OneTab lost all my tabs: what to try, in order

You open OneTab and your saved list is empty. Sometimes the tabs can be brought back. Work through these steps in order and stop as soon as one works.

Before anything else

1. Do not uninstall or "repair" the extension. Removing an extension deletes its stored data, and Chrome's repair prompt reinstalls it clean. Whatever is still on disk goes with it.
2. Quit Chrome completely and make a copy of your whole profile folder (table below) before trying anything else. Every later step is safer with that copy.
3. Do not run cleaner tools (CCleaner, "free up space" utilities) until you are done. They are a common cause of the loss in the first place.

If you use several Chrome profiles the folder is called Profile 1, Profile 2 and so on instead of Default. Open chrome://version and read the "Profile Path" line to be sure.

1. Check that it is really gone

• Open the OneTab page from the toolbar icon rather than from an old bookmark.
• Check every Chrome profile and every computer where you use it.
• Restart Chrome once and look again.

2. Look for an export you already have

If you ever exported your list as text, search your computer for it. Look in your documents, notes app and email for a distinctive address you know was in the list. If you find the export, paste it back using the import option.

3. Get the pages back from Chrome itself

Every page you had open at some point is in Chrome's history, even if the saved list is gone.

• Open chrome://history and search for sites or words you remember. History keeps about 90 days.
• If you are signed in to Chrome with sync, look at chrome://history/syncedTabs for tabs open on your other devices.
• If the loss just happened, press Ctrl+Shift+T (Cmd+Shift+T on a Mac) a few times to reopen recently closed tabs and windows.

4. Restore the extension's data from a system backup

This is the step that brings back the whole list, and it only works if your computer keeps backups (Windows File History or "Previous versions", macOS Time Machine, or your own backup tool).

1. Quit Chrome completely.
2. In your profile folder, find the folders that hold extension data: Local Extension Settings, Local Storage and IndexedDB. OneTab's extension ID is chphlpgkkbolifaimnlloiipkdnihall; folders that contain that ID belong to it.
3. Restore those folders from a backup dated before the loss. On Windows, right-click the folder and choose "Restore previous versions". On a Mac, open the folder and enter Time Machine.
4. Start Chrome and open OneTab.

If the list comes back, export it straight away. If it does not, put your copy of the profile folder back and nothing is worse than before.

5. Ask OneTab

Write to OneTab's support (the address is on their website and in the extension's listing) with your browser version and what happened just before the loss. Its developers are the ones who can tell you what is recoverable in your case.

Before it happens again

Whatever tool you use from now on, the fix is the same: keep copies that are not the live list, and keep at least one outside the browser.