Chrome on a computer has vertical tabs built in, so you do not need an extension or a flag. To turn them on, right-click an empty space on the tab strip at the top of the window and choose Show Tabs Vertically. Your tabs move to a strip down the side of the window. To go back, right-click again and choose Show Tabs Horizontally.
Google announced the feature on its blog: Get more done with new vertical tabs and immersive reading mode in Chrome. If you do not see the option, update Chrome first.
Other ways to switch
Google’s Manage tabs in Chrome help lists these:
- From a tab: right-click any tab and choose Show Tabs Vertically or Show Tabs Horizontally.
- From Settings: open
chrome://settings/appearanceand under Tab position choose Vertical or Horizontal. - From the Chrome menu: click the three-dot menu at the top right, then More tools and Show Tabs Vertically.
- On a Mac: open the View menu in the menu bar and choose Show Tabs Vertically. It is a checkmark option, so choosing it again turns it off.
What vertical tabs give you
According to Google’s help, the side strip lets you:
- see the full title of every page,
- scroll through a long list of tabs,
- drag the edge of the strip to make it wider or narrower,
- collapse the strip and hover over a tab or group to see its full name. To turn that hover behavior on or off, right-click the button that collapses the strip and choose Expand Collapsed Tabs by Hovering.
Tab groups, pinned tabs and Tab Search all keep working in the vertical layout. Our guides to tab groups and Tab Search explain them.
You do not need a flag or an extension
Older guides send you to chrome://flags or to the Chrome Web Store for vertical tabs. Chrome’s flags page has no flag that turns vertical tabs on; the flags that mention them only adjust the built-in feature, such as how fast a collapsed strip expands on hover. Use the menu options above instead.
For more built-in features that are easy to miss, see our list of Chrome hidden features.