How to Restore Recently Closed Tabs and Windows in Safari
Ever close a browser tab by accident or lost a number of tabs after Safari crashed? It happens to the best of us. Thankfully, you can quickly reopen your last closed tab or restore tabs from your last browsing session with the tips below.
Open the Last Closed Tab in Safari on the Mac
Safari lets you undo your action of closing a tab--as long as you act promptly. If you close a tab by mistake and then open a new tab, you won't be able to restore the closed tab with the shortcut below, because the undo feature only works on your last action.
In OS X, after closing a tab, press Command+Z, the standard Mac keyboard shortcut for Undo. Your lost tab will be instantly restored. Alternatively, you can go to the Edit menu and select "Undo Close Tab".
For other tabs you've closed before the last one, head to the History menu for the list of sites you've recently visited.
Reopen Closed Windows in Safari on the Mac
You can also reopen a Safari window with the tabs you had open even days after closing the window or quitting Safari.
If you have more than one Safari window open and close one by mistake, go to the History menu and select "Reopen Last Closed Window."
If you quit Safari and want to restart it with all of the tabs you had open last time, go to the History menu and select Reopen All Windows from Last Session.
Get The Snapshot, our free newsletter on the future of computing
Sign up to receive The Snapshot, a free special dispatch from Laptop Mag, in your inbox.
You'll be up and running with all of the windows and tabs you were using last time.
Open the Last Closed Tab in Safari on the iPad
On the iPad or iPhone, you can also quickly reopen your last tabs. Safari on iOS lets you quickly open up to five of the last tabs you closed.
Tap and hold down the new tab button (a plus icon) to bring up the list of recently closed tabs.
Tap the site to restore and the site will open in a new tab.
Melanie was a writer at Laptop Mag. She wrote dozens of helpful how-to guides, covering both the software and the hardware side of things. Her work included topics like SSDs, RAM, Apple, Excel, OneDrive, and detailed guides for Windows users. Outside of all her useful advice, Melanie also penned a few reviews for Laptop Mag, including Android emulators that help you run apps on your PC.