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How to restore tabs on Google Chrome

Oops, wrong tab!
By

Published onOctober 12, 2022

We’ve all been there. Accidentally closing the wrong tab can be frustrating and tends to happen with the more tabs we have open. Here’s how to quickly restore tabs on Google Chrome in a pinch.

Read more: How to retrieve your lost files on Android

QUICK ANSWER

To restore tabs on Google Chrome, right-click the top Chrome bar and select Reopen closed tab. Alternatively, use the Ctrl + Shift + T keyboard shortcut. You can also open the drop-down menu to see a list of open tabs and recently closed tabs.


KEY METHODS

How to reopen your recently closed tabs in Chrome

We’ve all accidentally closed the wrong tab at some point or another. But don’t panic; they are easily retrievable. Here are a few quick ways to reopen them.

Restore the last tab you closed

The quickest method uses the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + T to open the last tab exited. Alternatively, you can right-click the top Chrome bar and select Reopen closed tab. Either method will open the last tab you closed.

reopen closed tab
Adam Birney / Android Authority

Restore recently closed tabs

If you want to reopen a tab that wasn’t most recently closed, click the arrow in the top right corner. Here, you can see a list of currently open tabs and a list of recently closed tabs. You can also quickly search for closed tabs from here.

recent tabs dropdown chrome
Adam Birney / Android Authority

Restore Chrome window

If you’ve closed your entire Chrome window by mistake, you can right-click the top bar and select Reopen the recently closed window. Additionally, you may want to adjust your settings to start where you left off when opening Chrome again, so you don’t have to retrieve each tab every time. Navigate to Settings–> On Start-Up, then choose to Continue where I left off.

chrome continue left off
Adam Birney / Android Authority

Next time you open Chrome, any open tabs from your last session will automatically appear.

How to retrieve closed tabs from Chrome history

If you’ve accidentally closed several tabs or want to retrieve a tab from the past, you can do so via your history.

Restore closed tabs in the Chrome browser

Click the three-dot icon in the corner of the Chrome browser, then hover your cursor over History to see a shortlist of your recently closed tabs.

recently closed
Adam Birney / Android Authority

If you need to recover tabs from further back in time, navigate to History or use the Ctrl + H keyboard shortcut. You can search your history for tabs or scroll down to see the tabs you visited each day. You can even see browsing history on other devices on the left-hand side.

chrome history
Adam Birney / Android Authority

To reopen a closed tab, click the link from your history records.

Restore closed tabs in the Chrome app

Tap the three-dot icon from the Chrome mobile app in the top right corner. Then, tap Recent tabs to find recently closed tabs, or tab History to view tabs from further back in time.

Chrome Mobile More
Adam Birney / Android Authority

Be aware that If you were browsing in incognito mode and you lose your tabs, you will not be able to recover them from Chrome.


Read more: How to recover WhatsApp messages

FAQs

You shouldn’t need to conduct a system restore to recover closed Chrome tabs. But if your computer crashes and you do a system restore, the browser should start with the saved tabs and bookmarks from before the system failure.

Yes, you can find current tabs in Time Machine, or any other backup software for that matter. from a time before. After restoring the tabs from your backup, start Chrome, and you should see the recently closed tabs under History → Recently Closed.

Yes, but you will have to enable syncing from your account settings. You can then access open on other computers or devices.

Yes, when you open a closed tab from your Chrome history, it will show up in your history with the time you opened the tab.

Yes – grouping Chrome tabs is easy. All you have to do is right-click the tab and select Add to Group.

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