We’ve all done it. You’re flicking through tabs, your hand moves faster than your brain, and bam — you closed a tab you still needed. You stare at the screen for a second before remembering there’s a keyboard shortcut for that.
Ctrl + Shift + T (or Cmd + Shift + T on a Mac).
That’s it. Press it once and the last tab you closed comes back. Press it again and the one before that comes back. Chrome and Chromium keep a stack of your recently closed tabs in memory, so you can walk backwards through your mistakes as far as you need.
It works across sessions
If you close Chrome entirely and reopen it, Ctrl + Shift + T will restore the last window you had open with all its tabs. This is separate from the “Continue where you left off” startup setting — it’s a one-time restore that works even if you have Chrome set to start on a blank page.
Right-click also works
If you prefer the mouse, right-click on any tab and select “Reopen closed tab” from the menu. Same result, one extra click.
What about the History panel?
For tabs you closed a while ago (not just the last few), go to Menu > History or press Ctrl + H. You’ll see a full chronological list — the “Recently closed” section at the top shows your last few tab closures with their full titles, making it easier to find the one you actually want.
The shortcut is one of those things you don’t think about until you need it. And once you know it, you’ll use it more often than you’d expect. :-)