How to Close All Tabs on a Kindle Fire Using the Silk Browser

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Plus, tips & tricks for using your tablet’s Silk browser

Written by Devin McSween

Last Updated: May 16, 2025 Fact Checked

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Closing All Tabs At Once

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Closing Individual Tabs

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Using Silk

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Q&A

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Tips

Kindle Fire's default web browser, Silk, allows you to surf multiple tabs on the Internet at once. However, these tabs can add up and cause your tablet to run slow or receive an error that you have too many tabs open. Luckily, closing out tabs is as simple as pressing the “X” icon on the tab. Keep reading to learn how to close out single and multiple tabs, as well as how to use other basic Silk controls!

Closing All Silk Browser Tabs on a Kindle Fire

To close all of the open tabs on a Kindle Fire, press and hold the “X” icon on any tab. Then, select “Close all tabs.” To close a single tab, tap the “X” icon. To open a new tab, press the “+” symbol on the tab bar.

Section 1 of 3:

Closing All Kindle Fire Tabs At Once

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1
Find the tab bar at the top of your browser. Using the Silk browser, look for the tabs along the top edge of the screen. They resemble the tops of paper folders and are arranged horizontally with the website’s name on the tab.^{[1]
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- If you have lots of tabs open, the tabs might be small. There might be 2 arrows on the sides of the window that reveal tabs that don't fit on your screen.
- Turn your Kindle on its side so it’s in portrait mode (or longer than it is wide) to make it easier to navigate Silk.
2
Tap and hold the small "X" on the tab and press “Close all tabs.” Long press the small "X" on the right side of any tab. Then, wait for a pop-up box to appear and select the “Close all tabs” option. This closes out all of your open tabs.^{[2]
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- Look for a notification at the bottom of your screen that says how many tabs were closed.
- If you have an older Kindle Fire tablet, you might be able to close all of your open tabs by pressing and holding the left side of the tab and then selecting “Close all tabs.”

Section 2 of 3:

Closing Individual Tabs on a Kindle Fire

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If you don’t want to close all of your tabs, each tab has its own "close" button. When you are done browsing a page, simply tap on the “X” symbol on the right side of the tab to close it.^{[3]
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Section 3 of 3:

Using Amazon’s Silk Browser

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1
Add new tabs: Press the “+” icon on the tab bar. Look for the “+” symbol along the top edge of the screen; it might be next to your open tabs or on the far right corner. Simply tap the “+” icon to open a new tab in your browser.^{[4]
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- The new tab opens a page displaying your most frequently visited websites. Enter the website you want to go to in the address bar or click one of your frequently visited sites.
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Open private browsing: Swipe left and tap “New Private Tab.” If you don’t want a search saved to your browsing history, use a private tab. Simply use your finger to swipe from the left edge of the screen to the right to open Silk’s menu. Then, press “New Private Tab.”^{[5]
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- Private browsing works similarly to normal browsing. Press the “+” symbol to add new tabs and the “X” icon to close them out.
- Alternatively, press the 3 dots on the right side of the address bar to open Silk’s menu. Then, tap “View Private Tabs” to open private browsing.^{[6]
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Zoom in or out: Pinch the screen. To zoom in, press your thumb and index finger together and place them on the screen. Then, move your thumb and index finger away from each other. To zoom out, press your thumb and index finger back together.^{[7]
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- Some websites do not support zooming in and out.
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Clear your history: Swipe left, tap “History,” and press the trash can. To remove all the sites you’ve visited, swipe left on the screen to open Silk’s menu. Then, press “History” and tap the trash can icon. Select “Browsing history” and tap “CLEAR DATA.”^{[8]
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- Select “Cookies and site data” and “Cached images and files” if you want to clear their history, too.
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Save a page to your reading list: Swipe left and tap “Reading List.” If you want to access and read a page offline, save it to your reading list. Simply swipe from the left edge of the screen to open Silk’s menu. Then, press “Reading List” and tap “Save to Reading List.”^{[9]
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- Alternatively, press the 3 dots on the right side of the address bar to open Silk’s menu.
If you visit a website regularly or want to check out a page later, save it as a bookmark. Simply press the 3 dots on the address bar to open Silk’s menu. Then, tap “Bookmarks.”^{[10]
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Enter reading view: Tap the book icon at the bottom of the screen. Some websites have a reading view that removes images, ads, and other excess content to make reading the page easier. If a book icon appears on the bottom of the screen, press it to enable reading view.^{[11]
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- On older Kindle Fire tablets, you might see a glasses icon instead of the book icon.

Community Q&A

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Question

I try to close the Silk home page by hitting the X on left side of tab and it keeps popping back up. How do I get it to close?

Community Answer

You can't close the home page. The only way to 'close it' is to leave the app.

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Question

Have a Kindle Fire HDX 7 and the instructions to close tabs all at once doesn't work. There is nothing on the left side of the tab bar to touch and hold down that brings up a choice to close all tabs. What do I do?

Community Answer

I have the same thing. There is a small box-like square and it will open tabs, find tabs you want to close and close.

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Tips

To close out of apps on your Kindle Fire, press the square icon on the bottom of the screen; this displays all of the apps that are currently running. Simply swipe up on the app to close it.^{[12]
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If the tabs aren't working or are frozen, restart your browser and try again. If this still doesn't work, restart the Kindle Fire.

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At this time, Silk does not offer an option to automatically close all of your open tabs.

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