragraph here deals with the answer to the topic. My 2nd paragraph comes as a result of it.

I hope it helps you.

Answer 4

Hi Kara,

This may help you recover some of your tabs. I lost all my 300 plus Tabs across 8 different Windows when I forgot to press the Restore button option which appeared, as usual. after I turned my computer back on (obviously this solution still works even if you don't get the Restore button option come up at all when you turn your computer back or even if your Tabs just disappear for whatever reason):-

1. DO NOT CLOSE YOUR COMPUTER AND DO NOT CLOSE THE EDGE BROWSER!! or you will very likely lose the Session and Tab files containing your lost Tabs, as Microsoft in its infinite wisdom only keeps your last closed browsing session, so they will be deleted and replaced if you shut Edge.
2. In Edge, just hit the three dots (top right), then "Settings", then “Start home and new tab page” then on that page make sure it definitelylooks exactly as below, i.e. that the “Open tabs from the previous session” is showing as checked, exactly as mine is below, that is what makes it look at the session and tabs files page to pick up your last session every time Edge is restarted, so if that particular option isn't checked my solution cannot work!! - just in case Edge has, for some reason, during a reset or who knows what other reason, changed your option to either of the other two options, which may well be what has just caused your problem in the first place!!So, please, ALWAYS check this first - even if you are certain it will be on that setting already!!!:-

3. Run this command:- c:\users\enter your own username here\appdata\local\microsoft\edge\user data\Default\sessions
4. On the resulting File Explorer page you will see either 2 (or possibly 3) Session file lines and Tab file lines. Your lost Session file you need will be easy to spot as it will be much larger than the other Session files showing, in my case it was 9 MB, and the Tab file I needed was also larger than the other Tab files, they will both also very likely be the oldest files showing. This page is the page the Edge browser refers itself to when it offers to “Restore Tabs”, and all it is doing is simply offering to restore the Session and Tab files that you last closed and are showing on this page. So, - BUT DO NOT DO THIS YET!!! - NOT TILL YOU REACH STEP 6 BELOW!!! - you simply need to delete from this page all the NEWER session and tab files showing, just leaving your (lost) OLD Session and Tab files showing, and Edge will then, when it restarts, simply pick up on these and offer to restore them! Job done!!!!
5. End the Edge browser App in Task Manager. It is just the one Edge line in the “Apps section” at the top of Task Manager you need to shut, not the hundreds in the section below 😀.
6. Make sure the Edge browser has shut completely, and you can now go back to the above Session and Tab files page (Point 3 above), and NOW, simply, (but choosing carefully!!) delete all the newerSession and Tab files I refer to in Step 4 above, leaving only your older, larger, lost, Session file and Tab file you want Edge to offer to restore, showing on the page. You also, by the way, do NOT have to do what Chris MacGregor says in the Chrome link MSPaint4Life refers you to on a similar Microsoft question about reopening lost tabs, where he says you have to copy the names of the new Session and Tab files onto the old Session and Tab files you wish to reactivate. I reasoned that that would not be necessary as you are deleting the newer files from the only page Edge looks at when is offers to restore Tabs anyway, so it will purely look at only your old Session and Tab files left on the page and simply offer to re-open those, the name on them would be irrelevant to it, and that is indeed exactly what happened when I reopened Edge and it restored my old session perfectly without any need to rename them.
7. Final step, having deleted the newer Session and Tab files, leaving only the older Session and Tab files (the ones you wish to restore), simply re-open Edge browser, and for me (as it should do for you!), it opened with a new Tab page, as usual, and came up with the usual “Restore Tabs” option, which I remembered to click this time!! 🤣🤣🤣, and, to my amazement I immediately got all my lost hundreds of Tabs and 8 separate Windows ALLre-opened!!!😁😁😁😁 – EXACTLY as they were before! - I could not believe I had finally found something which actually worked!!! After having lost all my Tabs and been totally unable to recover them on SO MANY!!! previous occasions!! - I was absolutely ECSTATIC!!!!! - hopefully you will have the same joy too!!!🤞🤞🤞🤞

UPDATE!- On point 7, as you probably know, you will probably not get the “Restore Tabs" option come up any longer as Microsoft have changed it, and now, every time you restart Edge, all the Windows and Tabs should now just restore automatically/fairly instantly without having to click on any “Restore Tabs" message - as long as you have made sure the option is checked in point 2 above of course 😀.

Answer 5

Hi Miku,

When I run your command

\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Workspaces\Logs

it doesn't take me anywhere and I get this failure message come up, does there not need to be something before "\AppData" does it need my username inserted somewhere? or "c:\users" or something after "Logs"? I have tried adding various things but I always get exactly the same failure message below, please can you clarify, Many thanks.