Key takeaways
- Press Alt + F to open the Settings and more menu, then click History, or press Ctrl + H directly.
- In the History flyout, look under Recently closed. You will see individual tabs and collapsed entries like 12 tabs – Window.
- Click an individual tab to reopen it, or click a window entry to restore the whole group.
- To restore everything from a previous session at once, click the three dots at the top of the History panel and select Restore all under the relevant date or device section.
To restore tabs on Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows to reopen the last closed tab, and press it again to keep reopening tabs in reverse order they were closed. If Edge was fully closed or your PC restarted, open History with Ctrl + H and select Tabs from another device or Recently closed, or go to Settings > Start, home, and new tabs and turn on Open tabs from the previous session to restore them automatically next time.
- Reopen Recently Closed Tabs Without Changing Settings
- Restore Previous Session After Closing Edge or Restarting Windows
- Make Edge Always Reopen Your Tabs on Startup
- Restore Tabs After a Crash or Update
- Which Restore Method to Use
- When Restore Does Not Work: Causes and Fixes
- Prevent Losing Tabs in the Future
- FAQ
If you just lost tabs, use the quick methods below first. If you want Edge to always reopen your tabs, skip to the startup setting section.
Reopen Recently Closed Tabs Without Changing Settings
These methods work even if you have not enabled session restore. They are best for accidentally closed tabs or windows.
1. Use the keyboard shortcut
Press Ctrl + Shift + T to reopen the most recently closed tab in the same window. Each additional press reopens the next older tab.
This shortcut also restores a fully closed window. For example, if you closed a window with 12 tabs, pressing Ctrl + Shift + T once will reopen that entire window with all 12 tabs.
Edge keeps this closed-tab list for the current browsing history. Once you clear browsing history for All time with Browsing history checked, this list is emptied and the shortcut will stop working.
2. Right-click the tab bar
Right-click any open tab or the empty space on the tab strip and select Reopen closed tab. This does the same thing as Ctrl + Shift + T and is useful on laptops where the shortcut is awkward.
3. Restore from History
For tabs closed longer ago, use History:
- Press Alt + F to open the Settings and more menu, then click History, or press Ctrl + H directly.
- In the History flyout, look under Recently closed. You will see individual tabs and collapsed entries like 12 tabs – Window.
- Click an individual tab to reopen it, or click a window entry to restore the whole group.
- To restore everything from a previous session at once, click the three dots at the top of the History panel and select Restore all under the relevant date or device section.
History search is useful if you remember part of the page title. Type it in the Search history box at the top of the History page at edge://history/all.
Restore Previous Session After Closing Edge or Restarting Windows
If you closed Edge completely, restarted your PC, or Edge updated and restarted, the previous session can usually be restored from the menu.
- Open Edge and press Alt + F > History > Restore window or open the full History page and use the Restore option.
- If the tab bar is empty, press Ctrl + Shift + T immediately after launch. In many cases Edge will restore the last session window.
- If you are signed in with a Microsoft account and Sync is on, check History > Tabs from other devices. Tabs synced from your laptop or desktop before the restart may be listed there even if local restore fails.
To check sync, go to edge://settings/profiles/sync and make sure History and Open tabs are turned on. Without those two categories enabled, tabs from another device will not appear.
Make Edge Always Reopen Your Tabs on Startup
This is the permanent fix if you want Edge to restore tabs on Microsoft Edge every time you launch it.
- Open Edge and go to edge://settings/onStartup or click Alt + F > Settings > Start, home, and new tabs.
- Under When Edge starts, select Open tabs from the previous session.
- Do not select Open a new tab or Open these pages. Those options discard the previous session.
- Restart Edge to test it: open 2-3 tabs, close Edge with Alt + F > Close Microsoft Edge rather than killing it in Task Manager, then reopen it.
If your company PC resets this setting, your organization may have an On Startup policy enforced. On that same settings page you will see Managed by your organization. In that case you cannot change it permanently without an administrator changing the StartupPages policy.
Keep pinned tabs and tab groups
Pinned tabs and saved tab groups are restored along with the session when Open tabs from the previous session is enabled. If you want critical pages to survive even if you start a new session, pin them: right-click the tab and select Pin tab.
For project work, consider Tab groups or Workspaces. Right-click a tab and select Add tab to new group, then collapse the group. In Edge 2026, selecting Save group keeps the group available in the Tab groups button even after you close individual tabs.
Restore Tabs After a Crash or Update
After a crash, Edge normally shows a Restore pages banner or a Restore button on the new tab page. Click Restore to reopen the crashed session.
If you dismissed that banner:
- Go to edge://history/all and look for a section labeled with the crash date. Use the three-dot menu to Restore all.
- Check Alt + F > History > Recently closed for a Window entry. That is usually the crashed window.
- Check Windows Startup behavior: go to edge://settings/system and look at Startup boost and Continue running background extensions and apps when Microsoft Edge is closed. Leaving background running on can sometimes keep a crashed session locked. Turn it off, restart the PC, then try restore again.
After a major Windows Update, Edge may launch with a single welcome tab. Do not open many new tabs before restoring, because new browsing can push the old session out of the Recently closed list.
Which Restore Method to Use
Use this table to pick the fastest option based on what happened.
| Situation | Best method | Path or shortcut | How many tabs it can bring back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed 1-5 tabs just now | Reopen closed tab | Ctrl + Shift + T | Up to last 25 closed tabs in order |
| Closed a whole window | History window entry | Alt + F > History > Recently closed > 8 tabs – Window | Entire window, up to 50+ tabs if memory allows |
| Closed Edge yesterday | Full History page | Ctrl + H > filter by Yesterday > Restore all | All tabs recorded for that day, up to 90 days of history |
| PC restarted or Edge updated | Enable startup restore | edge://settings/onStartup > Open tabs from the previous session | All tabs and windows from last clean exit |
| Tabs on another PC or phone | Synced tabs | History > Tabs from other devices | Last 30 days of synced open tabs |
When Restore Does Not Work: Causes and Fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl + Shift + T is greyed out or does nothing | Browsing history was cleared, InPrivate was used, or Edge was ended in Task Manager | Use Ctrl + H to search history. For future, avoid clearing Browsing history on exit at edge://settings/clearBrowsingDataOnClose |
| Edge always opens a blank tab despite enabling restore | Open a new tab is still selected, or a Managed by your organization policy overrides it | Recheck edge://settings/onStartup, remove startup pages, restart Edge. On work PCs, contact IT about the RestoreOnStartup policy |
| Recently closed shows tabs but Restore all is missing | Session file corrupted after crash | Close Edge, restart Windows once, reopen Edge and restore before opening new tabs. Check %localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Sessions is not being cleaned by a disk cleaner |
| Tabs restore but you are logged out everywhere | Cookies were cleared on close | Go to edge://settings/clearBrowsingDataOnClose and turn off Cookies and other site data. Add work sites to edge://settings/cookies/allow |
| Tabs from other devices do not appear | Sync for History or Open tabs is off | Go to edge://settings/profiles/sync, enable History and Open tabs, then press Sync now and wait 2-3 minutes |
A common reason session files are lost is third-party cleaners that delete the Current Session and Current Tabs files on every boot. If you use a cleaner, exclude the Edge User Data folder. Also avoid holding the power button to shut down with 30-40 tabs open, because Windows may terminate Edge before it can write the session to disk.
Prevent Losing Tabs in the Future
- Turn on Open tabs from the previous session and leave it on.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + D to bookmark all tabs in a window to a Favorites folder before major research sessions. That gives you a permanent backup even if history is cleared.
- Use Collections with Ctrl + Shift + O for long-term projects instead of keeping 60 open tabs, which increases memory use and crash risk.
- If Edge is slow with many restored tabs, go to edge://settings/system/performance and turn on Save resources with sleeping tabs. Set inactive tabs to sleep after 1 hour so a 25-tab restore does not use full CPU and RAM at startup.
FAQ
Where is the restore previous session button in Edge?
There is no single Restore button in the toolbar by default. Use Alt + F > History, then select the window entry under Recently closed, or open edge://history/all and use Restore all.
Does Ctrl + Shift + T work after restarting the computer?
Sometimes, but only if Edge closed cleanly and history was preserved. After a restart it is more reliable to use History > Recently closed or to have Open tabs from the previous session enabled before the restart.
Can you restore tabs in InPrivate mode?
No. InPrivate tabs are never saved to history and cannot be restored after the InPrivate window is closed. If you need to keep those pages, bookmark them or copy the URLs before closing the window.
Why did Edge restore old tabs instead of my latest tabs?
This happens when Edge crashed and the last session file was not updated. Edge falls back to the previous clean session. Check History for the newer window entry and restore it manually.
