Chrome updated or restarted and your tabs are gone? Try this first

Updated October 27, 2026

Chrome restarted, after an update or a reboot, and came back with a blank page instead of your tabs. On Chrome's help forum, 13 people said they have this question on one thread (Chrome just updated and nuked my startup page and the tabs I had open) and 12 on another (Google updated and I lost my tabs that were open). Work through these in order, and do it now: the longer Chrome runs, the less of your old session is left.

While you look, don't reset Chrome, sign out of Chrome, or clear your browsing data. A reset puts your startup pages and pinned tabs back to the defaults (Google's reset help). Signing out removes your account's info from this computer (Google's sync help). Clearing browsing data deletes the History you may need (Google's History help).

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+T

Press Ctrl+Shift+T (Mac: ⌘+Shift+T). Keep pressing it. Each press reopens the next tab or window you closed, in the order you closed them, so a whole window can come back at once. That's in Google's shortcut list and Google's tab help.

2. Check "Recently closed" in History

Open the ⋮ menu at the top right and point to History. Under it, Chrome lists what you closed recently. A closed window shows as one line like 12 tabs, and a closed tab group shows as its name and a count, like Thesis - 9 tabs. Click one to bring the whole thing back. On a Mac you can also use the History menu at the top of the screen, which has a Recently Closed section.

That's the list one person on the forum described like this: "Going to my history I usually see 40 tabs 20 tabs 17 tabs.... if I then click on restore I get them" (thread).

3. Make sure Chrome opened the right profile

Click your profile picture at the top right of Chrome. If more than one profile is listed, open each one and look. Each profile keeps its own history, bookmarks and settings, so the "missing" tabs may be sitting in the profile Chrome didn't open (Google's profiles help). To pick a profile every time Chrome starts, open the same menu, choose Manage Chrome profiles and check Show on startup.

4. Check your other devices

If you're signed in to Chrome and sync History and tabs, your other computers and phones may still have the tabs. Open the ⋮ menu, then History, then History, and on the left choose Tabs from other devices (Google's sync help).

5. Fix the startup setting for next time

Open ⋮, then Settings, then On startup, and choose Continue where you left off. Google says this tells Chrome to "re-open the same pages you were looking at when you quit" (Google's startup help).

Why it may have changed on its own: every time Chrome starts, it checks whether a program has changed your settings. If it thinks something's not right, it puts some settings back to the defaults, including your startup pages and pinned tabs (Google's reset help). Changing the setting now won't bring back what's already lost. It protects the next restart.

6. Find the pages in History

Press Ctrl+H (Mac: ⌘+Y) to open History. It lists the pages you visited in the last 90 days, not counting Incognito windows (Google's History help). Search for a site or a word you remember, or look through the day it happened. In the By group tab, Chrome groups pages by topic, and More, then Open all in new tab group, reopens a whole group of pages at once.

7. Last resort: copy the Sessions folder

Chrome keeps its record of your open windows in a folder named Sessions inside your Chrome profile. The files in it are named Session_ and Tabs_ followed by a long number. Chrome replaces them as it runs, so the old ones don't last: every restart and every hour of browsing makes it less likely your old tabs are still in there. Copying the folder keeps whatever is left.

Quit Chrome completely. On Windows, open the ⋮ menu and choose Exit. On a Mac, choose Chrome, then Quit Google Chrome (or press ⌘+Q).
Open the folder:
- Windows: press Windows+R, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Sessions and press Enter.
- Mac: in Finder, choose Go, then Go to Folder, and paste ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Sessions.
Copy the whole Sessions folder to your desktop or a USB drive. If you see a Sessions_Encrypted folder next to it (newer Chrome versions write one), copy that too.

If you use more than one Chrome profile, yours may be in Profile 1, Profile 2 and so on instead of Default. To check, type chrome://version in the address bar and look at Profile Path. Those locations come from Chromium's user data documentation.

Be honest with yourself about the odds. Google doesn't document a way to restore tabs from these files. If the files you find are from today, your old session has most likely been overwritten already. If they're older, keep your copy safe and work only on copies. A computer repair shop can try loading an older pair for you.

Questions

Do Chrome updates delete tabs?

Normally Chrome reopens your tabs after an update if your startup setting is Continue where you left off. When it doesn't, the steps above are where the tabs end up, if they're still anywhere.

Will Google support restore my session?

Google's help pages don't describe any way to restore an old session from Google's side. Synced tabs on your other devices (step 4) are the only copy that lives outside this computer.

So it never happens again

Chrome remembers only your last session, and an update or restart can be the moment it loses it. That's why we made Never Lose Tabs, a Chrome extension that keeps its own copies of your tabs:

Restore points, automatically. As you browse, it saves every window, tab, tab group and pinned tab. There's nothing to click and nothing to remember.
An hourly backup file you hold. Every hour you browse, it writes a backup file to Downloads/NeverLoseTabs. It's outside Chrome, so it survives a reinstall of Chrome or of the extension, and you can copy it to a new computer.
A Restore button after a crash. If Chrome comes back with a big part of your tabs missing, the icon shows a red !. Click it, then Restore, and every window comes back, with your tab groups' names and colors.
Free protection, forever. Everything is unlocked for 14 days. After that, auto-save, crash recovery, backup files and restore stay free. Pro (folders, tags, notes and more) is a one-time $5, not a subscription.

It can't bring back tabs lost before you install it. It protects you from today on. It runs on Chrome on your computer, not on phones.

Add to Chrome: free How it works

We make Never Lose Tabs. Chrome is a trademark of Google LLC. Never Lose Tabs is made by Coding Friend LLC and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.