Have you accidentally shut down your browser and lost all your open tabs? Don’t worry, in most cases, it is possible to restore closed tabs.
Here’s our step-by-step guide to restoring closed tabs in your Chrome browser.
In this article, we will walk you through the following:
➤ How To Reopen Closed Tabs via Keyboard Shortcuts - Best for recently closed tabs
➤ How To Reopen Closed Tabs via the Browser Menu - Best for recently closed tabs
➤ How to Reopen Closed Tabs Via History - Best for older tabs
➤ How to Restore Closed Tabs After A Crash
➤ How To Reopen Closed Tabs By Default
➤ The Best Way To Easily Reopen Closed Tabs
So let’s jump into the instructions.
➤ How To Reopen Closed Tabs via Keyboard Shortcuts
Use the following keyboard shortcuts to restore your most recently closed tabs:
Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows / Linux
⌘ + ⇧ + T on Mac
➤ How To Reopen Closed Tabs via the Browser Menu
- Click the three dots in the top right corner of your browser.
- Hover over History.
- A drop-down menu will appear. Under Recent tabs, you will find a list of closed tabs from recent browser sessions. Click the first option on the list to open your most recently closed tab(s).
- If you closed your browser with multiple open tabs, the total number of tabs will appear in the list. Click on a session to bring up a drop-down list of closed tabs. Select individual Tabs to restore them or choose Restore Window to restore all tabs from the browsing session.
➤ How to Reopen Closed Tabs Via History
To restore older closed tabs, you will need to search through your History.
- Access History by clicking on the three dots at the top of your browser or by visiting File > History. Or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘ + Y on Mac and Ctrl + Y on Windows / Linux.
- Search History to find the tabs you need. There are two ways to filter your History as you search. You can either browse By date. Or you search By group. This latter option provides a list of sites, automatically grouped together by Chrome.
- Click on individual links to restore the tabs you need.
➤ How To Reopen Closed Tabs After A Crash
Browser crashes are always extremely frustrating. But, fortunately, there are several ways to restore your tabs after Chrome crashes. Follow the instructions below to reopen your tabs:
- Reopen Chrome and follow any recovery prompts, if you see them
- If you don't see any recovery prompts, use the keyboard shortcuts ⌘ + ⇧ + T on Mac or Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows / Linux
- If you’re still encountering problems, go to Menu > History and restore any tabs you need from there, as outlined above
➤ How To Reopen Closed Tabs By Default
You can enable settings in your Chrome browser which allows you to reopen your closed tabs by default. It’s not totally foolproof, but it is a great hack, if you find yourself needing to restore closed tabs frequently.
Here's how to restore tabs by default as Chrome restarts:
- Go to Chrome in the Menu (or click the 3-dot menu in the upper-right corner of the browser)
- Select Settings (you can also access Settings via the keyboard shortcut ⌘ + , on Mac or Ctrl + , on Windows / Linux)
- Choose the On Start-up option in the Settings sidebar
- Click to enable the setting Continue where you left off
➤ The Best Way To Easily Reopen Closed Tabs
The best approach to reopening closed tabs is to find a solution that solves the problem for good. If you find yourself frequently reopening closed tabs or desperately searching your History, you need a better browsing experience. Enter Horse Browser. It takes an innovative new approach to browsing , automatically saving all your searches and sites. You’ll finally have peace of mind, knowing you won’t lose precious work or time again.
Horse Browser replaces tabs with its own unique navigational method, named Trails. Every time you click on a link, a new page is opened on the Trail, creating nested pages that perfectly track your online research. So you can see exactly how you reached a particular page at one quick glance.
When Horse Browser closes or quits, all your pages are automatically saved, even after a total shutdown or update. Re-open Horse Browser and you’ll find everything you need, conveniently stored in the sidebar, which you can organise as you wish. Drag-and-drop pages to where you need them most, rename your pages with memorable titles, or even add emojis for your own cataloguing system. Horse Browser is a paid-for option but offers a 14 day refund policy and lifetime access to its users. As a user-supported business, Horse Browser doesn’t collect or sell users’ telemetry data.
➤ In conclusion
To reopen closed tabs, there are various methods you can deploy. You can use keyboard shortcuts or the browser menu to open recently closed tabs or search History to open older tabs. There are also some methods you can use to reopen closed tabs when your browser crashes or by default. The best approach to reopening closed tabs is to find a solution that successfully solves the root problem. For this reason, we recommend using Horse Browser, which does away with tabs and replaces them with its own navigational method, Trails. You’ll always have the pages you need readily accessible and perfectly organised. To try out Horse Browser for yourself, check it out here.
