If you frequently research complex topics, compare products, or work on large projects, your browser window can quickly devolve into an unmanageable mess of fifty tiny, unreadable tabs. When the tab bar becomes completely saturated, finding the specific webpage you need becomes incredibly frustrating and time-consuming.
To solve this problem, Google Chrome includes a powerful built-in feature called Tab Groups. This feature allows you to bundle related tabs together under a single, color-coded label. You can then collapse the entire group to free up massive amounts of space on your screen.
How to Create a New Tab Group
Creating a tab group takes only a few clicks and requires absolutely no third-party extensions.
- Right-click on any open tab at the top of your Chrome window.
- From the drop-down menu, select Add tab to new group.
- A small customization menu will appear. Type a Name for your group (e.g., “Vacation Research” or “Work Project”).
- Click on one of the colored circles to assign a specific Color to the group for easy visual identification.
- Press Enter or click away from the menu to save it.
You will now see your chosen colored label sitting on the tab bar, directly to the left of the tab you selected. The tab itself will be underlined in the matching color to indicate it belongs to the group.
How to Add More Tabs to the Group
Once your group is created, adding additional tabs to it is incredibly intuitive.
- The Drag and Drop Method: Simply click and hold any open tab on your tab bar, and drag it into the colored underline of the group. The tab will instantly join the bundle.
- The Right-Click Method: Right-click any tab, hover your mouse over Add tab to group, and click the name of the group you just created.
How to Collapse and Expand Groups
The true power of Tab Groups lies in their ability to save space.
Once you have five or six tabs organized into a single group, simply click the colored label name once. All the tabs inside the group will instantly collapse and slide behind the label, freeing up massive amounts of space on your tab bar.
When you need to access those webpages again, click the colored label a second time. The group will instantly expand, restoring all the tabs to full visibility.