868351 - Firefox Will Not Save Open Tabs When Closing Window (CMD+SHIFT+W) with "Show windows and tabs from last time" Enabled. (Mac OS X)

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Session Restore, defect)

Description

[invertedrat]

Reproducing: 

1) Install Firefox on OS X and ensure "Show windows and tabs from last time" in the general tab of preferences is enabled.
2) Open two or more tabs.
3) Click the red "X" close button on the Firefox window or press CMD+SHIFT+W.

EXPECTED behavior: Firefox should close the window silently and restore its tabs next time a new window is opened or Firefox is restarted.

ACTUAL behavior: Firefox displays the message "Confirm close   You are about to close X tabs. Are you sure you want to continue?"

Workaround: If I quit Firefox (CMD+W) instead of simply closing the window, it behaves exactly as outlined in EXPECTED behavior above.

Comment 1

[Lincoln Ramsay]

I came here because someone said my bug (1230852) was somewhat related to this one.

I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding of the way Mac apps work going on here. Closing a window is NOT the same as quitting the app for a document-centric, even if it's the last window that you close.

CMD+W and CMD+SHIFT+W close windows. Firefox, as a document-centric app will NOT exit when this happens. This is standard behaviour for a Mac, document-centric application. Some tool-type applications do close when the last window closes but not document-centric applications.

Note that on Linux and Windows, document-centric apps cannot exist without a window, so Firefox exits when the last window is closed. This is a fundamental difference between Firefox on Mac and on other platforms.

If you quit Firefox using the Quit menu item (CMD+Q) then Firefox will not prompt and will save your session as you expect.

If you close a window and want to get it back again, the CMD+SHIFT+N short-cut can be used to resurrect that window. Also under History -> Recently Closed Windows. Note that the recently closed windows are not saved when you exit and re-launch Firefox.

IMHO - This is an invalid bug and should be closed.