How to Recover Microsoft Edge Tabs

Looking for ways to restore closed tabs opened in Microsoft Edge? No wonder—it’s a browser from a well-known eponymous technology company, Microsoft, that tabs to let users surf the Internet and visit multiple websites simultaneously. It supports newer languages such as HTML5 and, since it’s Chromium-based since January 2020, is perfecting others. Consequently, some reports by StatCounter back in May 2022 showed it overtook Safari globally for the first time, becoming the second-best desktop browser, with 10.07% of computers worldwide. Though that’s not set in stone, we understand why people would utilize it, particularly in Europe. Now, let’s demonstrate how to recover Microsoft Edge tabs.

1. Recover recently closed Microsoft Edge tabs

You’re nowhere near the first user that accidentally closed a tab or the entire browser window. The feature for reopening the latest tab existed in Chrome for years. Being Chromium-based makes the procedure for restoring all the latest tabs you closed in Microsoft Edge identical, and provides three options:

1. If the window crashed, as soon as you reopen Edge, you’ll see a “Restore pages” window in the upper right corner, with a Restore button to click.
2. Press the Ctrl (Control) + Shift + T key combination to reopen a tab in Edge.
3. Right-click the tab bar and select an option titled Reopen closed tab, Reopen closed tabs or Restore window.

If you started Edge after closing an entire window, both commands will open all previously active tabs. Otherwise, they will only restore one tab. However, you can keep using the option to continue opening tabs, going as far back as they exist in the browser’s cache.

2. View the list of previous tabs in Edge and reopen them

The method above is handy but doesn’t let you preview tabs or go back and forth between those you closed. If you don’t need to reopen them all, or prefer to have visual cues, you can view a list of tabs you shut down recently in Edge:

1. Click the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner of the browser.
2. Hover over the History option. A tab will expand to the left side, and display a rundown of tabs you quit under the “Recently Closed” section.
   • Note. For conciseness, Edge may show a single entry with the accurate number, such as “5 tabs”. Click to expand it. Additionally, you can click Manage History, then open tabs from there.
3. Click a tab on the list, and it will promptly open.

Ensure Microsoft Edge opens closed tabs automatically (Failsafe)

Both ways to recover tabs you recently closed in the Edge browser work well. However, it doesn’t hurt to be extra careful, especially while working on crucial projects. With that in mind, you can configure Edge to open recently closed tabs upon starting this way:

1. Open the three-dot menu in the top right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Click the On start-up tab in the left corner.
4. Now, under the eponymous option at the top, click the circle in front of Continue where you left off.
   • Note. On some older versions (we suggest you update, however), the option is under Start, home, and new tabs → Open tabs from the previous session.
5. Open a tab, close the window, and launch Edge again to test whether the tab or tabs reopen automatically.