diff --git a/settings.json.template b/settings.json.template
index 4b18d780..28f0192e 100644
--- a/settings.json.template
+++ b/settings.json.template
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
   "ip": "0.0.0.0",
   "port" : 9001,
 
+  // Session Key, used for reconnecting user sessions
+  // Set this to a secure string at least 10 characters long.  Do not share this value.
+  "sessionKey" : "",
+
   /*  
   // Node native SSL support
   // this is disabled by default
diff --git a/src/node/db/API.js b/src/node/db/API.js
index 07141fec..3955d495 100644
--- a/src/node/db/API.js
+++ b/src/node/db/API.js
@@ -253,9 +253,7 @@ exports.getHTML = function(padID, rev, callback)
       exportHtml.getPadHTML(pad, undefined, function (err, html)
       {
         if(ERR(err, callback)) return;
-        
         data = {html: html};
-          
         callback(null, data);
       });
     }
diff --git a/src/node/db/SessionManager.js b/src/node/db/SessionManager.js
index 5ce4f748..60e0a7ac 100644
--- a/src/node/db/SessionManager.js
+++ b/src/node/db/SessionManager.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /**
- * The Session Manager provides functions to manage session in the database
+ * The Session Manager provides functions to manage session in the database, it only provides session management for sessions created by the API
  */
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/node/db/SessionStore.js b/src/node/db/SessionStore.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..09ea7333
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/node/db/SessionStore.js
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+ /* 
+ * Stores session data in the database
+ * Source; https://github.com/edy-b/SciFlowWriter/blob/develop/available_plugins/ep_sciflowwriter/db/DirtyStore.js
+ * This is not used for authors that are created via the API at current
+ */
+
+var Store = require('ep_etherpad-lite/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session/store'),
+  utils = require('ep_etherpad-lite/node_modules/connect/lib/utils'),
+  Session = require('ep_etherpad-lite/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session/session'),
+  db = require('ep_etherpad-lite/node/db/DB').db,
+  log4js = require('ep_etherpad-lite/node_modules/log4js'),
+  messageLogger = log4js.getLogger("SessionStore");
+
+var SessionStore = module.exports = function SessionStore() {};
+
+SessionStore.prototype.__proto__ = Store.prototype;
+
+SessionStore.prototype.get = function(sid, fn){
+  messageLogger.debug('GET ' + sid);
+  var self = this;
+  db.get("sessionstorage:" + sid, function (err, sess)
+  {
+    if (sess) {
+      sess.cookie.expires = 'string' == typeof sess.cookie.expires ? new Date(sess.cookie.expires) : sess.cookie.expires;
+      if (!sess.cookie.expires || new Date() < expires) {
+        fn(null, sess);
+      } else {
+        self.destroy(sid, fn);
+      }
+    } else {
+      fn();
+    }
+  });
+};
+
+SessionStore.prototype.set = function(sid, sess, fn){
+  messageLogger.debug('SET ' + sid);
+  db.set("sessionstorage:" + sid, sess);
+  process.nextTick(function(){
+    if(fn) fn();
+  });
+};
+
+SessionStore.prototype.destroy = function(sid, fn){
+  messageLogger.debug('DESTROY ' + sid);
+  db.remove("sessionstorage:" + sid);
+  process.nextTick(function(){
+    if(fn) fn();
+  });
+};
+
+SessionStore.prototype.all = function(fn){
+  messageLogger.debug('ALL');
+  var sessions = [];
+  db.forEach(function(key, value){
+    if (key.substr(0,15) === "sessionstorage:") {
+      sessions.push(value);
+    }
+  });
+  fn(null, sessions);
+};
+
+SessionStore.prototype.clear = function(fn){
+  messageLogger.debug('CLEAR');
+  db.forEach(function(key, value){
+    if (key.substr(0,15) === "sessionstorage:") {
+      db.db.remove("session:" + key);
+    }
+  });
+  if(fn) fn();
+};
+
+SessionStore.prototype.length = function(fn){
+  messageLogger.debug('LENGTH');
+  var i = 0;
+  db.forEach(function(key, value){
+    if (key.substr(0,15) === "sessionstorage:") {
+      i++;
+    }
+  });
+  fn(null, i);
+};
diff --git a/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js b/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
index 7ffeb6e5..08ddde0e 100644
--- a/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
+++ b/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
@@ -928,6 +928,8 @@ function handleClientReady(client, message)
       //If this is a reconnect, we don't have to send the client the ClientVars again
       if(message.reconnect == true)
       {
+        //Join the pad and start receiving updates
+        client.join(padIds.padId);
         //Save the revision in sessioninfos, we take the revision from the info the client send to us
         sessioninfos[client.id].rev = message.client_rev;
       }
diff --git a/src/node/hooks/express/webaccess.js b/src/node/hooks/express/webaccess.js
index 50323ef6..c39f91da 100644
--- a/src/node/hooks/express/webaccess.js
+++ b/src/node/hooks/express/webaccess.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ var httpLogger = log4js.getLogger("http");
 var settings = require('../../utils/Settings');
 var randomString = require('ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/pad_utils').randomString;
 var hooks = require('ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/pluginfw/hooks');
-
+var ueberStore = require('../../db/SessionStore');
 
 //checks for basic http auth
 exports.basicAuth = function (req, res, next) {
@@ -102,15 +102,14 @@ exports.expressConfigure = function (hook_name, args, cb) {
    * handling it cleaner :) */
 
   if (!exports.sessionStore) {
-    exports.sessionStore = new express.session.MemoryStore();
-    exports.secret = randomString(32);
+    exports.sessionStore = new ueberStore();
+    exports.secret = settings.sessionKey; // Isn't this being reset each time the server spawns?
   }
-  
-  args.app.use(express.cookieParser(exports.secret));
 
+  args.app.use(express.cookieParser(exports.secret));
   args.app.sessionStore = exports.sessionStore;
-  args.app.use(express.session({store: args.app.sessionStore,
-                                key: 'express_sid' }));
+  args.app.use(express.session({secret: exports.secret, store: args.app.sessionStore, key: 'express_sid' }));
 
   args.app.use(exports.basicAuth);
 }
+
diff --git a/src/node/utils/Settings.js b/src/node/utils/Settings.js
index 8435ab2c..04404a1a 100644
--- a/src/node/utils/Settings.js
+++ b/src/node/utils/Settings.js
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ var argv = require('./Cli').argv;
 var npm = require("npm/lib/npm.js");
 var vm = require('vm');
 var log4js = require("log4js");
+var randomString = require('ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/pad_utils').randomString;
+
 
 /* Root path of the installation */
 exports.root = path.normalize(path.join(npm.dir, ".."));
@@ -112,6 +114,11 @@ exports.loglevel = "INFO";
 */
 exports.logconfig = { appenders: [{ type: "console" }]};
 
+/*
+* Session Key, do not sure this.
+*/
+exports.sessionKey = false;
+
 /* This setting is used if you need authentication and/or
  * authorization. Note: /admin always requires authentication, and
  * either authorization by a module, or a user with is_admin set */
@@ -132,8 +139,6 @@ exports.abiwordAvailable = function()
   }
 }
 
-
-
 exports.reloadSettings = function reloadSettings() {
   // Discover where the settings file lives
   var settingsFilename = argv.settings || "settings.json";
@@ -184,6 +189,11 @@ exports.reloadSettings = function reloadSettings() {
   log4js.setGlobalLogLevel(exports.loglevel);//set loglevel
   log4js.replaceConsole();
 
+  if(!exports.sessionKey){ // If the secretKey isn't set we also create yet another unique value here
+    exports.sessionKey = randomString(32);
+    console.warn("You need to set a sessionKey value in settings.json, this will allow your users to reconnect to your Etherpad Instance if your instance restarts");
+  }
+
   if(exports.dbType === "dirty"){
     console.warn("DirtyDB is used. This is fine for testing but not recommended for production.")
   }
diff --git a/src/static/js/pad_connectionstatus.js b/src/static/js/pad_connectionstatus.js
index c592afbd..2d9354ab 100644
--- a/src/static/js/pad_connectionstatus.js
+++ b/src/static/js/pad_connectionstatus.js
@@ -43,9 +43,8 @@ var padconnectionstatus = (function()
       status = {
         what: 'connected'
       };
-      
       padmodals.showModal('connected');
-      padmodals.hideOverlay(500);
+      padmodals.hideOverlay();
     },
     reconnecting: function()
     {
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ var padconnectionstatus = (function()
       };
       
       padmodals.showModal('reconnecting');
-      padmodals.showOverlay(500);
+      padmodals.showOverlay();
     },
     disconnected: function(msg)
     {
@@ -73,10 +72,11 @@ var padconnectionstatus = (function()
       }
       
       padmodals.showModal(k);
-      padmodals.showOverlay(500);
+      padmodals.showOverlay();
     },
     isFullyConnected: function()
     {
+      padmodals.hideOverlay();
       return status.what == 'connected';
     },
     getStatus: function()