How to recover your tabs after a Chrome crash

Updated October 5, 2026

In short: Right after a crash, click Restore in the bubble Chrome shows, or press Ctrl+Shift+T (Cmd+Shift+T on Mac) to reopen the last closed window. If that fails, open History › Recently closed. To never depend on luck again, use a tab manager that notes your open tabs every few minutes, like Keeptab (every 5 minutes, free).

1. Click “Restore” right after the crash

When Chrome closes badly, it usually shows a bubble at the next start: “Chrome didn't shut down correctly”. Click Restore. Do it first: opening new tabs or windows before can make Chrome forget the old session.

2. Press Ctrl+Shift+T

Ctrl+Shift+T on Windows, Linux and ChromeOS, Cmd+Shift+T on Mac. It reopens the last closed tab or window. Press it again to go further back. If a whole window was closed, the whole window comes back with its tabs.

3. Look in History › Recently closed

Open the menu ⋮ › History (or press Ctrl+H, Cmd+Y on Mac). The Recently closed section lists windows with their number of tabs. Click a window to reopen all its tabs at once.

4. Check tabs from your other devices

If Chrome sync is on, History › Tabs from other devices shows the tabs open on your phone or other computers. Useful when the crash happened on another machine.

5. Make Chrome reopen your tabs at every start

Go to Settings › On startup and choose Continue where you left off. Chrome will then reopen the previous session each time it starts. It helps, but it is not a backup: one bad close, or one update, and the session is replaced.

How to never lose your tabs again

Chrome keeps only the last session, and only for a short time. A tab manager keeps much more:

Every 5 minutes, Keeptab notes the tabs you have open. After a crash, open Keeptab › Recovery, then reopen the whole session or save it as a list.
Every hour, a full copy of your saved lists is kept, with 30 versions to go back to.
A deleted list stays 30 days in the trash.
Turn on the daily backup file in Settings: a copy is written to Downloads/Keeptab and survives even an uninstall.

FAQ

How do I restore tabs after Chrome crashed?

Click Restore in the bubble Chrome shows at the next start, or press Ctrl+Shift+T (Cmd+Shift+T on Mac) to reopen the last closed window. If that fails, open History › Recently closed.

Why did Chrome not restore my tabs?

Chrome keeps only the last session. If new windows were opened, Chrome was updated, or it closed badly twice, the old session can be replaced. A tab manager that notes your tabs every few minutes, like Keeptab, keeps a copy Chrome cannot overwrite.

Can I recover tabs from a crash days ago?

Chrome usually cannot. Keeptab keeps your automatic sessions and 30 hourly versions of your saved lists, so you can go back further.

Never lose a tab again

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

Add to Chrome — it's free