Press Ctrl+Shift+T (⌘+Shift+T on Mac) to reopen the last tab you closed in Chrome; press it again to go further back. For older tabs, open History → Recently closed or search your full history with Ctrl+H. To never lose an important tab, save it to a group before you close it.
1. Ctrl+Shift+T: the last closed tab
Press Ctrl+Shift+T (⌘+Shift+T on Mac). Chrome reopens the tab you closed most recently, with its back history. Press it again to keep going back. If the last thing you closed was a whole window, it reopens the window with all its tabs.
You can do the same with the mouse: right-click an empty spot on the tab bar and choose Reopen closed tab.
2. Recently closed: pick the one you want
Open the ⋮ menu → History. The Recently closed list shows tabs and windows you closed lately; click one to bring it back. Useful when the tab you want isn’t the last one.
3. History: anything from the past days
Press Ctrl+H (⌘+Y on Mac) and search by a word from the page title or the site name. This works even for tabs you closed days ago — as long as you remember something about them.
4. After a crash or restart
- If Chrome closed unexpectedly, it usually offers to Restore your pages when you open it again.
- To always come back to where you were, go to Settings → On startup and choose Continue where you left off.
Where these methods run out
| Method | Good for | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+Shift+T | The tab you just closed | Goes back in order only |
| Recently closed | A recent tab or window | A short list |
| History | Older pages | You must remember what to search for; history can be cleared |
| Continue where you left off | Restarts | Brings back every tab, not just the ones you need |
All of them are ways to recover from losing a tab. The better habit is not losing it in the first place.
Stop needing to reopen tabs
In LB TAB Layers, tabs you want to keep go into a group in the side panel, and each one is saved as a Chrome bookmark. Then closing is safe:
- ■ on a group closes its tabs; ▶ opens them all again — tomorrow, next week or next month.
- Open tabs that aren’t saved yet are listed under Solo Tabs, so you can see what would be lost before you close the window.
- Because groups are bookmarks, clearing your history doesn’t touch them.
More on the routine in close all at once, open all at once, and on shortcuts in Chrome extension keyboard shortcuts.
Frequently asked questions
Q. What is the shortcut to reopen a closed tab in Chrome?
Ctrl+Shift+T on Windows, ⌘+Shift+T on Mac. Press it repeatedly to reopen tabs in the order you closed them.
Q. How do I reopen a tab I closed days ago?
Search your history with Ctrl+H (⌘+Y on Mac) using a word from the page title or the site name. If your history was cleared, only a bookmark or a saved group will bring it back.
Q. How do I make Chrome reopen my tabs after a restart?
Go to Settings → On startup and choose Continue where you left off.
▶ See it in action
Managing bookmarks and tabs together in the sidebar. (The video shows the Japanese UI.)
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