How to Use Microsoft Edge Vertical Tabs to Organise Your Browser

If you routinely have 20, 30, or more tabs open in Microsoft Edge, the traditional horizontal tab bar at the top of the browser becomes essentially useless. Each tab is compressed to a tiny sliver barely wide enough to display a favicon, making it impossible to distinguish between tabs without hovering over every single one. You waste valuable time hunting for the right tab, and accidentally closing the wrong one becomes an infuriating daily occurrence.

Microsoft Edge offers a powerful alternative: Vertical Tabs. Instead of cramming all your tabs into a narrow horizontal strip, Vertical Tabs moves the entire tab bar to a vertical sidebar on the left side of the browser window. Each tab is displayed as a full-width row showing both the site icon and the page title, making it vastly easier to identify, organise, and navigate between your open tabs.

How to Enable Vertical Tabs in Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Look at the top-left corner of the browser window, directly to the left of your horizontal tabs.
3. Click the Tab actions menu button (it looks like a small rectangle with a downward-pointing arrow, or in newer versions, it may appear as a vertical lines icon).
4. Select Turn on vertical tabs.

Your horizontal tabs will immediately move to a vertical sidebar on the left side of the browser. Each tab now displays the site favicon and the full page title, making identification instant.

How to Toggle Between Expanded and Collapsed Views

The vertical tabs sidebar has two display modes:

Expanded View

In expanded view, the sidebar occupies a fixed width (approximately 200–250 pixels) and displays the full page title alongside each favicon. This is the default mode when you first enable vertical tabs.

Collapsed View

If the expanded sidebar takes up too much horizontal screen space, you can collapse it. In collapsed mode, the sidebar shrinks to show only the favicons, freeing up nearly all the horizontal space for the webpage.

To toggle between the two modes:

1. Click the Collapse pane button (the small left-pointing arrow) at the top of the vertical tabs sidebar.
2. To expand it again, hover your mouse over the collapsed sidebar (it will temporarily expand to show the full titles) or click the pin icon to keep it expanded permanently.

How to Customise Vertical Tabs Behaviour

Microsoft Edge provides several options to control how vertical tabs behave.

1. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) at the top of the vertical tabs sidebar.
2. Adjust the following settings:

• Hide title bar: When enabled, Edge removes the traditional title bar at the top of the window, giving you even more vertical space for the webpage. The window control buttons (minimise, maximise, close) are moved to the top of the vertical tabs sidebar.
• Show vertical tabs on the right: If you prefer the sidebar on the right side of the browser instead of the left, you can move it. Go to Settings > Appearance > Customise toolbar and look for the option to change the vertical tabs position.

You can also access vertical tabs settings through:

1. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) in the top-right corner of Edge.
2. Select Settings.
3. Click Appearance in the sidebar.
4. Scroll down to the Customise toolbar section.

How to Use Vertical Tabs with Tab Groups

Vertical tabs work exceptionally well with Edge’s Tab Groups feature. Tab groups allow you to categorise related tabs under a named, colour-coded header. Combined with the vertical layout, this creates a highly organised browsing experience.

1. Right-click any tab in the vertical sidebar.
2. Select Add tab to a new group.
3. Type a name for the group (for example, “Work”, “Research”, “Shopping”).
4. Choose a colour for the group.
5. Click outside the naming box to confirm.

Once a group is created, you can drag additional tabs into it. Clicking the group name in the vertical sidebar collapses or expands the group, instantly decluttering your tab list. This is especially powerful when you have 30+ tabs open but only need to focus on a specific group.

Why Vertical Tabs Are Better Than Horizontal Tabs for Heavy Browser Users

The advantages of vertical tabs become increasingly significant as the number of open tabs grows:

• Readable titles: Horizontal tabs shrink to unreadable widths when you have many tabs. Vertical tabs always show the full page title.
• Easier scrolling: When you have more tabs than fit on the screen, the vertical sidebar becomes scrollable. Scrolling vertically through a list is far more natural and faster than scrolling horizontally through a compressed tab bar.
• Better use of widescreen monitors: Modern monitors are wide but not particularly tall. Horizontal tabs waste valuable vertical space, while vertical tabs use the abundant horizontal space on the sides of the screen.
• Visual scanning: Humans read lists from top to bottom far more efficiently than scanning a horizontal row of tiny icons from left to right.
• Tab group organisation: Collapsible tab groups in the vertical sidebar make it practical to manage 50+ tabs without losing control.

How to Switch Back to Horizontal Tabs

If you want to return to the traditional horizontal tab bar:

1. Click the Tab actions menu button at the top of the vertical tabs sidebar.
2. Select Turn off vertical tabs.

Your tabs will immediately return to the horizontal bar at the top of the browser window.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Tab Navigation

Whether you use vertical or horizontal tabs, the following keyboard shortcuts work identically and can dramatically speed up your workflow:

• Ctrl + Tab: Switch to the next tab.
• Ctrl + Shift + Tab: Switch to the previous tab.
• Ctrl + 1 through Ctrl + 8: Switch to a specific tab by position (1 = first tab, 2 = second tab, etc.).
• Ctrl + 9: Switch to the last tab.
• Ctrl + W: Close the current tab.
• Ctrl + Shift + T: Reopen the most recently closed tab.
• Ctrl + T: Open a new tab.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Vertical Tabs Sidebar Keeps Collapsing

If the sidebar keeps collapsing when you click away from it, you need to pin it open. Hover over the collapsed sidebar, then click the pin icon (it looks like a drawing pin/thumbtack) at the top of the sidebar. This locks the sidebar in the expanded position.

Websites Look Narrower Than Expected

The vertical tabs sidebar takes up horizontal space, which slightly narrows the webpage display area. On a standard 1920×1080 monitor, the sidebar occupies approximately 200 pixels, leaving 1720 pixels for the webpage. On most websites, this is not noticeable. However, if a website has a fixed-width layout that does not scale well, collapsing the sidebar (by clicking the collapse arrow) will instantly restore the full display width.

Vertical Tabs Option Is Missing

If you cannot find the vertical tabs toggle, ensure you are running the latest version of Microsoft Edge. Go to Settings > About Microsoft Edge and install any available updates. Vertical tabs have been a standard feature in Edge since approximately version 89.

Microsoft Edge’s vertical tabs feature is one of the most practical productivity improvements available in any modern browser. If you regularly work with many open tabs, switching from horizontal to vertical tabs can transform a chaotic browsing experience into an organised, efficient workspace where every tab is instantly identifiable and accessible.