What is the "Save Tabs" extension and how does it work?

This extension is meant to declutter your browser by removing all the tabs and saving them for later use. It can also be used to free up the memory usage of the opened tabs. To store tabs, use the popup window and select what type of tabs you would like the extension to save. You can either ask the extension to save the current window or all other windows except the current one or all windows altogether. Also, there are three options to ask the extension to close the saved tabs when the session is created. This extension is capable of saving protected sessions as well. When you request a session creation, a dialog window is shown in the popup. In this popup, you can define a name for the current session which is mandatory. Also, you can protect the session with a password. Note that if a session is password protected, there would be absolutely no way to recover the session without having the password. So make sure to remember the password or add a hint to the name of the session to help you remember the password.

To restore a session, use the popup. There is a sessions section that has information about all the saved sessions. You can see the number of tabs in each session, whether the session is password protected or not, and the time when this session is created. Click on the session name to restore it. Note that when the session is clicked, all the tabs and windows in the session are going to be restored while the tab ordering and their pinned status are kept intact. So if you had like three open windows, you will get new three windows when the session is restored on a desktop browser. When a session is fully restored, its data is erased from the extension's storage. If you need to keep the session for later use, use the Shift key while clicking on the session name. This will prevent the extension from erasing the session data when it is fully restored.

What's new in this version?

Please check the Logs section.

How does this extension protect a session data? Is it really safe considering the extension storage can be read easily from the browser console?

Absolutely safe. The extension uses SHA-256 public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt your session data so basically without having the password, there is literally no way to recover the session data.

Can I use this extension to save tabs in one browser and recover them in another browser?

This extension uses synced storage of your browser so if you sync two or more devices then your tab data is shared between these devices. To prevent unauthorized access to your session data, make sure to protect the session with a password. You can have as many passwords as you would like. Just add a hint to the session name to make sure you can remember the password later.

If I save tabs from multiple windows, the extension restores all windows when I restore a session. Is there a way to have all the tabs in a single window instead?

Use the Ctrl (or Command) key while restoring a session to force the extension to restore into the current window. You can combine this key with the Shift key to force restoring to the current window while keeping the session for later use.

What is the use for the "Silent" checkbox in the popup area?

If this button is checked, the extension uses the predefined settings for saving the session without opening the saving dialog. This is useful if you are not interested in the password protection feature of this extension and the default random name for sessions is fine. In this case, you can check this input and you will not get the prompt window before saving anymore.

What is the use for the "Permanent" checkbox in the save dialog window?

If this option is checked, the session will be permanent which means that the extension is not going to delete the session when this particular session is clicked. All the permanent sessions are displayed in a different color for easier detection. For these sessions, there is no need to press the Shift key to prevent the session from being deleted. Note that this checkbox is persistent. So if this checkbox is checked and the silent mode is also enabled, all the subsequent sessions that are saved will be permanent. You can disable this feature anytime later by first unchecking the silent mode to have access to the saving dialog.

Can I import or merge sessions from a different browser's into my current browser?

As of version 0.1.4, there are three new context menu items for the browser action's button. You can export the current sessions to a JSON file, or import a sessions file from a JSON file. You can either overwrite the current sessions or append the sessions from the JSON file into your current list. Also, note that the JSON file format is human readable. You can manually alter the names or remove entries. Make sure to back up the file before playing with it. Also, note that this extension supports synced storage so you can use the browser's sync capability to sync your sessions instead of exporting them and importing to a new machine.

Does this extension respects the Firefox container sandboxing when saving sessions?

As of version 0.1.4, the extension also takes note of the container name that Firefox uses for a tab and use this container name for restoring the tab. Note that if a container does not exist in your browser anymore, the tab will not be created and you will get an error message in the browser console.

What is the meaning of the "Discarded State" checkbox in the popup?

This option can be used for the extension to open background tabs in a discarded mode. Basically in this mode, a tab does is not being loaded until the user focuses the tab. This can be used to minimize resource usage of your browser when restoring a session.

What are the meaning of the "normal" and "single window" items in the popup?

These items let the extension know whether you would like to open the session tabs in their window or you would like to have all the tabs in the currently active window.