Switching back to last used tab on Chrome

Question

How do I toggle back to the last tab used in Chrome on Mac? Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab navigates the tabs in order. But I want to switch back and forth between two tabs similar to how how Cmd-Tab switches between the last two apps. There's a way to do this on Firefox but is there a solution for Chrome?

Bradley Hayes · Answer 1 · 2023-08-31T17:22:05.433

Press Ctrl+Shift+A and then press Enter.

On Mac it is Command+Shift+A then Enter.

Uses Chrome's native tab history feature and does not require any extensions or registry hacks. When you hit Ctrl+Shift+A it will list your tabs with the last used highlighted ready for you to press Enter.

This is pretty convenient fast once you have done it a few times to get used to it. Also means you can use that muscle memory on someone else's computer and all Chrome based browsers. You can also search the list by typing .

If you really must use Ctrl+Tab then here is an AHK script for you:

; Ctl+Tab in chrome to goto recent
#If WinActive("ahk_exe Chrome.exe")
    prevChromeTab()
    {
        send ^+a
        SetKeyDelay, 50
        send {BackSpace}
        send {Enter}
    }
    ^Tab::prevChromeTab()
    return
#If

Took a while for me to tune that SetKeyDelay to be as short as possible.

The additional backspace key is just a garbage key to trigger a response from the UI to speed up the animation. The result makes it so fast you can't see the UI popup. (normally there is a slow fade-in animation).

If it doesn't work for you try increasing the SetKeyDelay to allow the UI more time to appear.

score 140 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 08 '19 at 00:32

I really wanted this feature myself, I have tried most existing extensions already available but none of them worked properly.

I went ahead and tried my hand at developing one myself and it seems to be working for me. The project is now open source on GitHub. Figured it might help others, too.

Here is the link: CLUT: Cycle Last Used Tabs

Keys can be changed in keyboard shortcut settings on the Chrome extensions page:

Or, for older versions of Chrome:

score 125 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 06 '12 at 18:40

Chrome has no native keyboard shortcut for this, but there's an extension you can use:

Recent Tabs (Chrome Web Store)

Features

You can specify any keyboard shortcut you like (default: Ctrl + Q).
You can configure it to
- show a list of the most recent tabs (much like Alt + Tab).
- toggle between the last 2 tabs.
whenever you press the keyboard shortcut.

Screenshot

HrW · Answer 4 · 2019-05-04T00:01:57.680

There's finally a Chrome extension that solves this for good.

It's called Tab Thumbnails Switcher.

It supports Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab out of the box for switching between tabs in last used order.

From the extension's page:

A tab switcher menu with thumbnail previews similar to Windows 10 task switcher.

➭ Tabs are in recently used order.

➭ You can use Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to select the desired tab or choose a different shortcut.

➭ Mouse-only method: Click on the toolbar button and then click on the desired tab.

➭ It doesn't interfere with the web page you are viewing.

➭ The tabs menu pops up instantly for a fast tab switching.

➭ Works offline. No need for an internet connection.

➭ Tab Thumbnails Switcher does not access or collect your personal data.
...

✔ The tab menu is implemented in machine code, which allows it to pop up instantly without annoying loading delays.

✔ It can redefine Ctrl+Tab shortcut for switching between tabs.

✔ It doesn't inject code into every page you visit, thus avoiding sluggish page loads and conserving CPU and memory.

✔ It works on ALL tabs. Either PDF documents, the New Tab Page, extension pages, Chrome pages, you name it.

mchief90 · Answer 5 · 2019-11-05T16:53:06.217

I finally found a REAL Ctrl-Tab solution and not just an "use an alternative keyboard shortcut"-solution!

Install this extension: CLUT: Cycle Last Used Tabs
Then go to the chrome extensions (chrome://extensions or newer Version: chrome://extensions/shortcuts) and scroll down to the Keyboard shortcuts
Enter a keyboard shortcut, e.g. Ctrl+A for "Quick switch"
Close Chrome completely
Open the Chrome preferences file:
- Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Preferences
- Windows: C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Preferences
- Ubuntu: ~/.config/chromium/Default/Preferences
Search for the previously set keyboard shortcut inside the file, e.g. Ctrl+A and replace it with Ctrl+Tab.
Save and close the file
Reopen Chrome and be finally a happy Chrome user!

score 19 · Answer 6 · edited Oct 18 '13 at 15:40

Recent Tabs has a serious problem of interfering with keyboard events handling. It slows down the whole browser key handling. For example, after enabling the extension, go visit http://fullscreenmario.com and try to control Mario with keyboards. FPS goes rapidly down to 5 or 6.

Not a problem, but a limitation with the extension is it can't move between chrome://* pages or blank page.

There is a working alternative : Toggle Switch Recent Last Tabs. It doesn't slow down the browser. It can switch between any pages.

score 11 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 26 '17 at 12:02

11

Vimium is really cool. i.e. ^ (Shift + 6) to switch to previous tab https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb?hl=en

answered Jan 26 '17 at 12:02

Pawel

221

mark · Answer 8 · 2023-03-26T06:54:45.460

8

I created a minimalist Chrome extension called Previous Tab (PreviousTab.com) to solve this problem. This extension requires no permissions at all.

Press Ctrl+q to switch to the previously active tab, or click the Previous Tab icon.

You may customize the keyboard shortcut by visiting chrome://extensions/shortcuts

Note that Tab is not a supported key for Chrome extension commands.

edited Mar 26 '23 at 06:54

answered Apr 16 '19 at 00:50

mark

801

score 6 · Answer 9 · edited Dec 20 '18 at 20:22

6

I've found these to work for me:

Command + 1-8 will select the tab at that position,
Command + 9 will select the last tab.

If you are like me and have more than 9 tabs open, you are left with cycling through tabs with:

Command + { to go back to a previous page
Command + } to go forward to a page that you came from (after u click back)

edited Dec 20 '18 at 20:22

Jun

103

answered Aug 19 '16 at 18:26

johnv

101

score 6 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 04 '17 at 08:25

6

If you have a full size keyboard, you can use CTRL+PgUp (go to prev tab) and CTRL+PgDn (go to next tab). It is not the same but close enough for me.

answered Oct 04 '17 at 08:25

an phu

209

jdunning · Answer 11 · 2018-06-10T01:07:29.027

Update: Building on Shad's clever approach using AutoHotkey, here's how to enable ctrltab to open the QuicKey recent tabs menu, navigate within it by pressing ctrltab again to select a tab, and then releasing ctrl to switch to that tab (Windows only):

Install QuicKey from the Chrome webstore.
Download and install AutoHotkey.
Open your PC's startup folder by following these instructions.
Go to this GitHub page and click Download ZIP.
Unzip the archive and drag the ctrl-tab.ahk file from the ZIP into your startup folder.
Double-click the ctrl-tab.ahk file.

Now switch between a few different tabs in Chrome using the mouse (since QuicKey was just installed, it doesn't have any recent tab history). Then press and release ctrltab to switch to the previous tab. If you press ctrltab and keep holding ctrl, a menu of recent tabs will open. Press tab to select the next tab in the list. When the desired one is selected, release ctrl to switch to it.

The other shortcuts listed below continue to work, so you can press altQ to open QuicKey and search for a tab.

QuicKey (Chrome webstore) is another extension that provides this missing feature. It also offers a menu that's somewhat similar to the most recently used (MRU) menu you get in Firefox after pressing ctrltab and then releasing tab while holding down ctrl, which makes it easy to select any recent tab from the list.

To switch to the most recently used tab:
- Press ctrlA (altA on Windows).
To switch to the next most recently used tab:
- Press ctrlA again within 750ms. Press it repeatedly to navigate further back in history.
- Press ctrlS to navigate in the opposite direction.
To pick a tab from the menu using just the keyboard:
- Press ctrlQ but keep holding the ctrl key (alt key on Windows).
- Press W to move down through the list of recent tabs.
- Press shiftW to move up.
- Release ctrl to switch to the selected tab.

The above keyboard shortcuts can be changed in chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

score 3 · Answer 12 · answered Aug 06 '17 at 08:37

3

If you need to specifically work with 2 tabs, you can drag the tab out to create a new Chrome window.

Then you can ALT Tab on Windows and Cmd ⌘ ` on a Mac.

answered Aug 06 '17 at 08:37

VitalyB

255

score 3 · Answer 13 · answered Jun 02 '18 at 15:25

The tricky solution to achieve this on Windows is to combine Quick Tabs chrome extensions and AutoHotkey script. I've described it in details here, so here is in a nutshell:

1) Quick Tabs is an open-source, customizable extension, that allows you redefine some CSS styles and allows to setup hotkey for switching MRU tabs. Also it supports keyboard navigation (move to next/previous tab). However chrome doesn't let you bind Ctrl+Tab as a keyboard shortcut, so you need to register another one (for example Ctrl+Shift+S) and then use AutoHotkey script to "remap" Ctrl+Tab for chrome into Ctrl+Shift+S.

2) I won't put here the AutoHotkey script, you can find it here. It covers Ctrl+Tab remapping and handle all the keyboard navigation.

As a result you will see something like that when press Ctrl+Tab in active chrome window:

Arrows navigation, Esc, both Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab are working the way you expected.

score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 12 '19 at 21:53

In contrast to a key combination for switching to the most recently used tab, you may like this very light and intuitive solution for tabs organizing in the most recently used order, which is supported in all major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, other Chrome-based browsers): Tab Slider. Its features are:

Works just like Alt+Tab on Windows or Cmd+Tab on Mac, but with browser tabs
Visually sorts tabs so you always see them in the MRU order (Ctrl+Tab switches to the next MRU tab)
Works with pinned tabs as well
Is customizable (however, I would advise sticking with defaults)

Try it! Hope you'll love it.

score 3 · Answer 15 · answered Oct 24 '13 at 06:32

Chrome on Windows (at least version 30) allows to use a Ctrl+Tab keyboard shortcut for the extensions, and some extensions do use this functionality.
The following might work on Mac as well:

Install an extension which switches to last viewed tab, like FLST Chrome (remembers only one tab into the past) or Ctrl+Tab MRU (requires a bit longer Ctrl+Tab press).
Go to chrome://extensions page, click on 'Keyboard shortcuts' link at the very bottom and set Ctrl+Tab as keyboard shortcut for the extension you installed in step 1

score 3 · Answer 16 · answered Nov 12 '14 at 11:55

Here is the AutoHotKey script to remap the Ctrl+Tab shortcut with CLUT (from Harshay answer) only with Chrome:

; Chrome context
#IfWinActive ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1
^Tab::Send !{w}
+^Tab::Send !{s}

; Back to global context
#IfWinActive

It does not emulate exactly the real Ctrl+Tab behavior: Ctrl+Tab will switch only between the two last tabs, and Ctrl+Shift+Tab will switch through the whole history.

User · Answer 17 · 2021-02-28T02:08:59.010

3

At least three chromium-based browsers now have tab cycling in MRU (Most Recently Used) order via ctrl+tab:

All three allow using Chrome Extensions in the google chrome store.

edited Feb 28 '21 at 02:08

answered Apr 06 '15 at 08:02

User

3,835

score 2 · Answer 18 · answered Jul 01 '16 at 04:12

I built this Chrome extension to do just that; Toggle between the last two active tabs using a global hotkey. This means you don't need Chrome to be focused to toggle.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/toggletab/iblgdmlpmokbijhiebnffnffablkkedk

score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Jan 08 '16 at 14:08

1

Ctrl + 1 takes you to tab 1

Ctrl + 2 takes you to tab 2 etc..

Pretty handy if you're opening multiple links from a page that doesn't support middle clicking or right click menus.

answered Jan 08 '16 at 14:08

Soulwake

43

score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Sep 27 '18 at 13:19

Install quick tabs
Press ctrl+e (or ⌘+e)
- A list of tabs shows up, that last one is already focused
Hit enter

If you want to go through your history, press the down arrow once to the to the tab used before the last one.

I know there's an answer using quick tabs already but it requires too much just to do it using ctrl-tab. I'd rather keep that functionality, plus, I often want to search my tabs, which is what the plugin is really designed for.

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered May 22 '24 at 08:17

I've created this extension which allows switching to last tab using Alt+Shift (win) and Option+Shift (mac).

If you keep the keys pressed for more than 0.15 sec, a tab switcher opens up where you can use arrow keys to navigate to any tab and then release the keys to switch to that tab.

Tab Switcher

The similar extension Tab Thumbnails Switcher shared by someone else did not work for me on mac. An alternative to my extension is to use the built in shortcut of Command + Shift + A then Enter. But I that is too many keys for something I need to do frequently.

Shimmy Weitzhandler · Answer 22 · 2024-12-07T18:46:54.973

1

This feature has been suggested in the Chromium bug tracker here, add your vote:

How to cast your vote

edited Dec 07 '24 at 18:46

answered Dec 06 '24 at 04:31

Shimmy Weitzhandler

3,748

score 1 · Answer 23 · answered Mar 09 '15 at 14:35

I like to toggle between two tabs when filling out forms or comparing pages, etc. As a work around to there being no hot hey for the last used tab, I drag the two tabs into their own window and use the Command+Option+right arrow to go back and forth quickly.

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered Feb 20 '21 at 01:40

0

The one I use if Alt + Q. It costs $1; but it just works and doesn't require any configuration.

answered Feb 20 '21 at 01:40

mbigras

597

score 0 · Answer 25 · answered Jun 13 '24 at 14:38

Here's my AHKv2 script I use, which also works in Edge. It doesn't perfectly emulate Firefox behaviour but it's a step closer than the other AHK answer here in that you can switch through more than 1 of your most recently used tabs:

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0
#SingleInstance Force
NPreviousTabs := 0
^Tab::{
    global NPreviousTabs
    If (WinActive("ahk_exe msedge.exe") or WinActive("ahk_exe Chrome.exe")) {
        NPreviousTabs += 1
        SwitchTabs(NPreviousTabs)
    }
}
SwitchTabs(NPrev) {
    Send "^+a"
    ; might make tab switcher appear faster
    Send "{BackSpace}"
    ; by default last tab is already selected
    ; so we need to press down n-1 times to get the nth most recent tab
    Sleep(75)
    Loop NPrev-1 {
        Send "{Down}"
        Sleep(25)
    }
    Send "{Enter}"
}
OnCtrlUp(ih, vk, sc) {
    global NPreviousTabs
    ; we send release control in SwitchTabs, so it's necessary to check if Ctrl is physically released
    If (!GetKeyState("LControl", "P")) {
        NPreviousTabs := 0
    }
}
ih := InputHook("L0")
ih.KeyOpt("{LControl}", "+NV")
ih.OnKeyUp := OnCtrlUp
ih.VisibleText := True
ih.Start()

There are a few limitations:

The tab stack is rearranged as you switch through them. With Firefox, one may hold Ctrl while pressing tab to scroll through the most recently used tabs, and only the tab that you release Ctrl on is brought to the top of the stack
If you Ctrl+Tab too far, you will start selecting recently closed tabs
The tab stack is shared across windows, unlike Firefox

score -3 · Answer 26 · edited Dec 31 '18 at 20:49

-3

There is official support for this command. Use Ctrl+9.
Please see the this link.

Or am I missing something here?

edited Dec 31 '18 at 20:49

zx485

2,337

answered Dec 31 '18 at 18:45

Harry K

3
1

score -3 · Answer 27 · answered Apr 12 '19 at 14:34

-3

Looks like this is standard now on Chrome - when you close a tab, the focus jumps back to the last used tab. Just noticed it this week. Version 73.0.3683.86.

answered Apr 12 '19 at 14:34

user2255062

3

score -4 · Answer 28 · answered Jul 10 '17 at 17:02

-4

For me Ctrl+1 switches between two most recent tabs.

answered Jul 10 '17 at 17:02

aethos

13

Switching back to last used tab on Chrome

28 Answers28

Features

Screenshot

Linked

Related

Switching back to last *used* tab on Chrome

28 Answers28

Features

Screenshot

Linked

Related

Switching back to last used tab on Chrome