How to Restore Recently Closed Tabs in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari Easily

If you have multiple tabs open in your web browser, there is a high chance that you might close one accidentally. In another scenario, you might close it and then realize and you were done with it. As luck would have it, developers anticipated the possibility of this event happening, and developed a way to reopen recently closed tabs.

Having said that, we’ll show you how to restore recently closed tabs in some of the popular browsers. These popular browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Opera, and Vivaldi.

How to Open Recently Closed Tabs in Any Browser

How to Restore Recently Closed Tabs in Google Chrome on Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, or iPhone

Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chromebook

It doesn’t matter what operating system you use; Chrome behaves the same on all the operating systems. If you want to open a recently closed tab on Chrome, the options will be similar whether you are on a Mac, Windows 10 PC, Linux Machine, or a Chromebook. To restore a recently closed tab in Chrome, follow these instructions:

1. Running Chrome, open up a New Tab. This is so that the previous website doesn’t override the currently open tab.
2. Click on the vertical three-dots menu on the right corner of your Chrome browser. You might also see a red icon with an up arrow, and that means you need to update your browser. However, you can still proceed with further steps.
3. Hover your mouse on the History option in the drop-down menu.
4. From the Recently Closed Tabs menu, find the website or tab that you recently closed and click on it.
5. The recently closed tab will restore in the new tab.

If you don’t see the tab you’re looking for on the list, you might want to expand the list to see more tabs. To expand the list:

1. Click on the History option in the drop-down menu or use the shortcut Ctrl + H or Cmd(⌘) + H on your keyboard.
2. Scroll down the list until you find the website that you want to open.
3. Click on the that website, and it’ll be opened in a New Tab.

Alternately, you can Right-Click on the empty part of the Tab bar on top. Select Reopen Closed Tab option from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can also use Ctrl + Shift(⇧) + T on Windows, Linux, and Chromebook or Cmd(⌘) + Shift(⇧) + T on Mac.

Remember that if you click on a tab instead of the empty area on the tab bar, you won’t see the Reopen Closed Tab option.

Android and iPhone

If you’re on an Android or iPhone, you can follow these instructions to open a recently closed tab:

1. With Chrome running on your smartphone, click on three dots menu and click on the New Tab option. This is so that the previous website doesn’t override the currently open tab.
2. Click on the vertical three-dots menu on the right corner of your Chrome browser. You might also see a red icon with an up arrow, and that means you need to update your browser. However, you can still proceed with further steps.
   
3. Look for the History option in the drop-down menu.
   
4. The recently closed tab will restore in the new tab.

How to Open Recently Closed Tabs in Microsoft Edge on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS

Windows, macOS, and Linux

It doesn’t matter what operating system you use; Edge behaves the same on all the operating systems. If you want to open a recently closed tab on Edge, the options will be similar whether you are on a Mac, Windows 10 PC, or a Linux Machine. To restore a recently closed tab in Microsoft Edge, follow these instructions:

1. With Edge running, open up a New Tab. This is so that the previous website doesn’t override the currently open tab.
2. Click on the vertical three-dots menu on the right corner of your Edge browser. You might also see a red icon with an up arrow, and that means you need to update your browser. However, you can still proceed with further steps.
3. Click on the History option.
   
4. From the Recently Closed menu, find the website or tab that you recently closed and click on it.
   
5. The recently closed tab will restore in the new tab.

Alternately, you can Right-Click on the empty part of the Tab bar on top. Select Reopen Closed Tab option from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can also use Ctrl + Shift(⇧) + T on Windows and Linux or Cmd(⌘) + Shift(⇧) + T on Mac.

Remember that if you click on a tab instead of the empty area on the tab bar, you won’t see the Reopen Closed Tab option.

Android and iPhone

If you’re on an Android or iPhone, you can follow these instructions to open a recently closed tab:

1. With Edge running on your smartphone, click on three dots menu on the bottom. Swipe up and click on the New Tab option. This is so that the previous website doesn’t override the currently open tab.
2. Click on the horizontal three-dots menu on the bottom of your Edge browser.
3. Look for the History option/icon in the menu.
   
4. From the history, find the website or tab that you recently closed and click on it.
   
5. The recently closed tab will restore in the new tab that you opened previously.

How to Restore Recently Closed Tabs in Safari on macOS, iPad, and iPhone

Mac (macOS)

When you close a tab on your Safari on a Mac, the process to restore a recently closed tab is similar to what you can see on other Chromium-based browsers.

You can use the standard shortcut keys Cmd(⌘) + Shift(⇧) + T to open recently closed tab(s) on your Safari browser. Repeatedly pressing this would resurrect as many recently closed tabs as possible. This shortcut would work on any Mac running the latest macOS version.

Alternatively, you can also use the New tab icon to show a few of the recently closed tabs. You can click on your desired website using a mouse or trackpad, and it’ll be opened in a new tab.

If you can’t find your desired website or you want to restore a website that you opened long ago on Safari, you can follow these instructions to re-open the closed tab(s):

1. With Safari opened, open a New Tab using by clicking on the “+” button.
2. Now select the History option from the Menu bar.
3. Select the Reopen Last Closed Window option to restore the recently closed tab.
   If you want to restore an older tab/website, then hover your cursor over the Recently Closed option. From the submenu, click on your desired website and it’ll open in the New tab.

The best part, the list of websites remains intact in the browser History even when you restart your Mac. Moreover, if you have a lot of Safari windows open, you can use the Merge All Windows from the Windows option in the Menu bar to convert all your Safari windows to tabs in a single window.

iPad (iPadOS)

Since iPad doesn’t come with a keyboard, you will have to use the History option to restore recently closed tabs on an iPad. To restore recently closed tab(s) on the iPad, follow these steps:

1. Open the Safari browser on your iPad, if not opened.
2. Tap on the Book icon on the Safari Tab window.
3. Select the History icon tab.
   
4. Tap on your desired website that you want to open, and it’ll be opened.

You’ll be able to see all the websites that you recently closed, categorized according to their respective session times.

iPhone (iOS)

The process to restore recently closed tab(s) on an iPhone will be the same as an iPad. Here’s how to open recently closed tab(s) if you’re using an iPhone:

1. Open the Safari browser on your iPhone, if it isn’t.
2. Tap on the Book icon on the Safari Tab window.
   
3. Select the History icon tab.
   
4. Tap on your desired website that you want to open, and it’ll be opened.

You can also tap on the Multi-Tab icon, and tap & hold the “+” button to see the recently closed tabs. Tap on your desired website to open it. This is how you can restore closed tabs on iPhone running on iOS easily.

How to Open Recently Closed Tabs in Firefox on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iPhone

Windows, macOS, and Linux

Restoring recently closed tabs on the new Firefox is similar to that of the other browsers as well. If you want to quickly restore a tab in Firefox, you can use the Ctrl + Shift(⇧) + T shortcut to recover a recently closed tab. You can also right-click on the tab bar and select the “Undo Close Tab” option.

Remember that if you click on a tab instead of the empty area on the tab bar, you won’t see the Reopen Closed Tab option.

If you want to restore a page that you closed long ago, you can follow these steps in Firefox to restore them:

1. Click on the Menu button  on the upper-right corner of Firefox to open Menu Panel.
2. Click the History option in the Menu Panel.
   
3. Click the Recently Closed Tabs option option from the menu.
   
4. Select the website that you want to open, and it’ll be restored.

Android and iPhone

To restore closed tabs on Firefox on an Android or an iPhone, follow these instructions:

1. Open Firefox, if you don’t have it opened.
2. Click on the vertical three-dot menu.
   
3. Select the History option.
   
4. Select the Recently Closed Tabs option to see your recently closed tabs.
   
5. Tap on any website that you want to open, and it’ll be restored.

How to Restore Recently Opened Tabs in Opera on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iPhone

Restoring recently closed tabs on the new Opera is similar to other browsers as well. If you want to quickly restore a tab in Opera, you can use the Ctrl + Shift(⇧) + T shortcut to recover a recently closed tab. You can also right-click on the tab bar and select the “Reopen Last Closed Tab” option.

Remember that if you click on a tab instead of the empty area on the tab bar, you won’t see the Reopen Closed Tab option.

If you want to restore a page that you closed long ago, you can follow these steps in Opera to restore them:

1. Click on the Opera Button on the upper-left corner of Opera to open Menu Panel.
2. Hover over the History option in the Menu Panel.
   This will show the recently closed tabs in a sub-menu. You can also click History from the sub-menu to restore older tabs as well.
   
3. Select the website that you want to open, and it’ll be restored.

Android and iPhone

To restore recently closed tabs on Opera on an Android or an iPhone, follow these instructions:

1. Open Opera, if you don’t have it opened.
2. Click on the Opera Button on the lower-right corner of Opera to open Menu Panel.
   
3. Hover over the History option in the Menu Panel.
   
4. Tap on any website that you want to open, and it’ll be restored.

Restoring Recently Closed Tabs on Every Browser is Done!

We hope you learned how to open recently closed tabs on Chrome/Edge/Safari/Firefox/Opera on every possible platform through this guide. Since every Browser is based on the Chromium project, restoring recently closed tabs in every browser similar these days.

However, with coming updates, things might change in small iterations. Albeit, the process to access them will be quite similar. We’ll keep you updated with this article if any changes happen in the future.

If you’ve got any questions for us or suggestions for your fellow readers, then leave them in a comment below.

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