Saving and restoring sessions

A session is a snapshot of windows and their tabs: titles, addresses and window names. Save one when you finish a piece of work, close the windows, and open it again when you need it.

Sessions can be stored in two places:

• Local: inside the browser, on this computer only.
• Cloud: as a bookmark folder, so they travel with your browser's bookmark sync. See Cloud sessions and other devices.

Save

What you want	Where
Save every open window	Green power button at the top of Side View → Save All
Save everything, then close it	Green power button → Save & Close All
Save one window	Right-click the window title → Save window
Save one window, then close it	Right-click the window title → Save and close window
Save one tab group	Right-click the group card → Save tab group

Right-click any of these save items to save to Cloud instead of locally.

A new session is named with the date and time. You can rename it in Session Manager.

Close All and Save & Close All don't close anything right away:

• A 5-second countdown shows at the bottom. Click Cancel or press Esc and nothing is closed.
• When it ends, a session is saved first, then every window closes.
  • Close All names its session "Before “Close all” · date and time", in Default Saves.

Auto Saved: your crash backup

While Side View is open, SessionPaw saves a backup snapshot whenever you open or close tabs and windows.

• It waits about 10 seconds after the last change, so a burst of changes becomes one save.
• Within the same hour it keeps updating the same snapshot instead of adding new ones.
• It keeps up to 50 snapshots. When full, the oldest one is removed.
• Tabs that match Settings → Behavior → Exclude from saving are left out. By default that is SessionPaw's own pages, other extensions' pages, the browser's own pages and incognito windows. See Privacy.

Auto Saved only works while Side View is open. If you close Side View, nothing is backed up.

Recover after a crash

1. Open Session Manager (see below).
2. Click Auto Saved on the left and find the newest card. Each card says how long ago it was saved.
3. Click the restore icon next to ⋯ at the top right of the card (it says Restore when you point at it).
4. To keep it for good: the card's ⋯ → Keep in Default Saves.

Session Manager

Open it from:

• The round button at the bottom right of Side View → Session Manager, or
• The green power button → Saved Sessions.

Switch between two modes at the top right. Your last choice is remembered.

• Browse (default): find a session and restore it.
• Manage: two panes side by side, to move windows and tabs between sessions.

Lists

One column on the left, each with a count:

List	For
Auto Saved	Crash backups. You cannot put sessions into it. Clear all in its header empties it (you can undo).
Default Saves	Your everyday saves.
Favorite	Sessions you reopen often.
Archive	Sessions you rarely need, kept out of the way.
Cloud	Sessions stored as bookmark folders.

Browse

• Each session is a card: name, when it was saved, window and tab counts, the sites inside, and its tags as colored labels (three at most, then +n).
• Restore (the icon next to ⋯ at the top right of the card) opens every window in the session. Shift-click it to load every tab right away.
• Click a card to preview its windows and tabs on the right.
  • Each window and tab shows just one Open button.
  • Everything else is in the ⋯ that appears on hover: open in a private window, rename, edit title and URL, open then remove, delete.
  • Click a window name to rename it. Press Enter to save.
• The card's ⋯ and a right-click on the card open the same menu:
  • Restore in a private window, restore and load every tab now
  • Rename, edit tags
  • Digest into a note, Split by topic: AI, see below. With AI off they show a Set up tag and open the AI settings
  • Add to Favorite, Archive, Move to Cloud (or back to this device)
  • Delete
• New session in the list header creates an empty session.

Manage

• Each session is a row with a checkbox. Shift-click to tick a range, or use Select all.
• When something is ticked, a bar appears at the bottom:
  • Merge: combines the ticked sessions into one new session. A small window lets you set the name (Suggest a name uses AI; with AI off it opens the AI settings), drop tags, remove duplicate tabs (on by default) or put every tab in one window.
    • The originals move to Archive. Undo in the message brings everything back.
    • Cloud sessions are never changed; the merged session is saved on this device.
  • Tags: shows the tags the ticked sessions have, and on how many. Adding a tag keeps their other tags. × removes a tag from all of them.
  • Archive, Move to Cloud (or back to this device).
  • Delete. One Undo brings the whole batch back.
• Click a row to see its windows on the right. Tick several windows there and click Merge to combine them.
• Two panes opens two sessions side by side. Click a row for the left pane; ⋯ → Open in right pane for the right. Drag windows and tabs between them.

Tags

• A session can have several tags.
• Open them from the card's ⋯ → Edit tags, or click the tags in the preview.
  • Type a tag and press Enter or a comma to add it. Click × to remove one.
  • Built-in tags and tags you used elsewhere are listed below. Click one to add it.
• Built-in tags are always there: Work, Research, Reading, Learning, Shopping, Travel, Personal.
  • They show in your language. Typing the name in any language picks the same tag.
  • They can't be renamed or deleted.
• Sort & filter → pick one or more tags. With two or more, choose Any of them or All of them.
• Merging sessions keeps every tag by default; you can drop some in the Merge window.
• The left column has a Tags section under the lists. It shows the tags in use, each with its color, icon and count.
  • Click a tag to see every session with it, from all lists. Each card says which list it is in.
  • Click a list to go back. Click Tags to fold the section; it stays folded next time.
  • Manage tags is at the bottom of the column.

Manage tags

• Open it from Sort & filter → Manage tags, or the top bar ⋯ → Manage tags.
• It lists every tag with how many sessions use it. Built-in tags come first, marked Built-in.
• Style on any tag picks its color (8 choices) and icon. Built-in tags can change their look too. Reset to default brings back the original.
• Your own tags:
  • Rename: changes the tag on every session, local and Cloud.
  • Rename to a name that already exists to merge the two.
  • Delete: removes the tag from every session.
  • Rename and delete can be undone from the message at the bottom.
  • A renamed tag keeps its color and icon. Merging or deleting drops them.
• New tag at the bottom creates a tag no session uses yet. It stays in your list and in the tag suggestions.

Split by topic

Open a session's ⋯ → Split by topic. It needs AI; with AI off, clicking it opens the AI settings.

1. It shows about how many tabs will be sent, then Suggest topics asks AI for 2 to 6 topics.
2. Check the preview:
   • Click a topic name to change it.
   • Show tabs → Move out keeps a tab with the original.
   • Don't split keeps a whole topic with the original.
3. Split into N sessions saves each topic as a new session with the same tags. Tabs that fit no topic stay together under the original name.

• The original moves to Archive. Undo in the message brings it back and removes the new sessions.
• A Cloud session is not changed; the new sessions are saved on this device.
• What is sent, and the intranet and sign-in rule, are the same as AI organize below. Pages left out stay with the original.

AI organize

In Manage, click AI organize above the list.

1. Pick what to look at:
   • Selected sessions, if you ticked some
   • This list
   • Not opened in 30 days, across all lists. It uses the last time you opened the session here, or when it was saved.
2. Before you start, it shows about how many tabs will be sent to your AI service.
3. It suggests changes, grouped by type:
   • Always, even with AI off (nothing is sent): duplicate tabs, empty sessions, sessions with only 1 or 2 tabs, sessions whose tabs are all in your bookmarks already
   • Always: Merge similar sessions, for sessions in Default Saves or Favorite that share most of their pages
   • With AI on: better names for sessions named with a date or a default name, tags to add, topics shared by several sessions, and sessions about the same task to merge
4. Click Accept or Skip on each one, or Accept all for a group. Stop ends the AI part early and keeps what came back.

• Renames and tags apply right away. Your existing tags stay.
• Deleting, archiving, merging and removing duplicates show the usual Undo. Merging works like Merge in the bar: a new session, originals in Archive.
• Undo this organize reverts everything you accepted in this run. After you close the window, the message at the bottom offers the same undo for a few seconds.
• What is sent: each session's name and up to 30 tabs, page title and address only, without anything after ? or #.
  • If you use your own API key, intranet pages (like localhost, 192.168.x.x, .local) and sign-in pages are never sent. The window tells you how many were left out.
  • Built-in browser AI runs on your device, so those pages are included.

Digest into a note

Needs AI (with AI off, the menu item opens the AI settings). When saved sessions pile up unread, AI can write a short table of contents for one.

1. On a card, click ⋯ → Digest into a note.
2. The window shows about how many tabs will be sent. Click Write note.
3. AI looks only at tab titles and addresses, not the pages, and writes:
   • one sentence on what these tabs are about
   • 2 to 6 sections, each with a heading and its tabs
   • Maybe not read yet: tabs that look unread, or a search left open
4. Change the summary and headings if you like, then click Save note.

• The note shows above the tab list in the preview on the right. Cards with a note get a small Note mark.
• Note buttons: Edit, Copy as Markdown, and under More: Download .md, Regenerate, Keep note only, Delete note.
• Keep note only moves the session to Archive with its note, so the Archive card shows the summary. The tabs are still there, and you can undo.
• Deleting a session deletes its note too; undo brings both back.
• Notes stay on this device, also for Cloud sessions. They don't sync with bookmarks.
• Export includes the notes of sessions on this device, and import brings them back.
• What is sent: like AI organize, only titles and addresses, without anything after ? or #.
  • With your own API key, intranet and sign-in pages are not sent. They go in the last section, Other tabs.
  • Built-in browser AI runs on your device, so those pages are included.

Drag and drop

• Drag a card onto a list on the left to move it there.
• Drag a card onto another card to change the order.
• Moving between a local list and Cloud converts it: local becomes a bookmark folder, and the other way round.
• Drag a window onto another window, or onto a card, to move it there.
• Drag a tab before or after another tab, or onto a window to add it at the end.

Toolbar

Button	What it does
Save	Saves all open windows. The ▾ next to it lets you save to Cloud.
Search	Filters as you type. Matches names, tags, tab titles and addresses. Esc clears.
Sort & filter	Sort by recently saved, recently opened, name or most tabs. Filter by tags: pick several, then show sessions with any of them or all of them. Manage tags at the bottom.
⋯	Import, Export, Help.
Browse / Manage	Switch modes.

The lists refresh on their own. There is no need to reload.

Delete and undo

When you delete a session, a window or a tab, or clear Auto Saved, Deleted · Undo appears at the bottom. Click Undo within a few seconds to put it back where it was.

Opening big sessions

Opening 50 tabs at once can freeze an older computer. Settings → Opening many tabs decides what happens when 8 or more tabs open at once:

Option	What happens
Hold unloaded	One tab per window loads. The rest wait in the tab strip until you click them.
Pace loading	Like Hold, then the rest load a few at a time.
Load all	Everything loads at once, as the browser normally does.

The default is Load all, except on Firefox where it is Hold unloaded.

This also applies when the browser restores tabs at start-up or when another tool opens many tabs at once. Shift-click an open button to load everything this one time.

Recently closed

Green power button → Recently Closed shows what the browser itself remembers you closed. You can also right-click empty space in Side View → Reopen last closed.

Tips

• Name windows before you save. The names show in Session Manager.
• Move finished work to Archive instead of deleting it.
• More sessions means more to review. Clean up now and then.