Recover Deleted Tab Contents with Browser Hex Editing

NOTE

This method has only been tested on Chromium-based browsers within Windows 10 / 11.

INFO

This post is based on https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/1hyrnv/lpt_recover_lost_text_youve_typed_in_a_form_on/.

To paraphrase: imagine you were just filling out a important form in the browser, or working on a long essay assignment, and you accidentally close the tab, along with the hours of hard work you've just written.

When this happened to me, I stumbled upon the above Reddit post and managed to recover the form inputs I had made. This post follows the same steps, but with slightly revised instructions and accompanying screenshots.

Final result

1. Prerequisites

Download the HxD Hex Editor from https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/ (download the latest Win10 version)

• On the next page, click "Download per HTTPS" for your language

2. Using HxD

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Open HxD and go to Tools -> Open Main Memory

2.5. Locating process ID

Look up the steps for your specific browser to open "browser task manager" for your browser and locate your tab

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In MS Edge and Chrome, use the hamburger menu

3. Searching for lost content

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HxD will load the RAM memory of that browser tab. Go open the search function

Final Result

Doesn't that final result from HxD look familiar to the text we deleted?