Have you just shut down your browser and lost all your open tabs? Are you struggling to find that important information you googled last week? Don’t worry, here’s our step-by-step guide to restoring the tabs you need in Google Chrome.
In this article, we will walk you through the following:
How To Restore Tabs via Keyboard Shortcuts - Best for recently closed tabs
How To Restore Tabs via the Browser Menu - Best for recently closed tabs
How to Restore Tabs Via History - Best for older tabs
So let’s jump into the instructions.
How To Reopen Closed Tabs via Keyboard Shortcuts
- Use the keyboard shortcut ⌘ + ⇧ + T on Mac or Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows / Linux
- The most recently closed tab(s) or window will reopen
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 a frustrating issue. 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
Tired Of Losing And Restoring Tabs? Try This Alternative
Although we’ve provided some useful, quick tips in this guide, there’s no getting around the fact that restoring tabs can be a time-consuming, fiddly and frustrating process.
That’s why we want to recommend using Horse Browser, a new browser that automatically and permanently saves pages as you browse. Whenever Horse Browser closes or quits, all your pages are automatically saved, even after a total shutdown or update. Just like a Notes App.
Horse Browser offers a fresh approach to standard browsers, replacing tabs with its own unique navigation method, called Trails. Here’s how you can use Horse Browser as an alternative to restoring tabs:
- Start a browsing session in Horse Browser, as you normally would, by typing a URL or searching on Google.
- Every time you click on a link, a new nested page is opened on the Trail, creating an instantly accessible, easy-to-read vertical list of pages in your sidebar. Trails act as your Tabs, History and Bookmarks in one.
- Whenever Horse Browser closes or quits, all your pages are automatically saved, even after a total shutdown or update. Just like a Notes App.
- Re-open Horse Browser and everything you need is conveniently visible in the sidebar. Horse Browser removes the need to restore Tabs or re-open previous browsing sessions as you can easily access the sites you need. You don’t need to rely on your memory to remember the date or name of the site you want to access.
- If you wish to add further organisation, you can drag-and-drop or remove pages and even give them custom names and icons, as needed. Leaving you with an instantly accessible, organised list of the sites you truly need to save.
- If you want to take it to the next level, Horse Browser also allows you to import or export your Trails into markdown to save offline lists of the sites you need.
➤ In conclusion
To restore closed Chrome tabs, there are a variety of methods you can try: from quick keyboard shortcuts to selecting options in the Menu or searching through your browser History. There are even options to restore tabs after your browser crashes or to restore them 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.
