Did you accidentally close an important Google Chrome tab? Don’t panic. Here are several ways to get it back quickly on your computer, phone, or tablet. Each option to reopen the last closed Chrome tabs is useful in different scenarios. This guide will also work with Microsoft Edge, Brave, or most Chromium-based browsers.
Note: You can not reopen your last closed tab in Incognito mode due to privacy reasons and the browsing data is not saved locally.
Table of Contents
Open Recently Closed Chrome Tabs on Desktop
1. Keyboard Shortcut: The Fastest Way!
Hit Ctrl+Shift+T on Windows (CMD+Shift+T on Mac) to reopen your last closed tab quickly. Press it repeatedly to reopen the closed tabs further back in your browsing history of the current session.
Fun Fact: It will work even after you close Chrome. The shortcut works through your browsing history of the last session. As long as it’s in your history, it will eventually open.
2. Cursor Shortcut
Right-click in an empty area of your Chrome tab bar (not on a tab) and select Reopen closed tab. Like the keyboard shortcut, you can keep pressing the shortcut to reopen older tabs recorded in browsing history.
3. Tab Search
While the previous methods are useful to quickly open recently closed tabs, they won’t let you open a specific tab from a list of recently closed tabs. That means if you only want to reopen a specific tab, you’ll need to search for it instead of reopening multiple tabs. To search for a specific tab to reopen:
1. Click the down-arrow icon in the top-right corner. Or, press Ctrl+Shift+A on Windows and Cmd+Shift+A on Mac.
2. Find your desired tab under Recently Closed.
Smartphone (Android and iPhone)
4. Recent Tabs
To open any recently closed tab on the Chrome mobile app:
Tap the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of your Chrome app (bottom right for iPhone). Select Recent Tabs which will be near the top of the menu.
You’ll see a list of your recently closed tabs. Tap on the one you want to reopen.
Additional Tips
Chrome Restore Pop-Up: If Chrome crashes, it may offer to restore tabs upon reopening. However, this isn’t always reliable.
Extensions: For more control, try extensions like Toby or Session Buddy to save groups of tabs before closing.
Calls for the Session Saves
Google Chrome by default saves your browsing session along with history. As long as that data is intact, you can reopen any previously closed tabs. Also, no need to reopen all closed tabs if you want only a specific one.
