How to reopen closed tabs in Chrome
One click too many and the page you were reading is gone. Here's how to bring it back in seconds, even if you closed it yesterday or Chrome shut down completely.
It happens to everyone: you mean to close one tab and close another, or you close the whole window with ten pages open. The good news is that Chrome remembers what you close, and you can almost always get it back.
Here are five ways to reopen closed tabs, from the quickest to the most thorough, and which one to use in each case. At the end, we show you how to save your tabs with NexoPad before closing them, so you don't have to rely on luck.
1. The fastest way: Ctrl+Shift+T
Press Ctrl+Shift+T (Cmd+Shift+T on Mac) and Chrome reopens the last tab you closed. If the last thing you closed was a whole window, it reopens it with all its tabs.
You can press it several times: each press brings back the next one, in the order you closed them, from most recent to oldest. It's the quickest fix when you notice right away. More tricks like this in our list of Chrome keyboard shortcuts.
2. Right-click the tab bar
If you can't remember the shortcut, right-click an empty spot on the tab bar, next to your last tab, and choose Reopen closed tab. It does the same as Ctrl+Shift+T.
If you closed a window, the option changes and offers to reopen the closed window instead.
3. History: "Recently closed" and Ctrl+H
Open the ⋮ menu (top right) and go to History. You'll see a Recently closed list with the last tabs and windows you closed. Click the one you want and it opens. This is handy when you don't want to reopen everything in order, just one specific page.
If you closed it a while ago, yesterday or last week, press Ctrl+H to open your full history. Type a word from the title or address in the search box at the top, and Chrome shows the matching pages, sorted by date.
4. Tab search
Chrome has a tab search: the down-arrow button at the top of the window, or the Ctrl+Shift+A shortcut. Besides your open tabs, it shows the ones you closed recently.
It's useful when you have lots of tabs open and aren't sure whether the page you want is still open or you closed it. Type part of the name and you'll see it in a moment.
5. If Chrome closed or crashed
If Chrome crashed or you closed it with all your tabs open, it usually offers Restore the next time you open it to bring back your previous session. Click it before opening anything else. If it doesn't appear, try Ctrl+Shift+T, which also reopens the whole window.
So you don't have to rely on that prompt, turn on Continue where you left off in Chrome's settings: every time you open the browser, your tabs from last time come back. We walk you through it in our guide to Chrome startup pages.
Never lose them again: save them in NexoPad
Save the session before closing
Before closing a window full of tabs, open the NexoPad popup, press the + button and choose Save all tabs. Give it a name, like "Month-end close", and they're saved together as one group.
Open them all in one click
When you need them again, click the group and all its pages open at once, together in a Chrome tab group. We explain it in detail in how to save all open tabs.
Save a single page
If it's just one important page, right-click it and choose NexoPad > ⭐ Save link/page. It's saved to your links in one click.
Find it from any website
Press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on Mac) on any page and type a word. A search box opens over the page with your groups, links and notes. Press Enter and it opens.
What NexoPad doesn't do
To be clear: NexoPad doesn't save your tabs on its own, and it can't recover a tab you closed before saving it. That's what the Chrome tricks above are for. NexoPad makes sure the important stuff doesn't depend on your history: you save it when you want, and it stays in your account, in any browser where you sign in.
If you want to bring order to everything you save, start with our guide to organizing your links.
Which method to use when
| What happened | What to do |
|---|---|
| You just closed a tab | Press Ctrl+Shift+T, or right-click the tab bar > Reopen closed tab |
| You closed several tabs or a window | Press Ctrl+Shift+T several times, or pick the one you want in ⋮ > History > Recently closed |
| You closed it yesterday or days ago | Press Ctrl+H and search for a word from the title or address |
| Chrome closed or crashed | Click Restore when you open it, and turn on Continue where you left off |
| You never want to lose them | Save them before closing with NexoPad's Save all tabs |
Frequently asked questions
What's the shortcut to reopen a closed tab?
Ctrl+Shift+T on Windows and Cmd+Shift+T on Mac. Press it several times and it reopens tabs in the order you closed them.
Can I recover tabs I closed yesterday?
Yes, if they're still in your history. Press Ctrl+H, search for a word from the title or address, and click the page.
Can I recover Incognito tabs?
No. Chrome doesn't save what you open in Incognito to your history, so once you close the window there's no way to reopen them.
How do I make Chrome open my tabs on startup?
Turn on Continue where you left off in Chrome's settings. We explain it in our guide to Chrome startup pages.
Does NexoPad recover tabs I closed?
No. NexoPad doesn't save tabs on its own: it saves the ones you choose with Save all tabs or the right-click menu, and you open them later in one click.
Published on October 20, 20266 min read
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