The popularity of my preferred keyboard shortcut is lower than I had anticipated.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who occasionally hits the “X” when I merely intended to switch to a Chrome browser tab. In this age of multitasking, we are all a little bit too click-happy. I know that Ctrl+Shift+T has my back, so if I’m not very careful about where my cursor is placed, it’s because I have a sneaky trick up my sleeve. And I’m shocked that more people aren’t aware of this wonderful keyboard shortcut.

What does Ctrl+Shift+T (or, for Mac users, Cmd+Shift+T) mean? It ranks right up there with Ctrl+Z as one of the most significant and practical keyboard shortcuts, in my opinion. In actuality, it serves the same purpose as correcting an error. specifically, the error of unintentionally shutting a tab or window in a browser. The simplest approach to restoring a browser tab that you unintentionally Xed out is to use Ctrl+Shift+T.

Let’s go over how to use it and all the other methods for retrieving deleted tabs in any browser. Also, be sure to check out our lists of the greatest keyboard shortcuts for Windows 11 and Mac, as well as our list of the top Google Chrome tips for organizing your tabs.

There are four methods for opening closed tabs in Google Chrome.

You have a few options in Google Chrome for opening closed tabs and windows again, and depending on your needs, it’s useful to understand how they all operate. However, keep in mind that using incognito browsing doesn’t provide you the option of restoring closed tabs.

1. Using keyboard shortcuts

Using a keyboard shortcut is the quickest way to reopen a single tab that you accidentally closed. Use Ctrl+Shift+T on a computer. Use Cmd+Shift+T on a Mac. Simply keep pressing Ctrl+Shift+T and your closed tabs will resurface in the order they were closed if you wish to restore several tabs or if you need one from a previous session. Bonus: By just opening a new Chrome window, the keyboard shortcut can instantly reopen your whole browser window if you unintentionally lose it all. This is an excellent strategy to use when you have to restart your computer or close your browser due to a system update.

2. Using the browser’s history

The most recent tabs you closed are also recorded in your Chrome browser history. Although it’s not as quick as a keyboard shortcut, this technique is helpful if you closed the tab long ago and need to access it again.

You can view your Chrome browser history in a few different ways. Ctrl+H is a different shortcut that can be used. Another is to pick History from the hamburger menu in the top right corner of your browser. A third choice is to insert “chrome:/history” into your browser’s URL bar after typing it.

No matter how you got there, you may access all the web pages and tabs you’ve opened there in reverse chronological order. By clicking on a result, you can reopen it. When using the hamburger menu, you can select to reopen recently closed tabs from a built-in list that shows.

Read on to learn about 11 Chrome features you wish you’d known before.

3. Using tabs to search

Ever seen the small downward-pointing arrow in your Chrome tab bar? In Windows, it is immediately adjacent to the window-closing, window-maximizing, and minimizing icons. (On a Mac, it is at the upper right.) The built-in tab search function of Chrome is represented by this icon, and it may be used by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+A. Both a list of all the tabs you presently have open and a list of the tabs you’ve previously closed are displayed when you use tab search. To reopen or switch to a certain tab, you may either scroll through the list or use the search bar. For individuals who constantly have dozens of tabs open, this is useful.

4. Use of the Taskbar

If the program is pinned to your taskbar or if you have a Chrome window open, you can get a brief list of links by right-clicking the icon: Most frequent and most recent closures. A tab can be restored from there by simply clicking on it. I daydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydayday

Extra credit: “Continue where I left off” technique

A Chrome setting effectively makes Ctrl+Shift+T the default key combination. By turning on this option, Chrome will automatically reopen the tabs you had open during your previous session every time you launch the browser. Go to Chrome settings (also accessible from the hamburger menu) and select On startup to enable it. Choose the option to pick up where you left off.

You may also search through your browser history for Firefox and Microsoft Edge to identify and reopen a tab you unintentionally closed. Recently closed tabs are a separate submenu in the History section of Firefox. The History menu in Microsoft Edge is divided into tabs for All, Recently closed tabs and Tabs from other devices. In Opera, clicking the History icon from the sidebar will also bring up a list of recently closed tabs if the sidebar is active and History is one of the items you’ve chosen to include in the sidebar.

The other browsers have a setting to automatically reopen the tabs from the previous session at startup. Open previous windows and tabs at startup by checking the item in Firefox’s Settings > General section. Go to Settings > Start, home, and new tabs in Microsoft Edge and select Open tabs from the previous session under When Edge starts. Additionally, in Opera, go to Settings > On startup and select the option to save the tabs from the previous session.

Check out Google Chrome’s top features for more information, including how to silence an annoying browser tab. Additionally, there are browser addons that might help you save money when shopping online and privacy-enhancing browser settings.