How to save all open tabs in Chrome and restore them later

1. Bookmark all tabs (built into Chrome)

Press Ctrl+Shift+D (Cmd+Shift+D on a Mac), or right-click any tab and choose Bookmark all tabs. Name the folder and save: every tab in the window becomes a bookmark in that folder. To get them back, right-click the folder in the bookmarks bar or in the Bookmark manager (Ctrl+Shift+O) and choose Open all in new window.

Good for: a one-off save you want to keep for weeks. The catch: tab groups, their colours and pinned tabs are not kept, the order is the only structure left, and your bookmarks fill up with dated folders nobody cleans.

2. "Continue where you left off" (built into Chrome)

Settings → On startup → Continue where you left off. When you quit and reopen Chrome normally, your windows and tabs come back.

Good for: everyday restarts. The catch: it only remembers the last session. After a crash, a forced update or closing the wrong window first, there's nothing to go back to, and there's no list of named sessions you can reopen later.

3. History → Recently closed (built into Chrome)

Ctrl+Shift+T (Cmd+Shift+T) reopens the last closed tab or window; press it again to go further back. History (Ctrl+H) → Recently closed shows closed windows with their number of tabs.

Good for: undoing a mistake made a minute ago. The catch: it's a short, temporary list, it doesn't survive clearing your history, and it's not meant for "save this and come back next week".

4. Saved tab groups (built into Chrome)

Right-click a tab → Add tab to new group and give the group a name. Recent versions of Chrome save groups automatically (in older versions, right-click the group name and turn on Save group). Saved groups appear at the left of the bookmarks bar: close the group with Close group and a click on its name reopens it.

Good for: a handful of recurring projects. The catch: it works group by group, not for a whole window, and ungrouped and pinned tabs aren't included.

5. A session manager: save the whole window, get it back after a crash

A session manager extension saves the window as a named session you can reopen any time, and keeps copies on its own so a crash doesn't cost you anything. TabSill is the one we make; it's free and works in Chrome and Edge:

1. Install TabSill from the Chrome Web Store and pin its icon.
2. Press Alt+Shift+S (or icon → Save this window). Tab groups, their colours and pinned tabs are saved with the session.
3. Close the window. When you need it again, open the manager (Alt+Shift+M) and click Restore on the session, or tick only the tabs you want.
4. Do nothing for the crash case: TabSill takes an automatic snapshot of all open windows every 5 minutes when something changes. If Chrome comes back with fewer tabs, a Restore last snapshot bar appears in the manager.

Sessions stay on your computer: no account, no cloud sync, no tracking. Export… writes everything to one file you can move to another computer. Sessions and tabs are unlimited in the free version.

Add TabSill to Chrome — free Get it for Edge How TabSill works

Already using OneTab, Toby, Workona or Session Buddy? They're session managers too, with different trade-offs (cloud accounts, limits on the free plan, no tab groups): see our comparisons with OneTab, Toby, Workona and Session Buddy, and how to import your collections.

Which one should you use?

Chrome menu names and shortcuts as of Chrome on Windows and macOS, October 2026; they can move between versions. OneTab, Toby, Workona and Session Buddy are trademarks of their owners; we are not affiliated.