How to reopen closed tabs in Microsoft Edge

Updated 18 October 2026

Press Ctrl+Shift+T (Command+Shift+T on a Mac) to reopen the last tab you closed in Edge, and press it again to keep going back. For anything older, press Ctrl+H and select Recently closed, which keeps your last 25 closed tabs and windows.

1. The shortcut

Each press reopens the next most recently closed tab. Edge is built on Chromium, whose shortcut code restores the most recent closed item of any kind: if that was a whole window, the window comes back with all its tabs, and a closed tab group comes back as a group.

On Windows you can also right-click a blank part of the title bar, along the very top of the window, and pick the option to reopen a closed tab, as many times as you need.

2. History: Recently closed

1. Press Ctrl+H (Command+Y on a Mac), or select Settings and more (…) > History.
2. Select Recently closed. Microsoft says it keeps the last 25 tabs and windows from any past browsing session, so a window from before yesterday’s restart can still be there.
3. Select the tab or window you want back.

For a page you closed days ago, search the full history list. InPrivate pages won’t be there, because Edge clears an InPrivate session’s browsing data once all its windows are closed.

3. Search tabs

The Search tabs button at the top left, next to your tabs, finds any open or recently closed tab from a keyword, across every open Edge window. In an InPrivate window it lists InPrivate tabs only, and the Edge mobile apps don’t have it.

4. The taskbar jump list on Windows

Right-click the Edge icon on the taskbar. The jump list shows your most recently closed sites, the last three closed tabs for each profile. Tabs you close in InPrivate windows are left out.

Restore tabs after a crash, restart or update

After a crash. When Edge opens again, its Restore pages dialog offers to bring back the pages you had open. Accept it. If you closed the dialog, use Recently closed.

After a computer restart. To have Edge reopen your last session on its own, go to Settings > Start, home, and new tab page and set When Edge starts to Open tabs from the previous session. Without it, press Ctrl+Shift+T as soon as Edge opens: in Chromium the shortcut first loads the previous session’s tabs and windows, so it can bring your last window back. Recently closed works too.

After an update. Edge installs updates when it restarts, and Settings and more > Help and feedback > About Microsoft Edge shows a Restart button when one is waiting. Microsoft’s update help doesn’t say what happens to your tabs, so turn on the startup setting before you click it.

Why Edge didn’t restore your tabs

• The startup setting. Check that When Edge starts is set to Open tabs from the previous session.
• InPrivate or Guest. Microsoft says tabs from those windows aren’t restored on startup.
• Another profile. Each Edge profile keeps its own tabs and history, so check the profile icon at the top right.
• History cleared on close. The Browsing history switch under Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data > Choose what to clear every time you close the browser also empties the jump list.
• A work or school computer. Policies that clear browsing data on exit or stop saving history also turn off the Restore pages dialog, and HideRestoreDialogEnabled hides it outright. edge://policy lists the policies in force.

For administrators: RestoreOnStartup

The RestoreOnStartup policy sets what Edge opens at startup: 1 restores the last session, 4 opens a list of URLs, 5 opens a new tab, and 6 (Edge 125 and later) opens the list of URLs and restores the last session. It’s a DWORD under SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge and works only on managed devices. As a recommended policy, it leaves users free to change the choice. With HideRestoreDialogEnabled on, Edge skips the Restore pages dialog and starts with a new tab after a crash.

On Android, iPhone and iPad

Microsoft’s help for the Edge app says a closed tab is in your history. On Android, tap the menu (…) > History and tap the tab. Its iPhone and iPad steps go through Settings: menu (…) > Settings > History. An Android phone also lists tabs from your other devices under Recent tabs once both sync with the same Microsoft account.

Keep the tabs you’ll want next week

Recently closed holds 25 items, so save anything you plan to come back to: Ctrl+Shift+D puts every tab in the window into a new folder of favorites (how to save all tabs in Edge). Have the links as a list? Our free open multiple URLs tool reopens all of them at once, in Edge or any other browser.