How to recover tabs after Chrome crashed

Updated October 27, 2026

Chrome crashed, or your whole computer did, and your windows didn't come back. 8 people said they have the same question on one Chrome Help thread (HOPING to restore tabs that do NOT come back with Ctrl + Shift + t). Here's what to do, fastest first.

If Chrome isn't open yet, do step 4 first. Copying the Sessions folder takes a minute and keeps your options open. Every time Chrome starts and runs, it can overwrite the record of your old session.

1. Use the "Restore pages?" message

When Chrome didn't shut down properly, it can show a Restore pages? message when it opens again. Use its restore button. It brings back the windows from before the crash. If you closed the message, go to step 2.

2. 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.

Google's crash page also points to this shortcut for reopening the tabs you had open (Google's crash help).

3. 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.

4. Copy the Sessions folder before it's overwritten

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.

5. After a repair or reset, check the 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.

If a technician repaired or reset your computer, Chrome may now be running under a new Windows or Mac user account, with a fresh profile. Ask whether your old user account or a backup of it still exists. Your old Chrome data lives in its User Data folder (Windows) or Google/Chrome folder (Mac) (Chromium's user data documentation).

6. Rebuild from 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.

One limit worth knowing: History lists pages you visited, so a tab you left open for months without looking at it may not be in the last 90 days.

If Chrome keeps crashing

Google's Fix Chrome if it crashes or won't open page walks through the fixes. Make your copy of the Sessions folder before trying any of them.

Questions

Chrome crashed with hundreds of tabs. Is it hopeless?

Not if the Restore message, Ctrl+Shift+T or Recently closed still has the window. If none of those work and the Sessions folder only has files from after the crash, the session itself is most likely gone, but the pages are usually still in History.

Does Chrome back up open tabs anywhere else?

Only through sync, if you're signed in and sync History and tabs. Then your other devices may show them under Tabs from other devices (Google's sync help).

So it never happens again

A crash is exactly when Chrome's single record of your session is most likely to break. 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.