How to Restore a Closed Chrome Window, Not Just a Tab
current desktop Chrome; phone app differences noted · Last checked · Suggest an edit
https://instructions.wiki/chrome/restore-a-closed-chrome-window
A whole Chrome window disappeared, with a dozen tabs in it, and the reopen shortcut everyone mentions seems to bring back only single tabs. The shortcut restores the most recently closed item, whatever that was. If the last thing you closed was a window, it comes back as a window with every tab in place.
Press the reopen shortcut
Press Ctrl + Shift + T (Mac: Cmd + Shift + T) in any open Chrome window. Each press restores one more closed item, working backward, so keep pressing if a few tabs were closed after the window. If no Chrome window is open, launch Chrome first and press it there.
Open the Recently closed list
Press Ctrl + H (Mac: Cmd + Y) to open History. Look under Recently closed, in the left panel or at the top on narrower windows. A window appears as an entry labeled N tabs with a window icon. Click it and all the tabs return in a new window.
Use the three-dot menu if History is crowded
Click the three-dot menu in the top right, then History. The submenu shows Recently closed with the same N tabs entries. Hover over one to see the page titles it contains before clicking.
Turn on Continue where you left off
To stop losing windows when Chrome itself closes, open Settings, On startup, and choose Continue where you left off. Chrome then reopens every window and tab from the last session the next time it starts, including after a crash.
Check the previous session right after a restart
If Chrome restarted and the window is missing, open the three-dot menu, History, and look for an N tabs entry under Recently closed before doing anything else. Opening and closing other tabs pushes older entries further down, and the list keeps only a limited number.
If you quit Chrome without that setting. Closing the last window on Windows or Linux ends the session, and on some systems the Recently closed list starts fresh, so the window may only be findable page by page in full History. Incognito windows never appear in either list and cannot be restored.