How to Use Safari Tab Groups to Organize and Save Tabs on Mac and iOS

If you are researching a vacation, planning a wedding, or working on a complex academic paper, it is incredibly easy to end up with fifty different browser tabs open at once. This chaotic clutter slows down your computer’s performance and makes finding the exact webpage you need almost impossible. To solve this problem, Apple introduced “Tab Groups” in Safari. This feature allows you to bundle related tabs into distinct, named folders, clearing them out of your main browsing window while keeping them perfectly preserved and instantly accessible across all your Apple devices via iCloud.

Creating a Tab Group on a Mac

Tab Groups are managed entirely from Safari’s sidebar.

1. Open the Safari browser on your Mac.
2. Ensure you have several tabs open that you want to group together (e.g., three different hotel booking websites).
3. Click the Sidebar icon in the top-left corner of the Safari toolbar (it looks like a square with a column on the left).
4. At the top of the Sidebar, click the Add Tab Group button (an icon showing a square with a plus sign inside).
5. Select New Tab Group with [X] Tabs to instantly bundle all your currently open tabs into the new group. (Alternatively, select New Empty Tab Group if you want to start fresh).
6. A new folder will appear in the Sidebar under the “Tab Groups” heading. Type a descriptive name for it (like “Paris Vacation”) and press Enter.

Once the group is created, you can switch back to your primary, empty browsing window by clicking “Start Page” at the top of the Sidebar. Your “Paris Vacation” tabs are now safely tucked away.

Creating a Tab Group on an iPhone or iPad

Because Tab Groups sync via iCloud, a group you create on your Mac will instantly appear on your iPhone. However, you can also create and manage them directly from your mobile device.

1. Open Safari on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Tabs icon in the bottom right corner (the two overlapping squares).
3. At the bottom center of the screen, you will see text showing how many tabs you currently have open (e.g., “3 Tabs”). Tap and hold this text, or tap the small arrow next to it, to open the Tab Groups menu.
4. Tap New Tab Group from [X] Tabs.
5. Type a name for the group and tap Save.

Managing and Updating Tab Groups

Tab Groups are highly dynamic. Unlike traditional bookmarks, which are static links, Tab Groups remember their exact state. If you open your “Paris Vacation” Tab Group, click a link on one of the pages to go to a new URL, and then close Safari, the Tab Group automatically saves that new URL. The next time you open the group, you will pick up exactly where you left off.

• Adding new tabs: To add a new webpage to an existing group, you must first open the Tab Group from the sidebar/menu, and then simply open a new tab while inside it. It will automatically be saved to that group.
• Moving an existing tab: If you are in your main browser window and find a webpage you want to save to a group, right-click (or long-press on iOS) the tab at the top of the screen, select Move to Tab Group, and choose your desired folder.
• Deleting a group: When your project is finished, right-click the Tab Group name in the Mac Sidebar (or swipe left on it in the iOS menu) and select Delete. This will instantly close all tabs within that group and permanently remove it from all your iCloud devices.