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How to organize tabs in Google Chrome to declutter your web browsing

Jan 22, 2021, 22:17 IST
Business Insider
You can organize tabs in a Chrome browser in a few ways.Gokhan Balci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
  • You can organize tabs in Chrome by grouping or pinning tabs to make them easier to find, among other available features.
  • Chrome lets you open a virtually unlimited number of tabs, so you should know how to organize them, or your browser can quickly become overly cluttered.
  • Here's everything you need to know about working with and organizing tabs in Chrome.
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One of the reasons for Google Chrome's popularity among web browsers is its ability to easily manage and organize tabs.

Here's a comprehensive overview of all the ways you can open, customize, group, and arrange tabs in Google Chrome.

How to organize tabs in Chrome

How to open a new tab

You can have a virtually unlimited number of tabs open at once using Chrome, though if you have too many tabs open, your computer's performance will suffer. Here are all the ways to open a new tab.

  • Open a tab in the current Chrome window: Click the New tab button (the plus sign) at the top of the browser window to the right of the existing tabs. Or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + t on a PC, or Command + t on a Mac.
  • Open a tab in a new window: You can click any tab and drag it out of the Chrome window; it'll open in its own window instead. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + n on a PC and Command + n on a Mac.
  • Open a link in a new tab: If you click a link, it will open in the current tab, replacing the current content. If you want to open it in a new tab, press Ctrl + left-click on your mouse on a PC, or Command + left click on a Mac.
You can open tabs in the existing Chrome browser using the plus sign at the top of the window.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

How to close a tab

To close a tab, click the close button (the X) at the right side of the tab. You can also right-click and choose "Close" or press Ctrl + w on a PC, or Command + w on a Mac. You also have some other options at your disposal.

  • Close several tabs at once: If you want to close a bunch of tabs, right click the tab to the left of those tabs and choose "Close tabs to the right." This works best if the tabs you want to close are already the right-most tabs.
  • Close all tabs except one: Right-click the one tab you want to keep open and choose "Close other tabs."
  • Close all the open tabs in the Chrome window: Click the close button for the Chrome window or use the keyboard shortcut: Alt + F4 on a PC. On a Mac, it's Command + Shift + w.
Right-click a tab to see several commands for closing one or more tabs at once.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

How to open a tab closed by accident

If you accidentally close a tab, press Ctrl + Shift + t on a PC to reopen it, or Command + Shift + t on a Mac.

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You can also find recently closed tabs: Click the three-dot menu at the top right of the Chrome window and then click "History." Find the link you want and click it.

Use the History menu to reopen a recently closed tab.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

How to customize the new tab page

Chrome displays a list of recently visited websites on every new tab you open using the New tab button. You can customize the image on the page as well as edit the list of links. Here's how:

1. Open a new tab by clicking the New tab button at the top of the browser window or by pressing Ctrl + t on a PC, or Command + t on a Mac.

2. In the lower right corner of the tab page, click the Customize this page button, shaped like a pencil.

Use the pencil icon to customize the New tab page.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

3. On the Customize this page window, click "Background."

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4. Select the background image you want to use. You can turn off images entirely by choosing "No background" or upload one from your computer. You can also pick an image from any of the categories. When you're satisfied, click "Done."

In the Background tab you can choose the image you want to greet you in New tab windows.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

5. To customize the links on the page, go back to the Customize this page window and click "Shortcuts."

6. By default, Chrome shows "most visited sites." If you want to customize this list, click "My shortcuts" and click "Done." (If you don't want to see any shortcuts on this page at all, turn on "Hide shortcuts" by swiping the button to the right.)

7. To edit a shortcut, hover the mouse over a shortcut icon and then click the three-dot menu to the right. You can choose to edit the shortcut or remove it from the page entirely.

Use the three-dot menu to modify or remove shortcuts.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

How to arrange open tabs

You can rearrange tabs to make them easier to find, and "pin" tabs you don't want to accidentally close.

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Arranging tabs is easy: You can click and drag a tab to move it left or right in your list of open tabs at the top of the browser window.

You can also right-click a tab and choose "Pin" from the dropdown menu. This moves the tab to the left and makes it smaller. You can't drag a pinned tab around to arrange it, but there's no close button so you can't accidentally close it. To unpin a tab, right click it and choose "Unpin."

Pinned tabs move to the left and lose their Close button.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

How to group tabs

If you have a lot of tabs open at the same time, you can group related tabs to make them easier to find and organize. To group a tab, right-click it and choose "Add tab to new group." From here, you have a lot of options to manage groups, customize them and close unwanted groups. You can learn more in our article, "How to group tabs in Google Chrome and organize your web browsing."

Grouped tabs are color-coded for easy organization.Dave Johnson/Business Insider

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