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How to restore Chrome tabs from a saved snapshot

A Chrome crash at 240 tabs doesn't just close your browser — it scatters the six tab groups you spent the morning arranging, and Chrome's own restore brings them back as a flat list with every group dissolved. To restore Chrome tabs the way they actually were, you need a saved snapshot of the whole session, not a best-effort reopen. Tabwell takes one automatically when Chrome exits: the next launch offers to restore whatever was open, and a manual restore rebuilds each window, the tab order inside it, and every Chrome tab group with its original name, color, and collapsed state read back from the snapshot. The record lives in local IndexedDB on your device, so a restore works offline and survives a Chrome update that would otherwise have wiped the session. This guide walks through restoring a saved snapshot step by step, how the auto-snapshot-on-exit recovery flow works, how it differs from Chrome's native reopen, and what the Free tier keeps.

Restore a saved snapshot step by step

Restoring is an ordered flow in the Tabwell side panel. If Tabwell isn't installed yet, add it from the Chrome Web Store first, then:

  1. Open the Tabwell side panel (Chrome's chrome.sidePanel API) from the toolbar or your assigned shortcut.
  2. Find the snapshot you want in the list — snapshots are timestamped, newest first.
  3. Choose whether to restore into the current window or open fresh windows, so the snapshot doesn't mix with whatever is already open.
  4. Click Restore. Tabwell recreates each window and tab in its saved order, then rebuilds every Chrome tab group with its original name, color, and collapsed state.

Crash recovery: the auto-snapshot on exit

You don't have to remember to save before disaster. Tabwell writes an auto-snapshot when Chrome exits, so a crash, a forced update, or an accidental Cmd+Q is covered. The next time Chrome launches, Tabwell offers to restore whatever was open — that is how you recover Chrome tabs after a crash without having pressed save first. The Free tier runs this auto-snapshot every 60 minutes; Pro tightens it to every 5 minutes for sessions that change fast. To create snapshots on demand rather than waiting for the timer, see the companion guide on saving Chrome tabs linked below.

What a restore rebuilds

A snapshot is a JSON record read through chrome.tabs and chrome.tabGroups: each window, each tab's title and URL, and each tab's group assignment. Because the group name, color, and collapsed flag travel inside the snapshot, a restore puts your tabs back inside the same groups rather than handing you a wall of ungrouped tabs. The window layout and per-window tab order are part of the record too, so the session comes back arranged the way you left it.

Restore a snapshot vs Chrome's native reopen

Chrome's built-in Reopen closed tab (Ctrl+Shift+T) and Continue where you left off walk back recent single tabs from the last session, and they lose group structure once you have moved on. A Tabwell restore is different: it replays a specific saved snapshot in full, with groups intact, even days later or after an update. For the full comparison of the native shortcut against a snapshot restore, see the guide on recovering closed tabs in Chrome.

How many snapshots the Free tier keeps

Every install starts with a 14-day Pro trial. After it, the Free tier keeps your latest 5 snapshots with manual save and restore and a 60-minute auto-snapshot, which is enough to roll a crash back to the last hour. Pro lifts the 5-snapshot cap to unlimited, indexes every saved tab for full-text search, and auto-snapshots every 5 minutes — $3.99/month, $29/year, or $19 one-time for the first 1,000 Founders buyers.

FAQ

How do I restore Chrome tabs after a crash?

Reopen Chrome and accept Tabwell's restore prompt, which appears when an auto-snapshot was taken on the previous exit. If you skipped the prompt, open the Tabwell side panel, pick the most recent snapshot from the timestamped list, and click Restore. Tabwell recreates the windows, tab order, and tab groups exactly as the snapshot recorded them.

Does a restore bring back my tab groups?

Yes. A snapshot stores each tab's group assignment along with the group's name, color, and collapsed state, read through the chrome.tabGroups API. When you restore, Tabwell rebuilds those groups rather than dropping every tab into one flat list. This is the main difference from Chrome's native reopen, which forgets group membership.

Can I restore a snapshot into a new window instead of the current one?

Yes. When you click Restore, Tabwell asks whether to merge the snapshot into the current window or open it in fresh windows. Choosing fresh windows keeps the restored session separate from whatever you already have open. The original per-window layout is preserved either way.

Does restoring work on Chrome 114?

Yes. Chrome 114 is the minimum version Tabwell supports, because it relies on the chrome.sidePanel API introduced in that release. Restoring also uses chrome.tabs and chrome.tabGroups, which are available well before 114. Edge and other Chromium browsers may work but are not officially supported, and Firefox and Safari are not supported.

How is restoring a snapshot different from Chrome's Ctrl+Shift+T?

Ctrl+Shift+T reopens the last few closed tabs one at a time from the current session and stops once Chrome's recent history runs out. A Tabwell restore replays a complete saved snapshot — every window, tab order, and tab group — and works days later or after a Chrome update. Use the native shortcut for a tab you closed a moment ago, and a snapshot restore to bring back a whole session.

How many snapshots can I restore from on the Free tier?

The Free tier keeps your latest 5 snapshots, each fully restorable with manual save and restore plus a 60-minute auto-snapshot. Every install begins with a 14-day Pro trial that removes the cap. Pro keeps unlimited snapshots, adds full-text search, and auto-snapshots every 5 minutes for $3.99/month or $19 one-time during Founders pricing.