Confirm before closing multiple tabs in Chrome, Edge, Firefox

In this tutorial, we will help you with how to confirm before closing multiple tabs in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera and Vivaldi browsers on a Windows 11/10 computer. We already know that when we click on the close button for a browser window, the window is closed immediately. But browsers have a built-in feature that once enabled will prompt or ask you when you try to close a window containing more than one tab opened.

This feature will be very useful when sometimes the close button is clicked accidentally as you can either confirm or cancel the action. It also works when you try to exit the browser or close all opened browser tabs at once (with regular windows and/or private windows). The confirmation box will pop up to continue the process or cancel it.

How to confirm before closing multiple tabs in Browser

To confirm before closing a window with multiple tabs in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera and Vivaldi browser on Windows 11/10, we have added a separate section for all these browsers to make it more convenient for you. Let’s check the steps for each browser one by one.

Ask before closing a window with multiple tabs in Edge

With version 104 and higher, Microsoft Edge also lets you enable or disable the Close all tabs prompt. You should update the Edge browser so that you can have this feature. This option works for the InPrivate window as well as the regular window. But, it won’t work for the selected tabs. Follow these steps:

Open the Edge browser
Type edge://settings/appearance in the address bar
Press the Enter key. This will open the Appearance page of Edge Settings
Go to the Customize browser section
Turn on the Ask before closing a window with multiple tabs button.

Confirm before closing multiple tabs in Firefox

The feature to confirm before closing multiple tabs in Firefox works for regular windows only and not for private windows (unless you try to exit the browser). Also, it works for an entire window and not the selected tabs. Here are the steps to turn on this feature:

Open the Firefox browser
Open the application menu by clicking on the hamburger icon (three horizontal bars) on the top right corner
Click on the Settings option
In the General tab of the Settings page, tickmark the Confirm before closing multiple tabs option.

Ask before closing all tabs in Chrome

Chrome browser doesn’t have any native feature (as of now) to ask before closing a window containing multiple tabs. However, there are some free Chrome extensions that can be used for this purpose. One of such extensions is Chrome Close Lock which can be installed from chrome.google.com.

Apart from that, you can also use a webpage (Prevent browser close tab) that is especially available for this purpose. You can access this webpage from maki-chan.de. That webpage works using JavaScript code and provides a prompt when you close an entire window.

All you need to do is open that webpage and click anywhere on that webpage. Now whenever you will press the close button for the browser window, that webpage will prevent the action and show you a Leave site prompt (similar to Gmail). You can also bookmark that webpage or pin it if you want to use it frequently.

Read: How to restore Last session or Chrome Tabs after a crash.

Warn on closing window with multiple tabs in Opera

Opera browser has a built-in feature that once enabled will warn you on closing a browser window with multiple tabs. Do note that this feature doesn’t work when only new tabs (empty tabs) are opened. It works when you have opened some webpages in different tabs. Also, the feature doesn’t work for private windows. Here are the steps to enable this feature:

Open the Opera browser
Press the Alt+P hotkey to open the Settings page
Scroll down the settings page
Expand the Advanced section
Look for the User interface section
Turn on the warn on closing window with multiple tabs button
You can also enable Warn on quitting Opera with multiple tabs open option that works for regular windows as well as private windows.

Confirm before closing tabs in the Vivaldi browser

Vivaldi browser lets you set confirmation action for selected tabs, the entire browser (exit browser feature), and opened windows separately. Also, its confirmation option works for private windows and regular windows. Here are the steps:

Open the Vivaldi browser
Press the Settings button (or icon) present in the bottom left corner
In Vivaldi Settings, access the Tabs page
In the Tab Handling section, select the Confirm Closing Tabs over Maximum of option and enter the number of tabs (like 2, 3, 4, etc.) in the given box. Now when you have selected multiple tabs (using Ctrl+left mouse button) on a browser window and try to close those tabs using right-click menu, the confirmation box will appear prompting you if you want to close tabs
Access the General page
Under the CLOSE AND EXIT section, select the Show Exit Confirmation Dialog option. This will open the confirmation box when you will try to exit the entire browser
Select the Show Close Window Confirmation Dialog option. This will show the confirmation box when you will try to close a particular browser window.

That’s all! Hope it is helpful.

Also read: How to reopen a closed tab in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera browsers.

How do you get a warning before closing multiple tabs?

Browsers like Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi, etc., have a built-in feature to get a warning before closing a window with multiple tabs. You need to activate or turn on that feature by accessing the Settings page of the browser. This post contains a step-by-step guide to turning on this feature in all such browsers.

How do I stop Chrome from closing multiple tabs accidentally?

A native feature or option to stop Chrome from closing multiple tabs accidentally is not available currently. We might get this feature with newer updates of the Chrome browser. But, for now, you can try some free Chrome extensions that can warn you before closing multiple tabs in a window. A dedicated webpage (Prevent browser close tab) is also available for this purpose.