Vurdering for Session Boss
Session Boss av William Wng
Vurdering av Firefox user 13880448
Vurdering: 2 av 5
av Firefox user 13880448, 7 år sidanWith the latest update the extension DELETED ALL USER SAVED SESSIONS, destroying a full month's work of extensive reading, carefully selecting and organizing news-sources for a series of very important -to be published- news research articles.
No way to track back all those various sources
REPLY:
It's actually been more than a month's work, I had been using Firefox's function to restore open tabs on startup.
When I used your extension, I saved this information in User Sessions, to be sure.
Since then I've been rarely using Firefox's function to open last session on startup, in order to avoid unnecessary burden on the system. but I had it enabled when the 'incident' happened.
What happened was
1) all User saved Session were deleted, not visible to the extension no more.
2) At the same time, on opening last session with FF (built-in function), the "open tabs" of the previous session were opened, but their URL was empty...
...that is, the number of tabs of previous session were opened, but they were all "new tab" tabs...
...and then Session Boss, started automatically saving the new, empty sessions.
It may have been an issue that came up with the joint upgrade of Firefox AND Session Boss...
...,maybe you could try reproducing the issue this way...
However I did NOT reset the browser or anything, nor were the data of ANY other extension messed with.
I am not operating different user profiles on Firefox.
I also upgraded to last FF version on my other computers, where "last session" (built-in function) was not messed with
I found the extension data file you speak of named "storage.js".
HOW CAN I USE IT TO TRY TO RESTORE WHATEVER DATA IT HAS?
I fear it will have saved the "empty" automatic back-up session, and overwritten the previous healthy one.
Can you provide some directions?
REPLY 2:
Unfortunately all the User and Automatically saved sessions prior to updating were deleted, no way to retrieve it.
I asked at FF Support and they suggested the following:
"Session Boss and Tab Session Manager use a single file named storage.js and it's certainly possible the file became corrupted.....
I think this may be an issue that needs to be escalated because extensions may store many kinds of data that no one wants to lose in a crash.
Firefox allows extensions to use database storage as well as the storage.json file, so extension authors could use that for backups from time to time. I don't know how much complexity that would add."
Maybe something to consider?
Also, an "export" function seems necessary, for safety.
REPLY 3
I understand, and I didn't mean to provide discouragement, but I have to state what I experienced....spend a 4-5 days frantically searching online for some sort of solution.
Not there yet, but I was able to get some previously saved sessions from the the browser's sessionstore-backup folder...
Still need to compare and merge files together, but I am not in that same desperate state.
I can provide no suggestions on a technical level whatsoever.
Your extension is the best I came across for Firefox Quantum, but early in the development issue still have to be resolved.
QUESTION
- Is it possible to save separate sessions to distinct session files?
Or is it necessary to save all sessions under a single file?
My - uneducated - thinking is, perhaps the danger of losing past session might be smaller if the current session was being worked on separately from previous ones.
...don't really know...
No way to track back all those various sources
REPLY:
It's actually been more than a month's work, I had been using Firefox's function to restore open tabs on startup.
When I used your extension, I saved this information in User Sessions, to be sure.
Since then I've been rarely using Firefox's function to open last session on startup, in order to avoid unnecessary burden on the system. but I had it enabled when the 'incident' happened.
What happened was
1) all User saved Session were deleted, not visible to the extension no more.
2) At the same time, on opening last session with FF (built-in function), the "open tabs" of the previous session were opened, but their URL was empty...
...that is, the number of tabs of previous session were opened, but they were all "new tab" tabs...
...and then Session Boss, started automatically saving the new, empty sessions.
It may have been an issue that came up with the joint upgrade of Firefox AND Session Boss...
...,maybe you could try reproducing the issue this way...
However I did NOT reset the browser or anything, nor were the data of ANY other extension messed with.
I am not operating different user profiles on Firefox.
I also upgraded to last FF version on my other computers, where "last session" (built-in function) was not messed with
I found the extension data file you speak of named "storage.js".
HOW CAN I USE IT TO TRY TO RESTORE WHATEVER DATA IT HAS?
I fear it will have saved the "empty" automatic back-up session, and overwritten the previous healthy one.
Can you provide some directions?
REPLY 2:
Unfortunately all the User and Automatically saved sessions prior to updating were deleted, no way to retrieve it.
I asked at FF Support and they suggested the following:
"Session Boss and Tab Session Manager use a single file named storage.js and it's certainly possible the file became corrupted.....
I think this may be an issue that needs to be escalated because extensions may store many kinds of data that no one wants to lose in a crash.
Firefox allows extensions to use database storage as well as the storage.json file, so extension authors could use that for backups from time to time. I don't know how much complexity that would add."
Maybe something to consider?
Also, an "export" function seems necessary, for safety.
REPLY 3
I understand, and I didn't mean to provide discouragement, but I have to state what I experienced....spend a 4-5 days frantically searching online for some sort of solution.
Not there yet, but I was able to get some previously saved sessions from the the browser's sessionstore-backup folder...
Still need to compare and merge files together, but I am not in that same desperate state.
I can provide no suggestions on a technical level whatsoever.
Your extension is the best I came across for Firefox Quantum, but early in the development issue still have to be resolved.
QUESTION
- Is it possible to save separate sessions to distinct session files?
Or is it necessary to save all sessions under a single file?
My - uneducated - thinking is, perhaps the danger of losing past session might be smaller if the current session was being worked on separately from previous ones.
...don't really know...
Svar frå utviklaren
posta 7 år sidanSorry to hear about that. Hope your bookmarks and history can provide some ways to look back on the sites you visited. It's curious how an extension released two weeks ago (3/6/2018) can facilitate a full month of hardcore research work already. But anyway, I'm sorry you lost your work and hope you can recover your links.
Anyway, I have tried to replicate the problem. I had a fresh install of Firefox, installed Session Boss 1.0, saved lots of tabs and windows and sessions, and upgraded to 1.1. The old sessions were still there. Then upgraded to 1.2. The old sessions were still there. I've tried these on both Firefox 57 and the latest 59. Same result.
Session Boss stores data in Firefox's profile folder, see the "Browser extension storage and offline backup" section on where the extension data file is. See if the data file is still there. The extension data file can be backed up offline.
Since the extension data file is tied to the profile, using a different Firefox profile will not see the original saved session. See if you are using a different profile when upgrading.
Refresh Firefox would also wipe out all extension data.
Reply2:
- Can you use Undo to get back to a previous snapshot of the user sessions? There are left and right arrows at the top of the extension popup UI, in the middle of the top bar. The left arrow is for Undo.
- Does the Auto Backup Sessions have one of your older sessions? Auto backup session is saved in addition to the older backup sessions. Even if the current browser has empty pages and is backed up, the older backed up sessions still have the data.
Reply3:
It's quite concerning regarding FF support's reply on the data file managed by Firefox being corrupted. As extension developers, we use the storage API Firefox provided to store data. We don't know nor should we care whether Firefox uses one file, multiple files, or a database to implement the API to store data. We trust Firefox would do a good job to provide a reliable implementation to the API. In fact, none of the documentation on the API [1] mentions any of the implementation detail. Nor does it have any warning about its reliability. I mean if it's unreliable, they should put a warning there. It's just a big waste of time.
For now, please back up the storage.json file periodically, till I figure out what's the next step. Only started to do development for Firefox and it's not very encouraging...
[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/storage/local
Reply4 to QUESTION:
- I have no control over saving the data to one file or to separate files. The Firefox implementation makes that decision underneath. In fact I've already designed data versioning into the extension - any user changes are stored as a new snapshot version while the old versions are not touched, to avoid accidental overwrite. That's why Undo/Redo functionality can work to roll back changes. But all that precaution are meaningless if Firefox storing everything in one file underneath.
Anyway, I need to figure out the next steps.
Anyway, I have tried to replicate the problem. I had a fresh install of Firefox, installed Session Boss 1.0, saved lots of tabs and windows and sessions, and upgraded to 1.1. The old sessions were still there. Then upgraded to 1.2. The old sessions were still there. I've tried these on both Firefox 57 and the latest 59. Same result.
Session Boss stores data in Firefox's profile folder, see the "Browser extension storage and offline backup" section on where the extension data file is. See if the data file is still there. The extension data file can be backed up offline.
Since the extension data file is tied to the profile, using a different Firefox profile will not see the original saved session. See if you are using a different profile when upgrading.
Refresh Firefox would also wipe out all extension data.
Reply2:
- Can you use Undo to get back to a previous snapshot of the user sessions? There are left and right arrows at the top of the extension popup UI, in the middle of the top bar. The left arrow is for Undo.
- Does the Auto Backup Sessions have one of your older sessions? Auto backup session is saved in addition to the older backup sessions. Even if the current browser has empty pages and is backed up, the older backed up sessions still have the data.
Reply3:
It's quite concerning regarding FF support's reply on the data file managed by Firefox being corrupted. As extension developers, we use the storage API Firefox provided to store data. We don't know nor should we care whether Firefox uses one file, multiple files, or a database to implement the API to store data. We trust Firefox would do a good job to provide a reliable implementation to the API. In fact, none of the documentation on the API [1] mentions any of the implementation detail. Nor does it have any warning about its reliability. I mean if it's unreliable, they should put a warning there. It's just a big waste of time.
For now, please back up the storage.json file periodically, till I figure out what's the next step. Only started to do development for Firefox and it's not very encouraging...
[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/storage/local
Reply4 to QUESTION:
- I have no control over saving the data to one file or to separate files. The Firefox implementation makes that decision underneath. In fact I've already designed data versioning into the extension - any user changes are stored as a new snapshot version while the old versions are not touched, to avoid accidental overwrite. That's why Undo/Redo functionality can work to roll back changes. But all that precaution are meaningless if Firefox storing everything in one file underneath.
Anyway, I need to figure out the next steps.
133 vurderingar
- Vurdering: 5 av 5av harogaston, 4 månader sidanFeature complete. Works excellent. Saved my day many times and helps with organization.
- Vurdering: 1 av 5av SedUz, 10 månader sidanDoesn't work at all. This extension is useless and can't save any session. Doesn't support private windows and GUI is buggy.
I don't get it what you have updated there 3 months ago, but it simply doesn't work. - Vurdering: 5 av 5av bege1, eit år sidanI recommend this session manager rather than the one that Mozilla recommends.
Session Boss saves sessions automatically when changes happen, not in a fix time schedule. No unnecessary backups and nothing gets lost.
You can decide whether to keep or remove the current tabs right when restoring a session. It is not bound to a fix setting.
I am very contented with this session manager. - Vurdering: 1 av 5av Rujin parker, eit år sidanTL;DR The extension current state as of 11-Jul-24 is slow, functionally insufficient, visually unappealing, & Unreliable.
Session Boss is a poorly executed session manager that hinders user experience due to performance bottlenecks, feature deficiencies, and an outdated design & interface. infact it's a prime e.g. why people flee to better tab managing browsers ecosystems (chromium native support for tab management is not great but the extension support to manipulate the behavior makes up for it)
The extension's performance issues are particularly egregious when dealing with large numbers of tabs. A session with 1,500 tabs took over 30 agonizing minutes to restore using Session Boss. In contrast, Firefox's native solution (about:sessionrestore) accomplished the same feat in mere seconds. takes a minute or 2 to completely do its job of restoring the tabs with their associated groups in the tree style tab with no laggy experience at all. Otherwise it does what it suppose to do. backs up your tabs & its structure by both on schedule & change basis but in order to do that it consumes too much CPU making your browsing miserable. i.e. not optimized for a session manager.
Furthermore, the extension's performance woes extend beyond session restoration. General browsing becomes sluggish, and video playback is plagued by stuttering and lag. & worse it makes tree style tab slow & laggy. which makes it even more frustrating.
Session Boss boasts a feature set that can only be described as rudimentary. It's as if the developer took a core concept and then deliberately stripped it down to its bare bones.
- Basic Operations: The extension lacks fundamental capabilities like selecting multiple tabs for moving, copying, cutting, pasting tabs between sessions, and merging or splitting sessions. These are essential functions for any modern session manager.
-- Duplicate Tabs: Identifying and managing duplicate tabs is a nightmare. There's no built-in mechanism to distinguish between identical tabs, let alone group or remove them.
-- Import/Export: A critical omission is the absence of robust import/export options. The extension cannot import session data from popular alternatives like Chrome's TabXpert or Firefox's Tab Session Manager, nor can it utilize Firefox's native backup files (.jsonlz4, .baklz4). also, Non-existent CSV support. This limitation hampers user experience and restricts data transfer capabilities. & also significantly reduces the extension's utility.
- Organization: Session Boss offers no tools for organizing tabs within a session. There's no option to sort tabs by domain, URL, title, or most recently used. After searching for tabs, there is no way to select and manage multiple tabs across different sessions. This makes managing large numbers of tabs an exercise in frustration.
Coming down to the user interface of Session Boss is outdated and visually unappealing as already said above. It clashes with Firefox's modern design language, creating a jarring and unprofessional look. The extension's slow response times (specifically when deleting the sessions) exacerbate the overall poor user experience. I suggest the Dev. to take a look at partizion.io & tabXpert both of them are great session manager & tab manager in every way. Performance wise, UI/UX wise, Feature Wise, Support wise. plz give them a look.
Data Loss: The extension exhibited alarming instability during testing. In one instance, all saved sessions were mysteriously deleted after a system crash. This is an unacceptable level of unreliability for a session manager. Session Boss's on-change basis and scheduled saving functions conflict, causing delays and additional issues. Re-enabling the extension after disabling it resulted in losing all session data & making the extension unresponsive.
As it stands, this extension is in its infancy and requires extensive work before it can be considered a viable session manager for daily use. - Vurdering: 2 av 5av Jay, 2 år sidanIt does fine in remembering the tabs and windows I saved but when i backup a session and try to reopen it it only opens 10-50% of the tabs i had open, and i have to do the rest manually.
- Vurdering: 5 av 5av Firefox user 18285282, 2 år sidanBetter than session buddy, the best session manager
Edit: LIMITED SESSION SAVES - 2 THUMBS DOWN - Vurdering: 1 av 5av Firefox user 18187107, 2 år sidanUsed to work fine until it randomly decided to wipe all my tabs. Nothing could be recovered. Stay away!
- Vurdering: 5 av 5av Firefox user 17861056, 2 år sidanAmazing. Best alternative to Session Buddy in Firefox. Supports Tree Style Tabs also. Perfect! I wish it could also restore favicons.
- Vurdering: 5 av 5av Firefox user 16024671, 3 år sidanVery good, saved me several times. It should be kept up-to-date. Automatic Scheduled Exports would be nice...
- Vurdering: 2 av 5av Mata, 3 år sidan
- Vurdering: 2 av 5av Shenandoah, 3 år sidan
- Vurdering: 1 av 5av laurentparis, 3 år sidanUsed to work ok but today ALL my saved user sessions simply vanished. With no apparent means to recover them. Thousands of tabs lost.
- Vurdering: 2 av 5av dafFDasd, 3 år sidanHas option to open full page view as default. But no closing tabs nor windows is possible.
- Vurdering: 4 av 5av Seak T. F., 3 år sidanEverything (GUI, etc) is nice. Except that it seems like it's unable to sync across computer, right?
- Vurdering: 5 av 5av Firefox user 14983551, 3 år sidanIntially had the the problem off rare moments where all User sessions would get deleted from a crash or update. Incredible plugin though, i love it. Just make sure you get into the habit of always exporting (backing up) all your user sessions few times a week. Nevetheless, perfect plugin.
- Vurdering: 4 av 5av Hand-J, 3 år sidanits really great if i can merge session, remove duplicate and many operation to clearing up and summarizing my session.... and i cant make storing size more than 99 sessioan?
- Vurdering: 5 av 5av SouzaRM, 4 år sidanExcellent purpose.
Phenomenal UI/UX!
Unfortunately it has not been updated since Jun 7, 2019 (V. 2.11.2).
Effusive congratulations to the developer. - Vurdering: 4 av 5av T-01, 4 år sidanIt's good, IMHO the best session manager for Firefox, but the problem is, it just lost all the saved sessions for no apparent reason -- and no, I don't have other profiles, I just checked.
To be fair, most (all?) other session managers seem to do that from time to time, at least judging by user reviews. Perhaps it's more of a Firefox thing than this extension's fault, I don't really know. So it's four stars on trust because I don't know who's to blame.
I wonder how does one make automated backups outside of Firefox to work around this issue. Is it enough to copy the files under browser-extension-data/sessionboss@william.wong? Can they be safely copied while the extension is running, or is that looking for trouble? Or can the export be automated somehow?
Besides this, there's a minor UI annoyance: the buttons icons, which look right in the screenshots, for some reason look horrible here, as if they are being badly resized. - Vurdering: 5 av 5av nomoreoperaforme, 4 år sidanThis is an excellent add-on but it took me some time how to work it out. Not the most intuitive of apps. But has saved the day a few times now. Best of the session restorers i have tried.
- Vurdering: 5 av 5av Firefox user 16798532, 4 år sidanIt is somewhat slow in my device, but I just have 4 gb. I love this extension, I'm always use it to order all of my different kind of works.
- Vurdering: 4 av 5av PBC, 4 år sidanAfter closing Firefox I found a pop-up window from Microsoft was still open. Closing that saved it as my last session so I lost all my pinned tabs. Thanks to Session Boss, I was able to export the current session on my other PC then import it to this one. Everything has been recovered including favicons. Brilliant!
The only downside was that Firefox identified a couple of tabs as having errors and would not allow them to be restored. - Vurdering: 5 av 5av Andrew, 5 år sidanI use this mainly before closing Firefox before rebooting my computer. The user session save works really well. I live how it saves the container tab being used. Great work - thank you!