[Tip] What To Do When You Accidentally Close Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera With Multiple Tabs Open
“Warn on Close” (also known as warn on exit or warn on quit) is an essential feature which should be present in all web browsers but unfortunately some popular web browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera lack this basic functionality. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera browsers are based on Chromium browsing engine so all have similar features and functionality.
“Warn on Close” feature prevents the web browser from accidentally closing multiple running tabs. Sometimes a user is working on multiple tabs and he might accidentally click on the close (x) button of the window or might press hotkeys such as Alt+F4, Ctrl+Shift+Q (has been disabled in Chrome 70 and later), etc which are used to close browser window. In such situations, the “Warn on Close” feature comes to the rescue. It shows a confirmation prompt asking for the permission from the user to exit from the browser window. It asks for the user confirmation before closing multiple tabs. Since the user clicked on the close button accidentally, he may click on the Cancel button present in the notification message dialog box to keep the browser window open. In this way, he’ll not lose his tabs and any data entered into text boxes, form fields, etc.
Since Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera browsers do not show any confirmation message before closing the window, if a user accidentally clicks on close button or presses keyboard shortcuts to close the browser window, he’ll lose all running tabs and all the data typed in online forms. The user might be writing a post, a comment or filling an online form. He’ll lose all the typed data.
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This situation becomes very irritating with time. Many Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera users have been requesting for this required functionality since many years but the developer teams have not implemented this feature yet in these web browsers.
Read More: Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge don’t Confirm or Warn Before Closing Multiple Tabs
Now the question comes what to do when you close Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera accidentally while running multiple tabs? How to recover your tabs?
Here is the solution!
If you accidentally close Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge with multiple tabs opened, launch Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge again and press Ctrl+Shift+T keys together. It’s a keyboard shortcut to restore the last running session in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge web browsers.
As soon as you press Ctrl+Shift+T hotkey, it’ll restore all running tabs which you accidentally closed last time.
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Alternatively, you can select the option to restore tabs using Chrome’s 3-dots menu -> History.
If this incident happens frequently with you and you keep accidentally closing the main Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera window with multiple tabs opened, you can force Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera to always restore the last session at startup.
Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera come with a setting to restore user’s last session on startup. So you can enable this option in Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera settings so that the browser automatically restores your all running tabs whenever you launch it.
You can enable this option using following steps:
1. Open Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, click on the 3-dots icon (main menu) present at the top-right corner of the window. Now select “Settings” option from the main menu.
In Opera web browser, click on Opera menu and select Settings option. Alternatively, you can press Alt+P keys together to directly open Settings page.
2. It’ll open Settings page. Scroll down and look for “On startup” section.
3. Select “Continue where you left off” option from the list.
That’s it. Now Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera will always restore your previously opened tabs upon launch if you accidentally closed the browser with multiple tabs running.
UPDATE:
New versions of Opera and Microsoft Edge browsers now come with this much awaited feature. Both browsers can now be set to show a confirmation dialog box asking users whether they want to close the window or not.
Check out following tutorials for details:
[Opera Tip] How to Enable/Disable Warning on Closing Multiple Tabs
[Tip] Enable Warning Message on Closing Multiple Tabs in Microsoft Edge
NOTE: If you are using any other web browser and want to enable or disable “Warn on Close” feature, following tutorial will help you:
[Tip] Enable / Disable Warning on Closing Multiple Tabs in All Web Browsers
There is an issue with using this method as well one of security. If multiple people have physical access to that device they then have access to any of those accounts simply by starting up Chrome. This includes any email accounts etc that you had opened.
Many years ago this option in Chrome allowed you to save the sites between browser sessions i.e. from day to day etc but it also adhered to removing current session only cookies. When one does not use a website’s Keep Me Logged In Option it sets a current session only cookie so that you are logged out after closing the tab. This meant that you were automatically logged out of these accounts when the browser was closed. That was until Chrome devs made a unilateral decision to forsake security over ease of use. They felt ease of use was more important. Even if you did not enable the particular website keep me logged in option resuming a Chrome session with the “Continue Where I left off” option did not remove the current session only cookies
At the time there was an uproar amongst security minded people about this decision. Many of us asked if it was possible to add an option in Chrome to have it remove these current session only cookies upon Chrome shutdown. The Chrome devs would have no such option. Using a once useful option in Chrome became a security issue with the Chrome devs telling us that before closing Chrome down remember to logout of each of these websites to prevent other people from gaining access to them.
I then abandoned to use the continue where I left off option and instead used a Session Manger such as “Session Buddy” which regularly saves the tabs that you have opened automatically so that if Chrome shuts down you can reopen them. You still have to login to the site again but at least they are secure (as long as you do not enable keep me logged in option).
Thank u so much, you saved my life!