If you keep dozens of tabs open, Chrome already has most of what you need: tab groups to sort tabs by project, Tab Search to jump to any tab by typing (Ctrl + Shift + A, or ⌘ + Shift + A on a Mac), pinned tabs for sites you always keep open, vertical tabs so titles stay readable, and Memory Saver so idle tabs stop using memory. Everything on this page comes from Google’s Manage tabs in Chrome help unless another source is linked.
Group tabs by project
- Right-click a tab and select Add tab to group > New group, or pick an existing group.
- To name the group or change its color, right-click the colored circle or name to the left of the group.
- To add another tab, drag it into the group. To take one out, right-click it and select Remove from group.
- Select the group’s name or circle to collapse it, so only the label shows in the tab strip.
Close a group to park it. Right-click the group and select Close group. A closed group isn’t deleted. It is saved in the bookmarks bar or in the menu (More > Tab groups), and you can open it again later. This is the easiest way to put a project away without losing its tabs.
Delete only when you mean it. Delete group removes the group on this device and on your other devices that use the same Google Account. Ungroup leaves the tabs open but also deletes the group everywhere.
If your browsing history and tabs are synced with your Google Account, changes to tab groups are saved and synced across all your devices.
Find any open tab in seconds
- Tab Search: select the Tab Search button in the tab strip, or press Ctrl + Shift + A (⌘ + Shift + A on a Mac). Type a few words from the page and select it. You can close tabs from the same list.
- From the address bar: type
@tabs, press Tab or Space, then type what you’re looking for.
Pin the tabs you always keep open
Right-click a tab and select Pin. Pinned tabs are smaller and show only the site’s icon. Right-click and select Unpin to undo it. Pinned tabs are also one of the things that can keep a tab from being made inactive by Memory Saver.
Show tabs down the side
Vertical tabs move the tab strip to the side of the window, so you can read every page title, scroll through the list and resize the strip. Right-click an empty part of the tab strip and select Show Tabs Vertically, or go to Settings > Appearance and choose Vertical under “Tab position”.
Act on many tabs at once
Hold Ctrl and select tabs to pick several, or select one tab, hold Shift and select another to pick a range. Right-click any highlighted tab to group, move, pin, mute or close them together. To move a tab to another window, right-click it and select Move tab to another window.
Name your windows
If you keep a window per project, give each one a name. Right-click the empty space next to the New Tab button and select Name window. Your computer shows that name when you point to the minimized window, press Alt + Tab, or move a tab to another window.
Let Chrome handle idle tabs
Lots of open tabs use lots of memory. Turn on Memory Saver in Settings > Performance and Chrome will deactivate tabs you aren’t using, then reload them when you return. Add sites that must keep running under Always keep these sites active. These settings are described in Google’s performance guide, and in more depth in our page on tab freezing and discarding.
Keyboard shortcuts for tabs
From Google’s Chrome keyboard shortcuts list.
| Action | Windows and Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Open a new tab | Ctrl + T | ⌘ Cmd + T |
| Close the current tab | Ctrl + W | ⌘ Cmd + W |
| Reopen closed tabs in the order they were closed | Ctrl + Shift + T | ⌘ Cmd + Shift + T |
| Jump to the next tab | Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + PgDn | ⌘ Cmd + Option + Right arrow |
| Jump to the previous tab | Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PgUp | ⌘ Cmd + Option + Left arrow |
| Jump to tab 1 to 8 | Ctrl + 1 through Ctrl + 8 | ⌘ Cmd + 1 through ⌘ Cmd + 8 |
| Jump to the last tab | Ctrl + 9 | ⌘ Cmd + 9 |
| Search open tabs | Ctrl + Shift + A | ⌘ Cmd + Shift + A |
| Save all open tabs as bookmarks in a new folder | Ctrl + Shift + D | ⌘ Cmd + Shift + D |
| Open a new window | Ctrl + N | ⌘ Cmd + N |
| Close the current window | Ctrl + Shift + W or Alt + F4 | ⌘ Cmd + Shift + W |
For every shortcut, see our full Chrome keyboard shortcuts reference.
Which tool to use when
- Pinned tab: a site you have open all day, every day, such as email or a calendar.
- Tab group: a set of tabs for one task. Collapse it while you work on something else, and close it when you’re done for the day.
- Bookmark: a page you want to keep but don’t need open. With Chrome sign-in, bookmarks are saved in your Google Account and show up on your other devices (see Google’s sync help).
If you want features Chrome doesn’t have, such as saving whole sessions on a schedule, see the best tab management extensions.