Support

Help with TabSidecar.

Answers to the questions people ask most, and how to reach us when they don’t cover yours.

Contact

by email

Email us at support@tabsidecar.com. To help us find the problem, include:

  • Your TabSidecar version. It’s at the bottom of the Settings menu in TabSidecar, and on chrome://extensions under Details.
  • Your Chrome version, from chrome://settings/help.
  • What happened, step by step.
  • What you expected to happen.

In TabSidecar, HelpBug Report opens an email to us with your version already filled in.

Email support

Windows and tabs

My windows didn’t come back after a restart

Open TabSidecar. A window from your last session that didn’t reopen is listed on the restore banner at the top of the Tabs page: choose Restore this window, or Restore all when several are missing. It comes back with its tabs, its name and its locks.

The banner hides itself 4 hours after you first see it, or when you choose Dismiss. Every window from your last session stays on the Last session page, where Restore brings back any that are still missing.

Where did my AutoParked tabs go?

Auto-Park closes tabs you haven’t used for a while (by default, 24 hours while Chrome is running), and keeps each one on the AutoParked page with its title and address. Choose Reopen to open it again. Locked tabs aren’t parked, and neither are pinned tabs unless you change that setting.

To change the time or turn Auto-Park off, go to SettingsAuto-Park.

Reopening a closed window or tab

Open the Closed page. Under Windows, open a window’s ⋮ menu and choose Restore window: it comes back with its tabs, its name and its locks. The page keeps the last 20 windows you closed that had two or more tabs.

Under Tabs, choose Reopen on a tab you had locked or nicknamed. Other closed tabs are in Chrome’s own History.

Saving a window

On the Tabs page, in the Windows layout, open a window’s ⋮ menu and choose Save window. Naming a window saves it too.

A saved window stays on the Saved Windows page after you close it, and keeps up with its tabs while it’s open. To open it again, choose Open window in its ⋮ menu there.

Backups

Making a backup and restoring it

Go to SettingsBackup and Restore. Tick JSON under File formats if no format is ticked, then choose Back up now. The file is saved in a tabsidecar folder in your Downloads.

To bring it back, choose Restore under Restore from a file, pick the file, and choose what to import. It adds windows and tabs to the ones you have instead of replacing them. Automatic backups can also save a file on a schedule, keeping the newest 30.

Before you uninstall

Removing TabSidecar removes its tabs, windows and settings from this computer. To keep them, make a backup first (SettingsBackup and RestoreBack up now). Backup files stay where they were saved, and if you have an account, your cloud snapshots stay until you delete it.

Cloud Sync and your account

Signing in

Open the Account page and sign in with your email and password. New here? Choose Create Account: we email you a code to confirm your address, then you choose a password.

Once you’re signed in, Cloud Sync saves a snapshot of your windows every hour, unless you change Interval on the Cloud Sync page, where Sync now sends one right away.

The email with my code didn’t arrive

It comes from no-reply@tabsidecar.com with the subject “Your TabSidecar code”. Check your spam or junk folder, and check the address on the Check your email step; Use a different email changes it.

Resend code sends a new one after a minute. Only the newest code works, and it expires in 1 hour.

Resetting your password

On the Account page, type your email and choose Forgot password?. We email you a link to a page where you choose a new password of at least 8 characters. The link works once and expires in 1 hour.

A new password signs you out on your other devices. If you’re signed in and know your password, choose Change… next to Password on the Account page instead.

Moving to a new computer

On the old computer, choose Sync now on the Cloud Sync page. Add TabSidecar to Chrome on the new one, sign in on the Account page, then on the Cloud Sync page choose Restore on the old computer’s newest snapshot under Latest snapshots, and pick what to import.

No account? Make a backup on the old computer and restore it on the new one (see Making a backup).

Deleting your account

On the Account page, choose Delete… next to Delete account, enter your password, then choose Delete account permanently. That deletes your account, its cloud snapshots and devices, and your address on the update-email list. Tabs and windows on your computer are kept.

Can’t sign in? Email support@tabsidecar.com.

AI window titles

Turning AI window titles on or off

Go to SettingsArtificial Intelligence and use the AI window titles switch. It’s off until you turn it on. While it’s on, TabSidecar names windows from their tabs, sending tab titles and site names to our server and Google Gemini.

To name one window without turning it on, choose Generate AI Title in that window’s ⋮ menu on the Tabs page. The privacy policy lists exactly what is sent.