How to Restore Closed Tabs in Chrome

Any regular Chrome browser user will often have multiple tabs open at the same time. Accidental tab closing can happen to any user at any time when browsing multiple tabs. Luckily, the developers anticipated such an event to occur and built in options to restore the pages you are browsing.

That being said, we're going to show you how to restore closed tabs in Chrome for all platforms it's available for. We'll also give you several useful tips that will improve your Chrome browsing experience.

How to Restore Closed Tabs in Chrome on Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook

When you're using Chrome on a desktop computer, it doesn't really matter what type of operating system you're using. The closed tabs restore options will be the same whether you are using Windows 10, Mac, or Chromebook. If you want to open a closed tab on Chrome from a desktop computer, follow these instructions:

1. With Chrome running, open a new tab. This is so that you don't overwrite the currently open tab.
   
2. Open the customization and control options by clicking on the three dots icon in the upper right corner of the Chrome screen. (If you see a red or yellow arrow instead of the three horizontal dots, click on it, it means you need to update your browser).
   
3. In the drop-down menu, hover over History.
   
4. Find the closed tab in the list of recently closed websites and click on it.
   

If the tab you're looking for isn't listed, it may be further down the list. To display an extended list, follow these steps:

1. While hovering over the History menu, click History or use the shortcut Ctrl + H.
   
2. Scroll through the list to find the website you want to open.
   
3. Click on the desired website to open it in a new tab.

Likewise, you can hit Ctrl + Shift + T to open your last closed tab. This can be tapped multiple times to view more recently closed tabs.

How to Restore Closed Tabs in Chrome on Android Device

If you're using the Chrome mobile app, the steps to restore recently closed tabs are actually quite similar. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open the Chrome mobile app. Open a new tab so as not to overwrite the current one. To open a new tab, click the square icon just to the right of the address bar. This would be the icon that has the number of currently open pages.
   
2. On the new screen that appears, click on the plus icon at the top left of the screen.
   
3. Click on the customization and commands menu. It would be the three-dot icon in the top right corner of the screen.
   
4. Scroll through the menu that appears until you see History and press it.
   
5. Scroll through the list of recently opened websites until you find the website you want to open.
   

How to Restore Closed Tabs in Chrome on iPhone

The Chrome mobile app is platform independent. The steps to restore recently closed web pages are similar to Android. If you want to restore tabs on the iPhone version of Chrome, follow the instructions given in the Android version above.

How to Restore Closed Tabs in Chrome After a Crash

If you want to restore recently opened tabs on Chrome when it crashes, you have two options. You'll either need to open them through Chrome's History menu as shown above, or set up an automatic restore in Settings. To enable the restore tabs option, follow these steps:

1. Open the Chrome browser. If it is already running, open a new tab so as not to overwrite the currently open website.
2. Click on the customization and control options menu. It's the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
   
3. In the drop-down menu, find and click Parameters.
   
4. In the Settings menu, find and click the When the engine starts option. Make sure the rocker Continue where you left off was turned on.
   
5. You can now navigate out of this window.

When enabled, each time you start Chrome it will now automatically open the most recently opened tabs. If your computer suddenly decides to crash on you, all of your open tabs will be restored when you open Chrome's backup.

This also applies to all tabs opened when you click the Close button in the upper right corner of the Chrome browser. If you close Chrome, any tabs that were open at that time will be restored when you open it again.

However, this does not apply if you close each tab individually. If you do this, Chrome will only restore the last open tab before closing the entire application. If you've closed individual tabs, you'll need to open them through Chrome Browser History, as shown in the instructions above.

How to Restore Accidentally Closed Tabs in Chrome After a Restart

If you want to restore tabs you accidentally closed during a restart, refer to Chrome Browser History option or the Continue where you left off option as detailed in the instructions above. Restoring tabs as it applies to crashes also applies to reboots.

Access open tabs in other devices

If you sign in to a Google Account while using Chrome, your browsing history will be saved across all devices used. This is handy if you want to open a website on your desktop that you recently accessed on your mobile device. To do this, follow the instructions below:

1. Open the Chrome app. If it's already open, open a new tab to avoid overwriting the currently open website.
   
2. Open the customization and control menu by clicking on the three dots icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
   
3. In the drop-down menu, hover over History then click on it.
   
4. In the left menu, click Tabs from other devices. On the list that appears, you'll see recently viewed tabs on all devices you've used while signed in to your Google account. Find the website you want to open, then click on it.
   

Delete browser history

If you want to delete your browser history, either to reduce clutter or free up disk space, you can do it individually or all at once. To do either, follow the steps below:

Clear All Chrome Browser History

1. In the Chrome browser, open the customization and control menu by clicking on the three dots icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
   
2. In the drop-down menu, hover over History then click on it.
   
3. In the left menu and click on Clear browsing data.
   
4. Alternatively, in the drop-down menu, you can click Parameters, then in the left menu, click Confidentialité et sécurité. From the tabs on the right, click Clear browsing data.
   
5. In the pop-up window that appears, choose whether you want the Basic or Advanced option.
   one. The basic options allow you to clear history, cookies, and cached images and files. You can also set the period you want to delete. Ranges are one hour, 24 hours, seven days, four weeks, or all the time.
   
   b. Advanced options allow you to specify individually saved metadata. This data includes browsing history, download history, cookies and site data, cached files, passwords, autofill data, site settings, and hosted application data. . If you want to keep some of your login details and remove others, you can set them here. The time range options are similar to the basic option.
   
6. Once you have decided which metadata to remove, click Erase data.
   
7. You can now navigate outside of this window.

Clear individual site history

1. Open the customization and control menu by clicking on the three dots icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
   
2. Hover over History in the drop-down menu and click on it.
   
3. To remove websites one by one, find a site you want to remove, then click the three dots icon to the right of the site name. In the menu that appears, click Delete from history.
   
4. If you want to remove multiple sites at once, click the checkbox to the left of the website name. Once you have selected all the websites you want to remove, click Remove in the upper right corner of the screen. In the pop-up window, click Remove.
   
5. Once you're done, you can navigate.

A fairly common mistake

Accidentally closing a tab is a fairly common error for those who use web browsers. It can be annoying if you stumbled upon this website by chance and didn't bookmark it, or even don't know the exact address. Luckily, Chrome provides its users with ways to handle such errors and avoid all the potential frustrations it can cause.

Do you know any other ways to restore closed tabs in Chrome? Share your opinion in the comments below.