Are you the type of person who keeps open tabs to a minimum or lets tabs run wild? Regardless of which one you are, you could probably use a way to organize your tabs and smoothen your workflow quickly. For this, Chrome’s group tabs feature can help!
Tab grouping isn’t new by any means. It’s been around for years on other browsers like Vivaldi or Opera. However, it is a relatively new feature to Google Chrome since it was only really introduced as a fully functional feature in Chrome 88 (released in January of 2021). The feature allows you to group open tabs with a single click and label them with a name and a custom color. You can also move and reorder the groups to your preference.
You may not know about this feature because it’s hidden behind a Chrome context menu. If you want to know how to group tabs in Chrome, this guide can help you figure it out.
This Article Covers:
Why Should You Group Tabs in Chrome?
There are usually various reasons for grouping your tabs. For example, people often group their tabs to keep things organized while they’re working on different projects. There are other reasons, such as:
- Making it easier to separate personal browsing and school or work tabs
- Looking through different shopping or review websites
- Reducing distractions
- Reducing multitasking
People also like to use the tab organizer Chrome provided to help reduce the chances of them getting overwhelmed with work and stimuli.
You can group tabs by progress, urgency, topics, purpose, or however else you see fit.
How to Group Tabs in Chrome
How to Group Tabs Together in Chrome on Desktop
Making use of the group tabs feature is pretty simple on the desktop. All you have to do is follow the steps below!
Creating a new tab group
- Open Google Chrome if you haven’t already. Open a new tab and navigate to a website you would like to add to your group.
- Right-click on the tab, then click on Add tab to new group. A customization window will then appear. In this window, you can add a label and choose the label color for your tab group. Right-click on the little circle next to the tab (or your label) to open the customization window again.
Adding a new tab to the group
Option 1
Right-click on the tab group’s icon or label to bring up the context menu. Click on + New Tab in Group to open a new tab. From this new tab, you can navigate to whichever website you prefer.
Option 2
Right-click on an open tab then hover on add tab to group. Choose the group from the resulting context menu.
Option 3
Click on a tab and drag it into the group you want it to be in.
How to Ungroup Tabs in Chrome on Desktop
Option 1
If you want to completely get rid of a group without closing out any of the tabs, the process is simple. Right-click on the group’s label to bring up the customization menu. From there, click on Ungroup and it will disband the group altogether while keeping all of the tabs inside it open.
Option 2
If you want to remove just one tab from the group, you can right-click on the tab and click Remove From Group.
Alternatively, you can click a tab and drag it out of the group. Release and voila!
Using Chrome Tab Groups on Mobile
How do you group tabs in Chrome mobile? The feature is enabled by default on mobile devices and you can use it as soon as you open Chrome. Often, Chrome will try to group tabs on its own, especially if it deems the new tabs to be contextually related. However, you can also create your own tab groups. Here’s how!
Creating a new tab group and removing tabs from group
- Open Chrome on your mobile device and navigate to the tab switcher. You can find the tab switcher on the upper right corner of your device, between the URL bar and the three dots icon. Open tabs you would like to group together.
- In the tab switcher screen, tap on the three dots icon on the top right corner. Tap on Group tabs. Choose the icons you would like to group together, then tap on Group.
- To ungroup, simply tap to open the tab group. Tap on a tab and drag it down to Remove from group.
Adding more tabs
If you would like to add tabs to an open group, there are a couple of ways to do it.
Option 1
Navigate to the tab switcher. Long press on the tab and drag it on top of the group. Release!
Option 2
Tap on the tab group. Tap on the + (plus icon) on the top right corner of the group box to add a new tab. Within the new tab, navigate to any page you’d like.
Option 3
When you’re browsing a website within a tab that’s in the group, you can open new tabs in the group using hyperlinks. Long press on a link and tap Open in a new tab in group.
How to Close Tabs from Groups
Desktop
From the PC, simply press the X on the tab to close it. Alternatively, you can navigate to the tab and make sure it is in focus. Then, you can press control or command + W to close it using the keyboard shortcut.
Mobile
On mobile, you can go to the tab switcher, open the group, then tap the X on any tab you want to close. Alternatively, you can use the bottom tab group navigation bar. Tap on the X on any tab’s icon.
How to Disable Tab Groups
If you don’t want to use tab groups on your computer, simply don’t use the feature! Unfortunately, there currently appears to be no way to disable the feature on mobile. We will update this space if a new solution comes out.
Related: How to Mute a Tab in Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox in 2 Seconds
How to Save Your Chrome Group Tabs
You may often have tabs that you use frequently and may want to save them for convenience. The method for saving group tabs on Chrome is a bit unconventional, but the most important thing is that it works. First, you’ll need to enable the tab groups save option in your browser. Here’s how you do it:
- Open a new tab and type in Chrome://flags
- In the search area of the new window, search for tab groups:
- On Tab Groups Save, click the drop-down menu that says default and change it to Enabled
Once you’re done, select Relaunch to restart Chrome and save the new changes.
- When your Chrome has restarted right click on the label of your group tab, and you will now see the save options with a toggle button beside it. You can now save your Chrome tab groups.
If you closed your Chrome browser and you want to open one of your saved group tabs, you can find them in your history. In the history menu, you’ll find the group tabs in the option that says the number of tabs that you had on your Chrome browser.
How to Stay Focused With Group Tabs in Chrome
If you are anything like me, you often get lost in dozens of tabs on your browser that you can’t keep track of. Grouping the tabs is a good way to organize your tabs so that they are less messy, but you can take this a step further by:
- Minimizing the group tabs when you don’t need them. You can simply do this by clicking the label for the group tab. This will put away tabs that are not in use into one tab label so that they are not in the way.
- Separate the group tabs into different windows. This way, you’ll remain focused on one tab group at time. This will also help prevent the nuisance every time you’re looking for a tab and keep clicking the wrong tab.
Difference Between Grouping Tabs on Android and Desktop
Group tabs in Chrome for Android differs only slightly from the desktop version. If you want to create a group tab on android:
- Tap the icon that shows the number of tabs you have open on your Chrome browser.
- Select the three dots to show the menu. You will see Group Tabs on the menu.
- When you click Group Tabs you’re asked to select the tabs you want to group,
On Android, you can’t name your groups with a group tab label. They are automatically labeled with the number of tabs in the group. However, you can see the windows of the first 2 or 4 tabs in the group to help you know which tab group is which.
You also can’t save your group tabs, but they should appear when you reopen your closed browser and in the history.
On Android and desktop, you can open a new window inside an existing tab group. However, there aren’t as many options to manage your group tabs on Android as in the desktop version of Chrome. On Android, you can only add and delete tab groups or the tabs in them.
Pinned Tabs on Chrome
Now you might wonder what’s the point of pinned tabs now that tab groups exist? Well, pinning a tab is also another way to organize your tabs on Chrome only this way also lets you select the priority tabs that you are working on.
The pinned tabs usually go to the left of the tab bar on the browser window in the order in which they are pinned. This way, you can have the tab you are using the most at the far left so that it’s easy to go back and forth between it and the other tabs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Other Browsers Support Tab Groups?
Not all browsers support tab groups, but there are a couple other than Google Chrome that do. For example, Safari, Vivaldi and Edge. For browsers that do not have tab groups you can use an extension instead, like the simple tab group add-on for Firefox.
How Do I Make a Tab Group in Chrome?
If you still find yourself wondering how to make tab groups in Chrome, the guide above will show you how. Follow the steps on desktop or mobile to create and manage your tab groups!
How Do I Group Tabs and Labels in Chrome?
Grouping tabs is quite simple — all you need to do is follow the guide above. Labels are a great and convenient way for how to organize Chrome tabs, especially since you can choose the colors for them as well. Left-clicking on a label will open and close tab groups so you can maximize or minimize them at will.
Can You Combine Tabs in Chrome?
Yes, you can combine them into groups.
Why Can’t I Group My Tabs?
If you are unable to group your tabs at all, you may be using an outdated version of Google Chrome. Update to the latest version, and you should be able to use this feature again.
What Happened to Group Tabs in Chrome?
When the feature was first introduced to Chrome, it was experimental. At the time, you could enable or disable it at will. However, after that initial experiment, tab groups have now been added as a permanent feature.
Do Group Tabs Save in Chrome?
If you’re asking “does Chrome save tab groups?” the answer is yes, but it is an experimental feature. Go to Chrome://flags and search for “Tab Groups Save.” Enable it, relaunch Chrome, and you should be able to use the feature when you right-click on a tab group label.
Wrapping Up
Now that the group tabs feature is built into Chrome, you now have the power to streamline your workflow even more. We hope this guide on how to group tabs in Chrome has helped you figure out how to improve your productivity even more!
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