How to restore OneTab old data on Chrome?

Question

I had around 2600 tabs on OneTab, and they were available till yesterday, but suddenly Chrome browser was not responding so I forcibly closed it and re-opened it, after saving my new tabs I found that OneTab was empty, and there're only those new tabs, the previous 2600 tabs were gone!

Is there any way I can get these tabs back? I thought maybe there's a temporary backup folder in any place inside the computer, knowing that the computer didn't crash but it's only chrome , and that NOW OneTab already saved 112 new tabs.

I found this answer about finding 2 files and copying them, Restore OneTab list of tabs after computer crash but it didn't help because:

1. I found only one of these files.
2. My case is different as I'm not restoring OneTab from Computer to another, it's on the same computer, so I don't have a backup.

How to find the old files?

Answer 1

I had the same problem, and here's what I stumbled upon that worked for me, on a Mac, using Chrome. Hope it does for others as well.

On my Mac, I found OneTab here:

/Users/[myName]/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions/[bigLongString]/1.18_1

Note: the whole point here is to figure out what [bigLongString] is. It may just be a registry number or something, hence the same for everyone using Chrome (at least) on a Mac. If some kind soul knows more than I do about this, and if the string is the same for everyone, then they could save everyone some work.

But until you know otherwise, you'll need to find [bigLongString]. To do that, fire up Terminal, and type:

ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/*/Extensions/*/*/onetab*

You'll see lines returned like:

/Users/[yourLoginName]/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions/[bigLongString]/1.18_1/onetab.css

From that line, select and copy what you get for [bigLongString], paste it into your Chrome address bar thusly (without the square braces, just to be clear):

chrome-extension://[biglongstring]/import-export.html

When I did it, I'll be darned if two years' worth of URLs didn't show up again under "Export URLs"! I archived them into a text file, just to be on the safe side, but then I chose "Import URLs" and pasted everything there...and OneTab is alive and well again! (Which is not to say that I think this was a good way to have to solve the problem...)

BTW, I'm now planning to regularly archive my OneTab links ("File-->Save Page As..." in my browser).

Answer 2

I had same issue – the two files mentioned in the old thread were not present, however there was a new folder in C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage named “leveldb”

The steps I used to get my tabs back (IIRC): I extracted the two files from an old backup, renamed leveldb folder to leveldb_OLD, put the files in \Local Storage, fired up Chrome and Hey Presto Onetab was back with tabs.

I closed and reopened Chrome, Onetab tabs still there, but the 2 files had gone and a new leveldb folder had been created, so presumably Onetab is changing the way it stores tabs – what I don’t know is if any other extension/app is also using that folder

I then found I had a more recent backup – with a leveldb folder instead of the two files, and replaced the one just created with that, which worked, giving a slightly more recent tab list. I seem to remember I had to reboot to get it to stick (sorry I can’t remember exactly, this was a late-night desperate recovery session)

I presume just replacing the leveldb folder in one go without the other step would work, but haven’t tried, also don’t know if the leveldb folder is used by anything else

Answer 3

Heres some more links. Need to get developers. https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/76k23b/onetab_lost_all_tabs_recovery/

https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome_extensions/comments/2l1elt/onetab_questions_i_have_10000_tabs_saved_and_i/

https://superuser.com/questions/507536/where-does-google-chrome-save-localstorage-from-extensions/1267422

Answer 4

Share what I have encountered, the latest Chrome is automatically updated, causing my Onetab to be unavailable. The list of extensions shows that it may be corrupted, but there are no problems with other extensions. At this point you will see that the Chrome browser provides a [Repair] button. If you click on it, it will reinstall Onetab. The installation folder will be renamed to 1.18_1 [normal should be 1.18_0] and will overwrite the previous data. [I guess, don't operate before backup].

If you encounter a similar situation, stop any operations and back up the data files as much as possible.

C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\leveldb

or

C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

or any other data that you think might be useful before performing other operations.

Then manually remove the Onetab extension and reinstall it as much as possible to the previous version.

Close the browser completely, then overwrite the current directory (C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\leveldb) with the backup directory (backup\leveldb) to restart browsing. You will be able to see the previous Onetab.

I used the above method to recover the lost one thousand tabs, thank you for the ideas provided by others, and hope to be helpful.

In short, please believe that Chrome does not arbitrarily delete user-saved data.

If the above method doesn't work, you can try to find a way to open the .ldb file, and you may see the data directly.

Answer 5

I tested today and move the leveldb folder from one laptop to another in the specifed folder and I can confirm that if you copy and replace “leveldb” folder in a new windows installation. You will be able to transfer your onetab links.

C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\leveldb

Answer 6

My experience, sort of related...

To answer OP's question...I think you're out of luck.

I was also looking for the file(s) where my tabs/groups are stored so I could incorporate it into my backup scheme. What I think I found is that the list of tabs is stored on their server, not locally.

I first tried saving a tab group and then scanned my HD and listed all new/modified files and found out that nothing of use was there.

I then searched and found this page. Again, no results (obviously). I looked at the page source of the tab groups page and found a js line but I didn't want to bother studying the code unless as a last resort.

I then scanned the QR code at the top of the page of groups in order to share with myself via email, it created a link...

https://www.one-tab.com/page/[an identifier to the list of groups I have in OneTab]

Not encouraging for recovery, but good for backup purposes. Bad for privacy. I wonder if my banking info (any page I happen to have open at the time the js script fires) is saved or does it resort to the login page? I doubt it, but I'll be testing that ASAP, of course.

I have resorted to simply saving the page by right-clicking and "save as..." for the time being until I take the time to incorporate this method into my backup program.

I sent an email to developers asking for the info (where are the links saved?) and after a week, have yet to receive a reply. Maybe they don't want people knowing that they keep our data on their servers - temporarily or otherwise?

I really don't think the data is kept on their servers as a matter of rule, but rather it's uploaded at the time of firing the js for the purposes of creating the QR code so that it can be available and easily accessed from anywhere, on any device (I hope, anyway).

I considered removing the js code for privacy reasons but then realized it's probably the core of the extension so I left it for now.

Note: The backup method described above is for backup purposes, not recovery per se, although it can be useful in the event of a crash.

This reply was created before I had my morning cup of coffee and may be somewhat disorganized. If there are any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

I hope this adds more info to the mix and also helps someone.

Answer 7

If by mistake you delete onetab extension or your chrome crashes or windows upgrade or whatever reasons, you are not able to get your onetab url lists, in old windows folder, go to

C:\Windows.old\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\leveldb

Copy all the contents into below location

C:\Users\<Users>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\leveldb

Kill Chrome if its open. You should be able to see all your previous onetab urls after reopening

Answer 8

I use Vivaldi browser, this is based on chromium. Also i use OneTab and have some problems when onetab change data storage.

I create litle util for read daya from leveldb folder and save to local files

this is example of use:

LevelDbOneTab.exe "c:\Users\Andrey\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\Default\Local Storage\leveldb"

this is result of use:

result of use

state.json have human frendly view of all you data all *.bin files is basic binary copy of all fields for onetab leveldb records

you may look at this util:

https://github.com/anpsoft/LevelDbOneTab https://sourceforge.net/projects/leveldbonetab/

LevelDbOneTab

Export data from Chrome or Vivaldi extension OneTab - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/onetab/chphlpgkkbolifaimnlloiipkdnihall?hl=uk

This utilities extract data from leveldb database and store to json files, make zip file with date and time stamp.

I write it on C# with C++ dll.

I hope this help you

Answer 9

How I restored my OneTabs:

In this address: C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage Right-click on the “leveldb” folder and select “restore previous versions” Restore most recent one prior to mishap Copy the folder

In this address: C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Profile 1\Local Storage Delete the leveldb folder Then paste the leveldb folder from above [note: if you have a profile name, then use that instead of “profile1”]

Then open chrome [if OneTab Extension was removed when you lost chrome, then install the OneTab Extension, add a single tab to it, then close chrome, then repeat the above steps]

Answer 10

Here is one open project:

https://github.com/cnwangjie/better-onetab

Disclaimer: not solving your issue. But much better then relying on nightmere.... Try add aws lambda behind to sync, might worth to take a look.

Regular 'save as' won't be priority as we all know...

Answer 11

I too have run into a similar problem... I did not come across either of the files listed in the other thread. Chrome didnt even crash for me, I just closed it normally and shut down my PC and then started it up today and OneTab was empty...

Let me know if you come to any resolution