How to Reopen Closed Tabs in Most Browsers [Updated 2024 Guide]

One of the most frustrating things in our comfort of the internet is losing your tabs by accidentally closing them.

Nowadays, we tend to have at least a dozen web pages open simultaneously when browsing the web. After a while, these tabs (and browser extensions) can build up and cause browsers to slow down. A simple fix is to simply close some unused tabs to free up some space in your RAM.

Occasionally, we close tabs that we didn’t really mean to, which can be infuriating. Lucky for us, the best browsers now have a feature to reopen closed tabs. Read on to learn how to reopen closed tabs in the most popular browsers out there.

How to Restore Closed Tabs

Here are some ways for how to open previously closed tabs on various browsers. These methods work on Windows, Linux, and macOS as the only variation between these operating systems is the slightly varied UI on the browsers. In fact, most browsers support the same shortcut. The shortcut to reopen closed tab in Windows is Ctrl + Shift + T or Command + Shift + T for Macs. So, once you learn how to recover tabs on Chrome or any other major browser, the steps will feel familiar for the others too.

How to Restore Tabs on Chrome

To open the last closed tab in Chrome, follow these steps:

Step 1: Right-click on the empty space near the + icon. This shows a drop-down menu with several options for you to choose from. Note that right-clicking on a tab instead of the empty space won’t offer the option to restore tabs.

Step 2: Select Reopen closed tab. It will restore chrome tabs in reverse order from when they were closed. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut mentioned on the right of the reopen option. In most browsers, this is Ctrl+ Shift+ T.

You can repeat these steps as often as you want to restore tabs in Chrome.

Alternatively, you can use your browsing history to reopen a closed tab in Chrome. This can be convenient for people who want to select which tab they wish to open. You can do this in three easy steps:

1. Click on the three vertical dots in the top right part of the screen.
2. Move your cursor to History in the drop-down menu, and then you should see the recently opened tabs.
3. Select the tab you want to open

Note that you’ve previously muted a tab. It may not be muted when you reopen it.

Restore All Tabs on Google Chrome

Let’s say you closed the window and want to bring back all the tabs you closed. You can do so by following these steps:

1. Click the 3 dot Chrome menu in the top right corner of the window.
2. Open History
3. Underneath Recently closed, there will be a submenu with the last browsing sessions tabs. Hover over it, then click Restore window.

This also works for grouped tabs.

You can also open the history menu with the Ctrl + H keyboard shortcut (Command + H for Mac users)

You can also similarly open bookmarks, follow the following guide to learn how to export bookmarks in Chrome.

How to Reopen a Closed Tab in Firefox

Mozilla Firefox has a similar method to reopen closed tabs as other browsers. Here’s how to open recently closed tabs in Firefox:

Step 1: Right-click on the space beside the + icon. This will open a drop-down menu with several options.

Step 2: Simply select Reopen Closed Tab to open the latest tab that was closed. You can also press the underlined button on your keyboard to perform the step in this menu. In this case, it’s the o in Reopen.

Step 3: Keep repeating the first two steps to get to the tab you wish to reopen. You can only perform these steps for the tabs closed in this particular session.

Alternatively, you can use the Ctrl+ Shift+ T shortcut for the same purpose.

You can also achieve the same results by going to the History by first clicking on the three bars on the top right corner of the browser window and then clicking on History.

From there, click on Recently closed tabs. This allows you free control to choose a particular tab you wish to bring back.

Restore All Tabs in Firefox

To restore previous tabs from a recently closed Firefox session, open the menu, then navigate to History > Recently closed tabs > Restore all tabs. You can also open the History menu by using a keyboard shortcut; Ctrl + Shift + H or Command + Shift + H.

Restore a Closed Tab in Microsoft Edge

Similar to the other browsers we discussed before, here’s how to bring back closed tabs in Microsoft Edge:

Step 1: Right-click on the empty space beside the + symbol that opens a new tab. This opens a drop-down menu with a bunch of options.

Step 2: In the drop-down menu, click on Reopen closed tab, and your last closed tab should open in a new tab in the same window.

Feel free to repeat the first two steps to keep opening the previously closed browser tabs.

Alternatively, you can head into the history section in Edge by clicking on the three vertical dots in the top right and clicking on History, or you can use the Ctrl+ H shortcut, which will open your History section in the form of a drop-down menu.

You can also use the Ctrl+ Shift+ T undo closed tab shortcut for the same purpose, which can make your browsing life much more efficient.

How to Restore All Closed Tabs in Microsoft Edge

To restore all the tabs from a closed session of Edge, open the menu, head to History > Recently closed tabs, and click the session you wish to open. You can also open the history menu with the Ctrl + H keyboard shortcut (Command + H for Mac users).

How to Open a Tab You Just Closed in Safari

Here’s  how to reopen a closed tab in Safari:

Step 1: Click on Edit at the top of the browser window; this will show a drop-down menu.

Step 2: At the top of the menu, select Undo Close Tab. This will only work for the tabs closed in the current session of the browser.

Step 3: Repeat the previous steps to reopen the multiple tabs in the order they were closed in

If you wish to reopen tabs from a previous session, you will have to head into the history section. There, you can select the tab you want to open.

The newer versions of Safari allow you to access the most recently closed tabs through the New tab button. To do this, simply click and hold the + icon on the right side of the tab bar. From the drop-down menu that shows up, simply hover over the webpage you wish to reopen and release the button.

You can bring up Safri history to check closed tabs with the shortcut Command + Y.

How to Open the Last Closed Tab in Opera

To reopen a recently closed tab on the Opera browser, follow these steps:

Step 1: Right-click on the empty space in the tab bar beside the + icon on top of the browser window. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step 2: In the drop-down menu, click on Reopen last closed tab. This will reopen the last closed tab in a new tab in the same browser window.

Step 3: You can repeat these steps to keep opening the previous tabs as this will go from the latest closed tab to the earliest closed tab.

Shortcuts can significantly reduce the time needed to reopen a closed browser tab. Alternately, you can use the Ctrl+ Shift+ T shortcut to do the same thing. You can also go to the browser’s history by using the Ctrl+ H shortcut and searching for your specific tab there.

How to Open Last Closed Tab Using the Taskbar

You probably didn’t know, but you can also use the taskbar to open previously closed tabs. This method should work for most browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

Here’s how:

1. Go to the Browser tab in the taskbar
2. Right-click on the tab. A menu will pop up with a couple of options, including recently closed tabs.

3. Click on the tab you want to reopen.

The number of recently closed tabs that will be shown depends on the browser, but you can get up to 10 recently closed tabs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Do Recently Closed Tabs Stay?

For most recently closed tabs in the Chrome browser, they usually stay there indefinitely. However, there’s a limit of 10 tabs, so once it reaches this limit, the older ones will be removed and replaced with the new tabs closed recently.

How Do You Close a Tab With the Keyboard?

If you want to close a tab, go to go to the tab you want to close and hold down the Control button, then press the F4 key on your keyboard.

This will close the current tab and make the one immediately before it the active tab.

For Mac you can close the active tab with the keyboard shortcut CMD + W.

How Do I Restore All My Closed Tabs?

Some browsers offer the option to restore all closed tabs. If the whole window has closed down due to a crash or an unexpected shutdown, the next time the browser opens, simply use the Ctrl + Shift + T shortcut to restore the whole window. Use Command instead of Ctrl if you’re a macOS user.

You can also check the Sync tabs between devices option to find all the recently closed tabs.

How Do I Recover All Closed Tabs?

If the Ctrl + Shift + T (Command instead of Ctrl for macOS users) doesn’t work, head into the history menu of your browser and click the recently closed tab’s window.

Can You Reopen All Closed Tabs Chrome?

Yes, if the window closed unexpectedly, Chrome should do it automatically. If not, navigate to the history menu and click the recently closed tab’s window.

If you accidentally closed Chrome or closed it for any other reasons then when you reopen it you’ll get a notification. That is unless you’re working in private browsing.

Why Did All My Tabs Disappear in Chrome?

You may have accidentally closed the window. If they no longer exist in your History, it’s likely you were browsing in Incognito mode.

How Do I Reopen a Tab I Just Closed?

For most modern browsers, you can simply reopen a recently closed tab by right-clicking on the empty space in the top bar and, from there, clicking on the Open recently closed tab option. This opens the most recently closed webpage.

You can keep repeating this step to open tabs in the order they were closed. Alternatively, you can also use the Ctrl+ Shift+ T shortcut, which works in most modern browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. This also works for grouped tabs.

Restoring Recently Closed Tabs

Accidentally closing an important tab can be extremely frustrating. However, there are ways to recover closed tabs. We hope learning how to reopen closed tabs will help you overcome this frustrating experience. Now, once you accidentally close a tab, you can reopen it without any hassle.

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