How to make Chrome reopen your tabs on startup

Published October 15, 2026

In short: Open Chrome's Settings, go to On startup and select Continue where you left off. Chrome then reopens the pages you were looking at when you quit.^[1] It's a good default, but it only brings back your last session, not the tabs you closed along the way.

You open Chrome in the morning and get a blank New Tab page. Yesterday's twelve tabs are gone. Usually nothing is broken: Chrome is just set to start fresh.

Turn on Continue where you left off

Open Chrome on your computer.
At the top right, select More > Settings.
On the left, select On startup, then Continue where you left off.^[1]

Next time you quit and reopen Chrome, the same pages come back. Your cookies and site data are kept too, so sites you were signed in to open signed in.^[1]

The other two startup options

Open the New Tab page: a clean start every time.^[1]
Open a specific page or set of pages: add pages one by one, or select Use current pages to keep the tabs open right now as your fixed start.^[1] Handy for the same five work tools every morning.

What happens when Chrome updates

When you select Relaunch to finish an update, Chrome saves your open tabs and windows and reopens them on restart. Incognito windows don't come back.^[2] If you'd rather not restart now, select Not now and the update waits for the next restart.^[2]

What this setting doesn't do

It restores your last session only. A tab you closed on Tuesday isn't in Thursday's restart.
It reopens everything, so the pile grows week after week instead of being sorted.
If Chrome crashed rather than quit, read how to recover tabs after a Chrome crash.

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Keep the tabs without keeping them open

Keeptab is our free Chrome extension for the tabs you want back on another day. One click saves a window into a list, written and read back before any tab closes, then Chrome can start light.^[3]

Your lists are backed up every hour, and Keeptab notes your open tabs every 5 minutes in case Chrome goes down.^[3] Pair it with Continue where you left off: today's work reopens, older work waits in a list.

FAQ

Why doesn't Chrome reopen my tabs?

Your startup setting is probably Open the New Tab page. In Settings, go to On startup and select Continue where you left off.

Does Continue where you left off keep me signed in?

Yes. Chrome keeps your cookies and site data, so sites you were signed in to open again signed in. You can change this in Privacy and security settings.

Will an update close my tabs?

When you relaunch Chrome to apply an update, it saves your open tabs and windows and reopens them. Incognito windows don't reopen.

Sources

Google Chrome Help. Set your homepage and startup page. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95314?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
Google Chrome Help. Update Google Chrome. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95414?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
Keeptab. The OneTab alternative to stop losing your tabs. https://keep-tab.com/onetab-alternative

Close tabs without fear

Keeptab saves your tabs in one click, backs them up every hour and notes your open tabs every 5 minutes. Free for Chrome.