How to reopen windows and tabs from your last browsing session in Safari for Mac

iOS 7 Safari (app icon, large)

If you’ve ever accidentally closed a Safari window loaded with dozens of tabs, you know how daunting a task recreating them from your browsing history can be. Like many people, I used to be a huge fan of Google’s Chrome before I eventually made a switch to Safari.

One of Chrome’s simple yet tremendously useful features that I’ve always valued is a switch in settings telling the app to open with all the windows from your last browsing session.

Apple’s desktop Safari, too, has had that feature for a while now but did you know of a hidden option for reopening all windows from the last session?

Here’s what you can do in case you close a Safari window full of tabs by accident, or a single tab for that matter.

How to reopen all Safari windows from last session

Step 1: Launch Safari on your Mac.

Step 2: Choose an option labeled Reopen All Windows from Last Session in Safari’s History menu.

Safari El Capitan Reopen all Windows from Last Session Mac screenshot 001

This productivity tip is especially useful for those who keep all their tabs consolidated in a single window. After accidentally clicking the window’s close button, or hitting the Command (⌘) – W combination on your keyboard (which does the same thing), simply use Safari’s menu item to reopen them all in one fell swoop.

Related tutorial: 10 useful keyboard shortcuts in Safari for Mac

How to reopen last closed Safari window

Step 1: Launch Safari on your Mac.

Step 2: Choose an option labeled Reopen Last Closed Window in History menu.

Safari El Capitan Reopen Last Closed Windows Mac screenshot 001

How to tell Safari to always open with all windows from last session

Step 1: Launch Safari on your Mac.

Step 2: Access Preferences in the Safari menu.

Step 3: Click the General tab.

Step 4: Click the pop-up menu next to the Safari opens with section and choose All windows from last session.

Safari Preferences Always Open Windows Last Session

How to reopen last closed Safari tab

Step 1: Launch Safari on your Mac.

Step 2: After accidentally closing a tab, press Command (⌘) – Z on your keyboard, or choose Undo Close Tab from the Edit menu to bring it back.

Related tutorial: How to reopen closed tabs in Safari for iOS

Please consider bookmarking these tips for future reference.

Related tutorials

If you like this how-to, check out the following tutorials from our archive:

As always, send us your feedback and submit ideas for future tutorials at tips@iDownloadBlog.com.