How to Restore Chrome Tabs

Few things can make a heart stop like closing a browser with dozens of tabs open by accident.

If you know how to restore tabs, closing your browser won’t be a traumatic event. See all the easy ways to recover closed tabs in Chrome below.

How to restore previous Chrome tabs

When you close a tab or window by accident, you can restore it with a keyboard shortcut:

Restore previous tabs on Mac:

 ⌘ + Shift + t 

Restore previous tabs on Windows, Chrome OS, and Linux:

Ctrl + Shift + t

How to restore Chrome tabs using “Search tabs”

You can restore tabs with your browser’s “Search tabs” functionality too. 

Step 1: Click the “V” icon in the right corner of your browser

Step 2: Enter the tab’s site name or page title

Step 3: Click results to reopen closed tabs

How to reopen all tabs using Right-click

If you closed your browser accidentally, you can restore all closed tabs with right-click.

Step 1: Open a new chrome window

Step 2: Right-click the browser bar

Step 2: Click “Reopen Window”

How to restore closed tabs using History

After a browser crash or computer restart, you can navigate back to all your tabs from your Chrome browser history.

Step 1: Click the three dots in the menu

Step 2: Hover over History

Step 3: Click a result to open the tab

Step 4: Tap ⌘+Y (Mac) or Ctrl+Y (Windows, Chrome OS, and Linux) to view full tab history

How to restore closed tabs using “Continue where you left off”

Simply by changing a setting in your browser, you can restore all the tabs that you had opened when you closed your browser by default.

Step 1: Click the three vertical does in your browser

Step 2: Click “Settings”

Step 3: Select “On startup”

Step 4: Select “Continue where you left off”

How to recover closed tabs using “Restore pages”

Even in the unfortunate case that your computer has crashed, there is a way to restore your tabs.

Step 1: Restart your computer

Step 2: Open your Chrome browser

Step 3: Click Restore when the “Restore pages?” prompt appears

How to restore closed tabs using Heyday

It’s impossible to remember all the tabs you’ve ever seen, but sometimes the tab you need most is the one you can’t find.

The Heyday Chrome extension automatically saves all the tabs you view and resurfaces them when you’re Googling. It’s like cheat codes for your memory.