Chrome tab groups disappeared? How to find and restore them

Updated 18 October 2026

Open the three-dot menu and choose Tab groups. Recent versions of Chrome save every group automatically, so a group you closed is usually listed there, and one click reopens it. If it isn't there, work through the causes below.

1. You closed the group

Closing a group keeps it. You can reopen it from three places:

• the three-dot menu, Tab groups, then the group's name;
• the Tab groups button at the left end of the bookmarks bar;
• the three-dot menu, History, where recently closed groups are listed by name with a Restore group option.

2. Chrome restarted or crashed

If Chrome opened a fresh window, your last session didn't come back. Press Ctrl+Shift+T (Cmd+Shift+T on a Mac) to restore the last window, or find it under History in the three-dot menu as an entry such as 14 tabs and click Restore window. After a crash, click Restore on the Restore pages? prompt. To stop it happening again, set On startup to Continue where you left off (full steps).

3. The bookmarks bar is hiding them

If you open groups from the bookmarks bar, they vanish when the bar does. Press Ctrl+Shift+B (Cmd+Shift+B on a Mac) to show it (other ways), then make sure Show tab groups in bookmarks bar is on in Settings, Appearance. Right-clicking the bar also offers Show tab groups.

4. It was deleted or ungrouped on another device

Deleting a group removes it from every device signed in to the same Google Account. Ungroup does the same to the group, even though it leaves the tabs open on the device where you clicked it. A deleted group won't reappear in the Tab groups menu. If its tabs were closed recently, try the History menu; otherwise search the History page (Ctrl+H), which keeps 90 days, and group the tabs again.

5. You're signed out, or sync is paused

• Signed out, or in another profile. When you sign out, Chrome removes your synced info from the computer and keeps it in your Google Account. Sign back in with the same account.
• Sync paused. If Chrome shows Verify it's you at the top right, click it and sign in again.
• Tabs not syncing. Open Settings, You and Google, your account name, and check that History and tabs is on. Tab group sync depends on it.
• Sync turns off whenever Chrome closes. Google's fix: Settings, Privacy and security, Site settings, Additional content settings, On-device site data, then turn on Allow sites to save data on your device.

6. On Android, they went inactive

Chrome for Android moves tabs and groups you haven't used for 14 days into an Inactive tabs section at the top of the tab switcher. Inactive items are closed automatically after six months, and Google says synced tab groups closed this way stay saved. To reopen a group, tap Switch tabs, open the Tab groups view and pick it. To change the timing, or choose Never, go to Settings, Tabs and tab groups, Move to inactive section.

Stop losing groups

A tab group is a working set of tabs, and one click on any of your devices can delete it. For groups that matter, keep a bookmark copy: move the group to its own window and press Ctrl+Shift+D, which saves it as a folder named after the group (step by step). Bookmarks can also be exported to a file you keep somewhere safe (how to export). Stackboard saves a whole window at once: its stash keeps one stack per tab group as ordinary bookmarks, and any stack reopens as a named tab group.