If you are researching a project, shopping for a specific item, or just easily distracted, it is incredibly easy to end up with 30 tabs open across the top of your Chrome window. Once you have that many tabs, the titles disappear, leaving you randomly clicking tiny icons trying to find your email. To solve this visual clutter, Google Chrome allows you to group tabs together, color-code them, and collapse them to save space.
How to Create a New Tab Group
- Right-click on any open tab at the top of your Chrome browser.
- Select Add tab to new group from the drop-down menu.
- A small menu will appear under the tab. Here, you can type a name for the group (e.g., “Vacation Planning” or “Work Project”).
- Select a color for the group to make it visually distinct.
- Press Enter or click anywhere else on the screen to save.
You will now see the name of your group sitting to the left of the tab, surrounded by a colored outline.
How to Add More Tabs to a Group
Once you have created a group, adding more tabs to it is very easy.
- Drag and Drop: Simply click and hold a tab you want to add, and drag it into the colored outline of the group. You will see the tab’s border change to match the group’s color.
- Right-click: Right-click on a tab, hover over Add tab to group, and select the name of the group you want to put it in.
- Opening New Tabs: If you are already looking at a tab inside a group, any new links you open in a new tab from that page will automatically be added to that group.
How to Collapse and Expand Tab Groups
This is the best part of the feature. When you are done working on a project but don’t want to close the tabs, you can collapse the entire group to clear up space.
Simply click on the colored name of the tab group. All the tabs inside that group will instantly suck inward and disappear, leaving only the colored label. Click the label again, and all the tabs will pop back open.
How to Save Tab Groups for Later
In recent updates, Chrome added the ability to save a tab group so you don’t lose it if you accidentally close your browser.
- Right-click on the colored name of the tab group.
- Toggle the switch that says Save group to the ON position.
A shortcut to this group will now appear on your bookmarks bar, just below the address bar. Even if you close every single tab, you can click that shortcut to instantly re-open the entire group.
Conclusion
Using Tab Groups transforms your browser from a chaotic mess of tiny icons into an organized, color-coded workspace, allowing you to focus on the task at hand without losing your place in other projects.