Safari tabs from last session all restore as Untitled

Software manufacturers keep doing this. They introduce a new version and leave out good stuff from the previous. This latest failure by Apple really takes the biscuit. The update to Catalina 10.15.7 has lost all my Safari tabs. I had many of these, and constantly referred back to them. This is a major pain and Apple should be censured for this total disinterest it its customers.

Furthermore, Apple says go to the Safari menu and click on History menu and select "Reopen Last Closed Window." But it's greyed out!!!!! The final kick in the teeth is they say above "If you are experiencing these problems, you can use another browser such as Firefox or Chrome and they will work for you until a newer version of Safari is released."

That's right, they say if our product isn't good enough use one from a competitor!! You couldn't make it up. Disgraceful.

I'm on catalina too, updated two steps tonight (had 16-20 windows, several hundred tabs each, years of saved tabs... disaster)

• first time safari only had two windows remaining (one with last active window with multiple tabs)
• after second update zero remaining, just one empty window with an empty tab)

how can I restore my thousands of tabs?? I don't have icloud

help!!!

There have recently been many reports of a broad range of new problems on this support site about the latest release of Safari v15. It is included in the downloads for Big Sur and Catalina. If you are experiencing these problems, you can use another browser such as Firefox or Chrome and they will work for you until a newer version of Safari is released.

I have had a similar problem, when I shut down my machine and come back a day later, it opens with no old tabs despite also having it set to restore tabs. I found a solution. Safari 15 saves the saved tabs in a new location in comparison to previous versions. So the Lastsession.plist file won't help here (it did help me when I updated to 15 and lost the tabs). Instead, you need to be able to restore files (e.g., from Time Machine) to here:

~/Users/[user name]/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/Data/Library/Safari

There are three files that start with "SafariTabs.db" and all three have to be restored for it to work, but it did!

I got this advice from https://www.reddit.com/r/Safari/comments/pvcz1v/safari_15_and_lastsessionplist/heb0yre/, user SeraCarina gets the credit.

I don't yet know whether this glitch is a one-off or I'll be doing this until Apple fixes it. I have just grabbed the 15.1 beta so that may help (but it didn't fix the issue that was in place, hopefully it won't perpetuate it).

I also feel like it may be a Catalina/Safari15 issue. Only just from finding others with the issue, they seem to be on Catalina, lots don't have this problem. But this conclusion could be wrong. I just happen to also be on Catalina.

I am another user that has had Apple products since the IIE came on the market. My MacBook updated and I could no longer do my banking on it. I checked my new (and incredibly slow) recently purchased iMac in my study and it would still work on my bank website. As I knew the MacBook had updated, I said no to the update on my study computer. Lo and behold, it updated anyway and now it will no longer work with my bank. My MacBook no longer works with 7plus to watch past tv shows. There are multiple other sites that it doesn't work on and presumably the same on my iMac as well.

I cannot think of a company that recently has done something like this that has caused so many users so much grief.

And the answer I have read in other places? "If you use Firefox or Chrome it should work properly until the next update for Safari."

Brilliant answer. Point your users to a competitor.

And the next question to follow is: When is the next Safari update that fixes the problem that Apple just created?

What Apple should do is put out an update that reverts Safari back to the version that worked! Apple sure as **** can't spin this as an improved version.

I am bordering on getting a Windows machine next as I am dismayed at what Apple is turning into.

For the premium that Apple users pay, this is really just not good enough.

Perhaps you may not know that those of us here who respond with possible solutions are not Apple employees. We are Apple users like you who share their experiences to help each other. We do not speak for Apple. Our agreements, in fact, forbid us from doing so. I can understand your frustration with this problem.

Hi Ronasara,

I realise that not all answers on here are Apple employees, but are users just like myself.

I suppose the above is really just a rant where the final straw broke the camel's back.

Safari was the last straw. The OS takes so long to load when you start up that I don't know where all the improvement is. Safari now doesn't work on all websites. It used to. Now it doesn't.

Mail seems to throw a spinning beachball more often than not or does not display the email content.

Pages takes ages to open as well.

I check using Activity Monitor and it shows no memory issues, but shows the Not Responding message against certain applications that I have open.

As much as I dislike Windows, the last machines that I used at my last job work way quicker than my current iMac.

Just really disappointing.

I can appreciate your frustration. Usually when there are problems like you describe, there are specific reasons which can be addressed. Sometimes only one, sometimes, a couple of them. (I have no problems with my computer or my wife's, I' m happy to say.) I suggest that you download, install and run the well regarded free app EtreCheck. Be sure to enable full disk access. Then you can post the report it generates below under "Additional text". That report will provide a comprehensive overview of what's going on in your computer. Then someone here can analyze it for you and offer some constructive suggestions. It's worth a do.

Well, if I search in the App Store, I can't find etrecheck. If I go via the Etresoft website, I get a message saying that Etrecheck is not available in my country or region.

Gotta love being in Australia. :(

A couple of extra steps that may be required:

1) You might need to go to History menu and click 'Restore Windows from Previous Session'.

2) If you still just see a single tab, go to the Window menu and merge all windows. I found that I had to do this all over again (because Safari again lost all tabs!) and at first thought the above wasn't working. Then I merged al windows and found it had worked at least twice. :)

Some more info. Safari still (STILL!) seems capable of not opening with previous tabs on occasion, I haven't figured out a pattern (I am running a developer beta which hasn't solved the issue). Randomly, I will start up the Mac and it will open Safari with no tabs. I can restore (using above method), close Safari, and it repeats the problem! It seems to not be saving tabs at times or some file is being corrupted.

I have found that if it opens without tabs, sometimes I can go to history and retire tabs and that works. BUT it won't look like it worked because it will open them in a separate window that is behind the current (empty) window. So you then have to merge windows to bring together.

This is a mess.

Installed latest updates yesterday, (catalina) it was first one package and then another,

after first package just two safari windows opened (of 20 approx before reboot)

after second package just a single window with an empty 'untitled' tab opened

(out of several thousand tabs)

how can I restore all my tabs,

please fix with a newer update package or instruct me how to copy/paste any remaining saved tab index file to a new location

Have you tried the above steps? It has worked consistently for me but of course you need to have a backup of some kind. The 15.1 version doesn’t seem to have fixed the issue, still happens but not every time I have shut down.

I am not clever or savvy enough to understand this. Could someone clarify? I accidentally let them update my software last night and when I tried to open Safari, it had eliminated my entire last session. I keep many windows/tabs open as reference for my work and now it is all gone.

Did Apple just wait until Steve Jobs was gone to tank their products?