how to open recently closed tabs safari mac

How-To Geek

How to reopen closed tabs and windows in safari on a mac.

Safari lets you reopen closed tabs on a Mac, just as it does on iPhone. Here's how.

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Restoring the last closed tab in safari, restoring the last closed tab using your keyboard.

Did you just close a Safari tab or window? No problem---you can get it back. Like all modern web browsers, Apple's Safari for Mac can reopen a closed tab or window---as long as you weren't browsing privately.

Tabbed browsing is perhaps the best thing to come to the internet since Keyboard Cat, and if you're anything like us you probably have more tabs open than you can ever remember looking at. That unfortunately sometimes leads to what we like to call "The Purge"---a cleanup of tabs that invariably has an unfortunate side effect---closing the one tab that you absolutely wanted to keep open.

Thankfully, someone at Apple thought about that and there's a handy dandy menu bar option that will return that recently closed tab to its former glory. There's even a keyboard shortcut, too!

There is, of course, one caveat to consider here. If you're browsing away in private browsing mode, and then close a tab, you're out of luck. No amount of spamming the right buttons or key combinations is going to bring it back. Sorry! Everything is discarded as soon as you close a private browsing tab. That ensures your private browsing stays private.

With that out of the way, here's how to get your lost tab back.

If you just closed a tab and realized that you shouldn't have, getting it back is a case of two mouse clicks.

To get started, click the "History" option in the menu bar at the top of the screen in Safari.

Next, click "Reopen Last Closed Tab."

Wonder as the tab springs back into view.

If you're in a super hurry, you don't even need to go clicking around. Instead, simply press Shift ⇧ + Command (or Cmd) ⌘ + T and your tab will be restored to its former glory.

You can reopen closed tabs in Safari on an iPhone or iPad , too.

Related: How to Reopen Closed Tabs on an iPhone or iPad

How to reopen recently closed tabs in Safari for Mac

Safari for Mac makes it simple to reopen any accidentally closed windows or tabs from your last browsing session , but did you know that you can also bring back one or more tabs or windows that you closed during your current session? This tutorial shows you how to do just that.

How to reopen closed Safari tabs on Mac

You can view multiple web pages in a single Safari window by opening them in tabs.

Each tab is its own process that consumes CPU time, RAM, and other system resources. Therefore, it makes sense to close any Safari tabs and windows you no longer need in order to cut down on RAM usage, conserve power, and free up CPU cycles for other tasks. But did you close one accidentally or unknowingly and wish to open it again?

Safari for Mac lets you reopen your recently closed tab(s) in three different ways.

1. Use keyboard or menu shortcut

Use the standard undo shortcut Command + Z to bring back the last closed tab or choose Undo Close Tab from the Edit menu. If you’ve closed multiple tabs in a row, invoke the shortcut repeatedly to reopen closed tabs one by one.

The shortcut won’t execute if you perform another undoable action after closing a tab. In that case, choose the option Reopen Last Closed Tab from Safari’s History menu or press the corresponding keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + T .

how to open recently closed tabs safari mac

Like with the undo action, you can press this shortcut repeatedly to resurrect several tabs in the order you closed them, which is really nice. If you have closed a window instead of a tab, this menu option will read Reopen Last Closed Window .

2. Use the New Tab icon

Safari’s New Tab icon has a secret: not only does it let you create a new tab, but also quickly resurrects your recently closed tab(s). To access the list of recently closed tabs in older Safari versions, click and hold the “+” icon on the rightmost side of Safari’s tab bar.

In newer versions of Safari, this button appears in the toolbar.

Up pops a menu with all of the tabs you’ve closed in this browsing session. Select a webpage you’d like to reopen, then click the mouse or trackpad to bring it back.

I prefer this method over the undo action because it reopens a closed tab right where it was. I try to keep my tab bar organized so this has been really helpful. On the downside, restarting Safari clears the list of recently closed tabs under the New Tab button.

3. Check your Safari history

Lastly, you can reopen a recently closed webpage by choosing the Recently Closed item from Safari’s History menu, then choose the webpage from a sub-menu that you want to reopen. Or, select the Reopen Last Closed Window menu option to quickly bring back the most recently closed Safari window along with all of its tabs.

The list of recently closed webpages in the History menu remains intact when Safari is restarted, unlike that under the New Tab button—even though they’re the same lists. If you just restarted Safari and want to reopen a tab that was closed during a previous browsing session, use the history method.

Don’t forget that you can quickly consolidate and convert all your Safari windows to tabs in a single window by choosing the Merge All Windows action from the Window menu.

Other browser tips:

3 ways to change the default web browser on Mac
12 Safari keyboard shortcuts you should know
How to open multiple websites at once on Mac
How to reopen recently closed tabs in Safari for iPhone

How to reopen a closed tab in Safari on a Mac computer in 2 different ways

You can reopen a tab you recently closed on a Mac in Safari using a keyboard shortcut or a menu option.
You can also reopen tabs you closed days ago going through the History in Safari.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

It's easy to accidentally close a tab in Safari on your Mac .

But fear not: You can also reopen your closed tabs very easily in Safari.

Here are two ways you can do this.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Macbook pro (from $1,299.99 at best buy), how to reopen a closed tab on a mac in safari using keyboard shortcuts.

You can use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + T to reopen your last closed tab. This works no matter what you have open in your browser.

You can also reopen a closed tab with the keyboard shortcut Command + Z . This makes the last closed tab reappear in the same spot where it last was among your open tabs.

A caveat about Command + Z, however: This can also undo your last action in a document or spreadsheet. If you use this command while you're in a Google doc, for instance, it will undo the last edit you made and not reopen a tab in your browser. Click into a regular web page before you use the Command + Z option. If you mistakenly click on Command + Z in a doc, Command + Y will redo your last edit.

How to reopen a closed tab on a Mac in Safari using menu options

Some people prefer menu navigation over keyboard shortcuts. It's easy to access the command to reopen the last tab from the Safari menu.

1. For this example, we started with two tabs open.

2. After closing one tab, click on History in the Safari menu at the top of your screen (not the top of the browser window).

3. Select Reopen Last Closed Tab from the drop-down menu. Once you click on this, your last-closed tab will reappear in the same position it was in before you closed it. Notice that this menu also gives you the keyboard shortcut, in case you need it.

The History menu also gives you a handy list of your recently closed tabs right in the menu, with the last-closed tab at the top. You can choose the tab you want to reopen from the menu. You can also select Recently Closed from the menu, for a longer list, or look at tabs you viewed on a different day by selecting one of the date options at the bottom of the History menu.

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(5 Ways Included) How to Restore Closed Tabs in Safari?

Updated on Friday, May 10, 2024

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5 Effective Ways to Restore Recently Closed Tabs in Safari

If you use a Mac as your workstation, then circumstances where Safari tabs are accidentally closed or Mac power failure suspends your incomplete webpages occur as commonly as a meal.

Yet don't be upset, you have 5 ways to restore closed tabs in Safari on your iPhone and Mac without issue. Just read this article from iBoysoft and try the way that you like.

How to restore recently closed tabs in Safari on Mac

If you think that Safari gets the better of Chrome in the Safari vs Chrome battle and take it as your default browser, it's not an odd thing that you close all Safari windows with one mouse click. Take it easy, you can learn 3 methods to reopen the Safari tabs on your computer running macOS here.

Method 1: Use the keyboard shortcuts or menu shortcuts

Just like you undo an email on Mac , you can also undo the tab shut actions with certain keyboard shortcuts or the Safari menu shortcuts on the context menu.

You can relaunch Safari on your computer and then press the Command + Z keys to bring back the last closed tab. If you have shut several tabs in one click, you should hold down the keyboard shortcuts repeatedly to restore all the tabs one by one.

Alternatively, you are able to select the Reopen Last Closed Tab option to bring the closed Safari tab back. Let me show you how to do:

Launch Safari on your Mac via Spotlight Search shortcuts .
Head to the History menu on the top toolbar of your Mac desktop.
Select Reopen Last Closed Tab on the dropdown menu of the History. You can also hit the responding Shift + Command + T keyboards to complete the restoration.
Then all the tabs you have closed on Safari will show up automatically.

Use the keyboard shortcuts or menu shortcuts

Method 2: Utilize the add icon on Safari

Safari's new tab icon allows you to create a new tab with a left click and restore the closed tab with a right click. You will have the list of all closed tabs and windows that you have closed as long as you right-click this icon.

Relaunch the Safari browser on your device.
Head to the upper right corner of the Safari main interface.

Choose the tab that you plan to restore and it will come back.

Method 3: Check the Recently Closed option

You are also allowed to recover your closed tab on Safari by checking the Recently Closed menu. Different from the Restore Last Closed Tab option, this way won't show you all the closed tabs and you can choose specific tabs to recover.

Launch the Safari browser on your Mac.
Locate the History tab on the top menu bar.

Click the website that you visited and then it will appear on the Safari main window.

If you have known how to restore recently closed tabs in Safari on your Mac with the guideline, why not share it with more people?

How to restore closed tabs in Safari on iPhone

The way to reopen a recently closed Safari tab on your iPhone is pretty much the same as on your Mac. You can click the + icon or search for your Closed Tabs in the Safari history to reopen the closed tabs, though they are not as easily accessible as the Mac.

Method 1: Utilize the add icon on Safari

Run the Safari browser on your iPhone, and tap the Show All Tabs icon at the bottom right corner of the iPhone screen.
Tap and hold your finger on the + (New Tab) icon for a couple of seconds.

Method 2: Search for the Closed Tabs in the Safari history

If you fail to restore the Safari tabs, you may need to browse the history and then reopen them manually. Safari saves every website you visit in the browsing history until you browse them in Private mode.

You can easily view your history list or search for particular websites to reopen your closed Safari tabs here:

Open Safari and tap the Book icon.
Tap the Clock icon to view your browsing history.
Search your closed Safari tab or scroll through your history in chronological order.

Search for the Closed Tabs in the Safari history

Missing all Safari tabs with one accidental click or Mac power failure really drives people crazy. Fortunately, this article tells you how to restore closed tabs in Safari on your iPhone and Mac with specific instructions. Meeting this trouble, too? Read this post right now!

For more information about the Safari browser, please read the related articles:

Safari Not Working on Mac/MacBook, How to Fix?
How to Fix Safari Downloads not Working on Mac?
How to Convert Chrome Extension to Safari on Mac?
How to Fix Safari Won't Open Issue?
9 Ways to Speed Up Safari on Mac

If you find this article helpful and useful, please share it to help more people!

Vain Rowe is a new technical editor at iBoysoft. She spares no effort to learn tech knowledge during the training and after training. She has shared dozens of articles across iBoysoft website and other websites, providing solutions and information about file restoration, disk cleanup, work efficiency, and data security.

Jessica Shee is a senior tech editor at iBoysoft. Throughout her 4 years of experience, Jessica has written many informative and instructional articles in data recovery, data security, and disk management to help a lot of readers secure their important documents and take the best advantage of their devices.

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How to Reopen Closed Safari Tabs and Windows and Access Past History

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Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm.

What to Know

Undo a closed tab: Go to Edit > Undo Close Tab , press Command + Z , or click and hold the plus sign to the right of the Tabs bar.
Or, select History > Reopen Last Closed Tab , go to History and mouse over Recently Closed , or press Shift + Command + T .
Restore a closed window: Go to History > Reopen Last Closed Window . Or, History > Reopen All Windows From Last Session .

This article explains how to reopen tabs or windows you may have closed by accident in the Safari web browser. You can also use the History list to reopen sites.

How to Undo a Closed Tab in Safari

You can open your lost tab using four methods. The first is to either select Undo Close Tab from the Edit menu, or press Command + Z on your keyboard.

You can restore multiple tabs you've closed by using the command repeatedly.

Another way to reopen a page you've closed is to click and hold the plus sign at the far right of the Tabs bar. Usually, you click this once to open a new tab, but holding opens a menu with a list of ones you've recently closed. Select the one you want to reopen.

The third way is to select Reopen Last Closed Tab under the History menu or press Shift + Command + T on your keyboard.

Finally, you can find a list of tabs you've recently closed under the History menu. Mouse over Recently Closed to see a list of pages you can reopen, and then click the one you want to restore.

Restoring Closed Windows

If you close a Safari window , you can reopen it just as you can reopen a closed tab, but the command is under a different menu. Select Reopen Last Closed Window under the History menu, or press Shift + Command + T on your keyboard.

The Reopen Last Closed Window and Reopen Last Closed Tab commands share the same spot in the History menu and keyboard shortcut. Which you see depends on which you closed most recently.

Reopen Safari Windows From Last Session

Besides being able to reopen closed Safari windows and tabs, you can also open all Safari windows that were open the last time you quit Safari.

Safari, like all the Apple apps, can make use of OS X’s Resume feature , which was introduced with OS X Lion. Resume saves the state of all the open windows of an app, in this case, any Safari window you have open. The idea is that the next time you launch Safari, you can resume right where you left off.

From the History menu, select Reopen All Windows From Last Session .

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5 Ways to Recover Your Safari Tabs After Restarting Your Mac

Do you keep losing all your tabs on Safari every time you restart your Mac? Here are some quick fixes to help solve that problem.

Safari offers an excellent browsing experience: it is energy efficient, works seamlessly on every Apple device, and is great at protecting your privacy. However, there is one pesky flaw you may have noticed.

Every time you restart your Mac and re-launch Safari, all the windows and tabs from your previous session will disappear. Instead, you'll see the default Safari homepage. This can be annoying if you are like many users who want to pick up right where they left off with their web browsing.

So if you've been wondering how to restart your Mac without losing your Safari tabs, here are some quick fixes you can try.

1. Pin the Tabs in Safari

If you almost always use a certain website, you can pin that tab to your Safari browser. When you pin a tab, or multiple tabs, you don't have to open them manually or worry about losing them each time you close and relaunch your browser.

When you open Safari, pinned tabs appear immediately, ready for you to access them. And even when you open a new Safari window, you never have to worry about losing your tabs. Every tab you've pinned appears the same on every window, so you don't need to worry about having different versions of the same tab on multiple windows.

Pinning a tab is not difficult. Just follow these steps:

Start by opening the website you'd like to pin.
Then Control-click the tab.
A dialog should appear; choose Pin Tab from the options.
Repeat this process for as many tabs as you'd like to pin.

Alternatively, you can place your cursor on the tab you'd like to pin and drag it to the left until the tab shrinks to the size of the website's logo.

There appears to be no limit on how many tabs you can pin on Safari at once. We tested up to 25. However, whatever the number you have, you should learn how to manage your pinned tabs in Safari .

2. Customize Safari's Settings

You may not have favorite tabs to pin. And having so many tabs permanently pinned to your Safari windows might be too much clutter for you. However, if you'd prefer to resume right where you left off whenever you open Safari, there's another simple fix in the settings.

To customize Safari's settings:

Look to the top-left corner of your screen and click on Safari .
In the menu that appears next, click Preferences .
A new General window should appear; look for the Safari opens with menu.
Click on the corresponding A new window option.
From the list of dropdown options, you can select All windows from last session or All non-private windows from last session , depending on whichever you prefer.

Once you've completed these steps, re-launch Safari. Once you open Safari, it should open the tabs from your previous browsing session.

3. Use Safari's New Tab Button

The first two fixes are preventive strategies. If you implement them before restarting your Mac, they can prevent you from losing your tabs once you relaunch Safari. However, you may have restarted your Mac without implementing either strategy. In that case, you still don't have to worry about losing your tabs because you can use Safari's New Tab option as a corrective strategy.

You may think Safari's New Tab icon has only one purpose: to create a new tab. But it can also help you recover your recently closed tabs. Just look at the toolbar and Control-click on the New Tab icon, which looks like a plus (+) . A list of Recently Closed Tabs should appear, so you can select the one you'd like to recover.

4. Use the Undo or Reopen Action

After restarting your Mac and launching Safari, you may decide to close some tabs you no longer need. If they are a lot, you might get carried away with the monotonous task of clicking Close and accidentally closing a tab you still need.

A quick fix that can help you correct that mistake is the Undo menu or keyboard shortcut. Rather than panic when you've closed a tab or fumble with your settings, use the Undo action. It is pretty straightforward. Just follow these two steps.

Look to the top-left corner of your screen and select Edit from the options. A dialog box should appear with a list of options; click Undo Close Tab .

A quicker fix is the keyboard shortcut. To open the last tab you just closed, press this combination of keys: Shift + Cmd + T to reopen your last closed tab.

If you closed more than one tab, repeat the sequence for as many tabs as you'd like to restore. Our Safari shortcuts cheat sheet contains more keyboard shortcuts you can try on your Mac.

5. Reopen Tabs Using Your Safari History

You may have accidentally closed a window, or there may be simply too many tabs to keep pressing the combination of keys we mentioned earlier. Don't sweat it. Launch Safari and do the following. To view your history:

Look to the top-left corner of your screen and select History from the options.
A dialog box should appear with a list of options for you. You can choose any of these three options: Recently Closed , Recently Last Closed Tab , or Reopen All Windows from Last Session .
Click the relevant option to reopen your recently closed tabs, or find the specific tab you're looking for in the Recently Closed dropdown.

Improve Your Browsing Experience on Safari

Losing a tab may be frustrating, but it shouldn't affect your productivity too much. With these quick fixes, you can ensure you never lose a tab on Safari if you restart your Mac. And when you close an important tab by mistake, you can always recover it.

Safari offers a brilliant browsing experience, arguably better than many other browsers, like Chrome. The experience becomes even smoother once you learn some essential Safari tricks and tips and implement them on your Mac.

Tips & Tricks

Troubleshooting, how to re-open recently closed tabs in safari for mac the easy way.

Mac users have long been able to re-open a closed Safari tab by using a keyboard shortcut , but what if some time has passed, or what if you want to re-open a specific closed tab in Safari? It turns out the latest versions of Safari for Mac OS support a menu-based option to easily browse through a list of recently closed tabs, which you can then select any closed tab from to re-open.

Re-Open Recently Closed Safari Tabs on Mac

From any active Safari browser window on the Mac, click and hold on the “+” plus button in the Safari tab bar

Select the Safari tab you want to re-open

Reopening and choosing which tabs to Reopen in Safari on Mac

Repeat with other recently closed Safari tabs you want to re-open if desired

This is a simple and effective way of re-opening recently closed tabs and browser windows in Safari for Mac. Perhaps the best part about this approach is that it allows you to select a specific browser tab to re-open, whereas the Command+Z keystroke to reopen tabs approach will just re-open the last closed Safari tabs in chronological order.

If this trick sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because it’s just like how you re-open closed tabs in Safari for iPhone and iPad in the iOS world.

Know of another way to reopen closed tabs in Safari for Mac? Is there a better approach? Let us know in the comments!

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13 Comments

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I have no idea how so many people seem to be convinced this does work. It definetely doesn’t on my mac…

I’ve always used history. Like this better!

Alternative on Step 1. If you right-click on the +, you do not need to click-hold. Oddly, I didn’t know about click-hold until now.

Good to know will be useful =) btw I always used the “reopen last closed window” command from the History menu, that’s because sometimes I close the wrong window so the specific menu item comes in handy and with the cmd-shift-T shortcut

Doesn’t work on my iMac !!

Mine either. Safari 9.1.2

You need Safari 10 or later, this is a new Safari feature on Mac.

I was about to say the same but then I realized I was in Firefox. Upon switching to Safari (10.0.3), it worked for me.

You need to update Safari if you don’t have this feature.

Been on Macs for 20+ years and embarrassed to say I did NOT know this and I have my own IT business :-/ Thanks for sharing it :)

This particular ability is fairly recent addition, the other option was to use the History menu and various submenus in there.

I’ve always used History>recently closed

I use the history menu in Safari mostly too but this is a nice trick since it’s the same on Mac what it is on iPad and iPhone.

Some things are good to merge features like that.

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View Recently Closed Tabs in macOS Safari Browser – How to

Here's how you can view recently closed tabs in Safari. You can use this feature to recover accidentally closed tabs in macOS.

Access Your Recently Closed Tabs in Safari to Stay on Top of Your Internet Game

Many of us like to have multiple Safari tabs open at once. But keeping track of certain tabs can become somewhat of a nightmare. And we do come across instances where we are forced to shut down certain tabs, losing quite a bit of hard work in the process. Thankfully though, in iOS, the process of viewing recently closed tabs is easy. The process is somewhat similar on macOS as well, Apple's desktop operating system. Today, we will show you how you can view your recently closed tabs in Safari on macOS, allowing you to reopen anything you might have closed by accident.

1. Launch Safari.

2. See that little '+' sign at the top right hand corner of Safari for opening new tabs? Click and hold on it for a second.

3. You will now see a list of tabs you closed recently. This includes websites which you might have accidentally closed as well. Simply click on any link and it will open up again in a new tab.

While long time Mac users might know about this feature, but it's something everyone should know about. It's absolutely frustrating to lose a tab all of a sudden, spreading sheer panic thinking it might not be recovered any time soon. But thanks to Apple, the company has baked in a feature to quickly recover tabs on the fly, whether you have closed them intentionally or otherwise.

Safari might not win awards in terms of performance when compared directly to the likes of Chrome. But it's a decently performing browser and ties in nicely with Apple's ecosystem. There are lot of little features that are seemingly hidden from the browser, but we will highlight those in the time to come, assuring your experience remains top-notch at any given time.

In the meantime, make sure you check out the following tutorial and explore what Safari is capable of doing.

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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 men u 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.

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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.

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How to Reopen Accidentally Closed Tabs on Mac (Safari and Google Chrome)

We’ve all been there, knee deep in our research when we accidentally close a window or tab, or even close out an application entirely using keyboard shortcuts when we clearly meant to jump between windows. All of these things have solutions to undo the catastrophe you just unleashed on your workflow.

Here’s how you reopen accidentally closed browser tabs with a keyboard shortcut for both Safari and Google Chrome.

How to Reopen Closed Tabs in Safari

It’s quite simple. Should you accidentally close a tab, all you have to do is hit a shortcut CMD+Z , or navigate to the Edit menu, then click on Undo Close Tab .

Unfortunately, this will only work for one closed tab. Should you accidentally close out multiple tabs, you won’t be able to go all the way back through your workflow. You’ll want to go digging through your history to find the items you’ve closed out. We should also point out that the Undo Closed Tab option only appears if you close a tab. The option for selecting the item in the menu is unavailable otherwise.

How to Reopen Closed Tabs in Google Chrome

Similar to Safari, Google Chrome also lets you reopen your accidentally closed tabs, but this time the keyboard shortcut is CMD+Shift+T , but, unlike Safari, Chrome is more forgiving and lets you reopen a bunch of recently closed tabs. You can also navigate to File , then Reopen Closed Tab .

Of course, you can also reopen your tabs by going to File, then clicking on Reopen Closed Tabs too.

There you go. Never lose a tab again.

How can I recover all closed tabs in Safari after accidentally closing them?

To recover all closed tabs in Safari after accidentally closing them, you have a few options:

Method 1: Keyboard Shortcuts or Menu Shortcuts

If you are using a Mac, you can press Command + Shift + T to reopen the last closed tab. On Windows, use Ctrl + Shift + T [1] .
Alternatively, you can go to the History menu at the top toolbar of your Mac desktop, select "Reopen Last Closed Tab," or use the shortcut Shift + Command + T [3] .

Method 2: Utilize the Add Icon on Safari

In Safari, you can right-click on the "+" icon located in the upper right corner of the main interface. This will display a list of all closed tabs and windows that you have closed. Simply choose the tab you want to restore [3] .

Method 3: Check the Recently Closed Option

Open Safari and go to the History tab on the top menu bar. Scroll down and select the "Recently Closed" option. From there, you can choose the specific tabs you want to recover [3] .

Learn more:

How to Reopen Closed Tab on Safari | Browser Tips - SigmaOS
Accidentally closed all open tabs on iPad… - Apple Community
(5 Ways Included) How to Restore Closed Tabs in Safari?

Continue the conversation

Explore more.

How to Restore Accidentally Closed Safari Tabs on iPhone

If you’ve accidentally closed Safari tabs on an iPhone, you can easily recover them by using the Recently Closed Tabs list.
Another alternative method is to restore deleted Safari tabs by accessing the History tab.
And, finally the Shake to Undo feature also allows you to recover recently closed Safari tabs on iPhone.

Restore Accidentally Closed Safari Tabs on iPhone

Did you accidentally close all tabs open in Safari on your iPhone? If you did, you’re not alone. Several people, including myself, have encountered this issue at least once. However, it is nothing to worry about as you can easily recover any deleted Safari tab. Read along to learn how to Restore accidentally closed Safari tabs on iPhone.

How To Recover Deleted Safari Tabs on iPhone

Since Safari is the primary web browser for most of us, we have multiple tabs open within the browser. Some of us leave these tabs open as we need to revisit them later. Now, if you accidentally delete or close all of these tabs in Safari, do not panic. Recovering accidentally closed Safari tabs isn’t all that difficult.

Many people accidentally close tabs and you can find several posts regarding this issue on Apple’s Discussion Community page . Therefore, to solve this issue, we’ve put together some of the best troubleshooting methods to help you recover deleted Safari tabs on your iPhone.

1. Restore Accidentally Closed Tabs from Recently Closed Tabs List in Safari

The Safari browser on iPhone has a Recently Closed Tabs list hidden in plain sight within the browser. Not many people are aware of this feature and hence panic when they accidentally close multiple Safari tabs on their iPhones. However, we will help you navigate to the Recently Closed Tabs list and reopen all the tabs you accidentally closed on Safari.

Time needed: 1 minute

Steps to reopen websites from the Recently Closed Tabs list in Safari on iPhone.

Recover Accidentally Closed Tabs from Recently Closed Tabs List in Safari

Once the tab opens, you can continue browsing. If you want to reopen several tabs that you accidentally closed, you will have to repeat this step multiple times.

2. Restore Deleted Safari Tabs From Safari History

Another simple method to recover accidentally closed tabs is to restore them from History. Like most browsers, Safari also stores your browsing history in the History tab. However, note that if you accidentally closed tabs in the Private Browsing Mode, then they cannot be restored.

This is because Apple does not store browsing history for any activity in the Private Browsing Mode on iPhone. If they did, the Private Browsing Mode wouldn’t be that private. But if you’re on Mac, there’s a workaround that allows you to view Private Mode browsing history .

With that said, here’s how to recover deleted Safari tabs from Safari History on your iPhone.

Open the Safari browser on your iPhone.
Tap the Bookmarks icon located below the address bar.
Here, tap the History tab (clock icon).
Next, tap the page you want to reopen.
Alternatively, you can also tap and hold and then select the Open in New Tab or Open in New Tab Group option if you do not want to load the link on the current tab.

3. Shake Your iPhone To Undo Changes and Recover Accidentally Closed Tabs in Safari

Have you ever tried the Shake to Undo feature on your iPhone? Chances are, you have used this feature to correct typing errors. However, the Shake to Undo feature offers a lot more and can help you undo several accidental changes, including the ability to restore recently closed tabs in Safari on iPhone.

Apart from reopening accidentally closed tabs, the Shake to Undo feature also works in other apps and services. Here are a few examples of using your iPhone’s Shake to Undo feature.

Creating, editing, renaming, or deleting files or folders in the Files app.
Creating, editing, or deleting events in the Calendar app.
Editing or deleting images or videos in the Photos app.
Rearranging apps and widgets on the Home Screen.

We understand that this feature might be helpful you right now. Because a few minutes must’ve passed since you accidentally closed these tabs. Regardless, it might come in handy in the near future. Therefore, here’s how to use the Shake to Undo feature to restore accidentally closed tabs in Safari on iPhone.

The moment you accidentally close Safari tabs, quickly shake your iPhone . We suggest using the hammering motion as that is what seems to work for us.
The iPhone will display an Undo Close Tab pop-up. Tap the Undo button.
The closed tab will be restored and you can continue browsing.

Shake Your iPhone To Undo Changes and Recover Accidentally Closed Tabs in Safari

If the Shake to Undo feature is not working on your iPhone, you might have accidentally disabled it. Here’s how to enable the Shake to Undo feature on iPhone.

Open the Settings app and tap the Accessibility option.
Select the Touch option located under the Physical and Motor menu.
On the next screen, enable the Shake to Undo toggle.

Enable the Shake to Undo feature on iPhone

Prevent Accidentally Closing Safari Tabs

Why do you have multiple tabs open in Safari? Mostly, it might be because you visit those sites often and do not want to search for them every single time. However, navigating through hundreds of tabs to revisit a website isn’t very easy. While doing so, you might accidentally close all of the open tabs too.

Therefore, in order to prevent accidentally closing Safari tabs on iPhone, we suggest bookmarking tabs you visit frequently. This will streamline the entire process of navigating websites you visit often and in turn save time. Here’s how to bookmark tabs in Safari on your iPhone.

Head to the website you want to bookmark.
Now, tap and hold on the Bookmark icon below the address bar.

Bookmark Websites to Prevent Accidentally Closing Safari Tabs

On the next screen, you can edit the Name and the Link of the website .
If you want to change the location of the Bookmark, tap the option below Location and select the Bookmark Folder of your choice.

Add Bookmark to the correct folder and save the changes

Conclusion

We hope you were able to restore all the accidentally closed Safari tabs on your iPhone. I can completely relate to your pain of losing all the open tabs. It has happened to me in the past too. If you have any other doubts or are aware of other methods that can help restore accidentally deleted tabs in Safari, please let us know in the comments below.

How to Open a Recently Closed Tab in Safari on Your iOS Device

Accidentally close a browser tab in Safari on iOS and want to open it back up? There's a simple gesture for that, which you may not know about.

Even if you're aware of the gesture, it's worth a reminder that this feature exists in case someone gets ahold of your phone and checks your browser. Even if you've closed out a tab, it's still going to be visible in Safari, unless you were using a private browser window or have cleared your browsing history.

Want to close your Safari tabs all in one go? That's another hidden feature available in Safari. Make sure to check out our accompanying how to for instructions.

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Top Rated Comments

Lol I had no idea! But iOS is so intuitive, you can even press things out of nowhere on a 3D Touch-less device!

Cool! I didn’t know this :) [doublepost=1515101359][/doublepost] I missed that one! How do I do that?

On a Mac, using Safari you can also either click and hold the + icon at the right of your tabs, or just quickly press ⌘⇧T to open your last-closed tab. In fact, you can keep hitting that combo and it will keep opening other recently-closed tabs.

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How to view recently closed tabs in Safari on your iPhone or iPad

Whether you accidentally closed a tab you were viewing or are trying to remember something from an article you just read, you should know that getting back to a closed tab in Safari is pretty simple. With just a couple of taps, you can jump right back to where you were instead of having to dig through your history.

Here's how!

How to view your recently closed tabs in Safari for iPhone

Launch Safari from your Home screen.
Tap the tab button (looks like two stacked squares).

Tap and hold on the new tab button (looks like a '+').
Tap on one of your recently closed tabs if you want to open it again.

Tap and hold new tabs, choose a recently closed tab

How to view your recently closed tabs in Safari for iPad

Open Safari on your Home screen.

Let us know in the comments below!

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Safari 101 : How to Clear Your Recently Closed Tabs List

When you accidentally close out of an important tab on your iPhone, Safari 's " Recently Closed Tabs " list really comes in handy. However, when it comes time to clear the list, things get a bit complicated. There's no "Delete" or "Erase" button on this page, but don't let that fool you — there are three easy ways to clear your recently closed tabs list.

Keep in mind that these steps will clear your list, so it will be irreversible. You need to make sure no tabs in the pile are important because once you go through with it, you won't be able to open that tab again. At least, not without having to do some history-diving in order to find it again.

And if you're wanting to clear your list of "Recently Closed Tabs" because of privacy issues where you don't want someone else with access to the iPhone to see what you've been reading, then you should consider using "Private" tabs more often, which won't get recorded in your list of "Recently Closed Tabs" anyway. More importantly, they won't appear in your browsing history.

Method 1: Force-Close the Safari App

Safari does not appear to have a limit to the number of closed tabs it will remember. That's pretty darn convenient, but it will forget them all if you force-close the app, which is the easiest way to clear the list.

Simply double-click the Home button, then swipe up on the Safari card to quit the app. On an iPhone X, you'd slowly swipe up from the home bar, hold for a moment, then let go to see all the app cards. Next, tap and hold on any card to bring up the close options, then tap the red minus button or swipe up to exit the app.

Safari 101: How to Clear Your Recently Closed Tabs List

Method 2: Restart Your iPhone

If force-closing apps isn't your forte, maybe restarting is. If you have an iPhone X, hold the Side button plus one of the volume buttons for a few seconds. For all other iPhones, just hold down the Side button.

When you see "Slide to Power Off" appear on the display, swipe that bar to power down your iPhone. Once powered down completely, hold down the Side button for a few seconds until you see the Apple logo. When you're iPhone wakes up, your recently closed tabs list will be cleared.

Alternatively, you could also use the newer "Shut Down" command in iOS 11 to shut down your iPhone before you power it back on manually. Even better, you can just "Restart" your iPhone from the "Assistive Touch" menu so that it turns off and powers back on automatically.

Method 3: Clear Your Search History

Clearing your history not only covers your web-browsing tracks, it also purges your list of recently closed tabs.

To clear your history in Safari, tap the book icon in the bottom menu bar. If you don't see the bar, either tap on the top bar or swipe down on the page to make it appear. Then, tap the clock icon to access your History page.

Next, tap "Clear," then select any of the four time ranges offered. No matter which option you choose, each will erase all your recently closed tabs, regardless of when those tabs were actually closed.

Method 4: Just Wait It Out

While not very methodical, waiting will guarantee you lose all recently closed tabs. After a certain period of time, Safari flushes the list without your consent or knowledge. While the above steps are great for manually erasing your recently closed tabs list, know that your tabs do get erased periodically.

It's very difficult to test how long Safari takes in between deletions, and Apple does not appear to share the data publicly. However, from my experience, Safari will erase my recently closed tabs overnight, so these tabs must only be safe for a handful of hours. I guess it's called recently closed tabs for a reason.

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Safari User Guide

Change your homepage
Import bookmarks, history, and passwords
Make Safari your default web browser
Go to websites
Find what you’re looking for
Bookmark webpages that you want to revisit
See your favorite websites
Use tabs for webpages
Pin frequently visited websites
Play web videos
Mute audio in tabs
Pay with Apple Pay
Autofill credit card info
Autofill contact info
Keep a Reading List
Hide ads when reading articles
Translate a webpage
Download items from the web
Share or post webpages
Add passes to Wallet
Save part or all of a webpage
Print or create a PDF of a webpage
Customize a start page
Customize the Safari window
Customize settings per website
Zoom in on webpages
Get extensions
Manage cookies and website data
Block pop-ups
Clear your browsing history
Browse privately
Autofill user name and password info
Prevent cross-site tracking
View a Privacy Report
Change Safari preferences
Keyboard and other shortcuts
Troubleshooting

Close tabs in Safari on Mac

When you’re surfing the web or researching a subject, you can avoid cluttering your window with multiple tabs.

Open Safari for me

Close all other tabs: Control-click the tab you want to keep open, then choose Close Other Tabs.

Close all tabs to the right: Control-click a tab, then choose Close Tabs to the Right.

How to close all your Safari tabs at once on iPhone

There are two types of iPhone users: those that religiously close out their Safari tabs and those that have hundreds of tabs open at any given moment. At some point, there comes a time when you need to clear out all of your open Safari tabs and declutter your browsing experience. It can be a pain to close out every single tab individually, but luckily you don't have to. In iOS 17, there's a hidden button that'll let you close out all the tabs in a given Tab Group simultaneously. If you've been manually closing out tabs, you need to learn this crucial iPhone trick for Safari.

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How to close tabs in safari on iphone.

Recent versions of Safari split up tabs into Tab Groups , and this is something to keep in mind when trying to clear all your tabs. All iPhone users will have at least two Tab Groups: Start Page and Private . If you've created custom Tab Groups — either on your iPhone or on a device synced with iCloud — you'll have to repeat the steps below for each Tab Group.

Open Safari on your iPhone.
Tap the Tabs button in the bottom right corner of the toolbar (it looks like two squares stacked on one another).
Press the X button to close an individual tab.
Hold the Done button and press Close all tabs to clear all your tabs simultaneously.
Repeat the process as needed throughout your Tab Groups in Safari on iOS. Close

Why you should clear Safari tabs regularly

Safari won't let you open more than 500 tabs in a single Tab Group, so all iPhone users will have to close out old tabs eventually. However, there's a case to be made for closing Safari tabs far more frequently than that. Having minimal Safari tabs in a Tab Group can make it easier to go back and forth between the ones you really need. Plus, you may notice a slight performance benefit to running Safari with fewer tabs, although it isn't as big of a deal on the newest iPhones . Still, it's a pain to close out Safari tabs on iPhone individually, so using the hidden Close all tabs button is incredibly helpful.

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How to close all your Safari tabs at once on iPhone

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How to delete or clear “recently closed” list from Safari after clearing history on Mac ?

After clearing my history, the “recently closed” list is still showing, guess what, all the tabs I recently closed which kinda defeats the purpose of clearing my history. Does anyone know how to clear this list?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 26, 2023 6:05 AM