Tab Groups in Chrome

Tabs have become an essential feature to be able to surf the Internet. However, while comfortable, tabbed browsing can be chaotic. Especially when we open many tabs within a browser window and leave them open for “later viewing.” As the average number of open tabs increases, Google wants to try to address this problem and help us better organize open tabs. It is how Chrome’s tab groups are born.

The new tab groups, or Tab Groups, are a new experimental feature in Google Chrome that seeks to offer users a new way to organize their open tabs. This function allows us to create small differentiated containers in which we can easily group the accounts that we have open. Thus, when we have to return to them, we can find them more quickly, even if we have dozens of versions available.

For now, this is an experimental function. That means that it remains disabled by default in the latest version of Chrome and, although we can activate it from the flags, it is very likely that it still has problems and does not work as it should. If you are not in too much of a hurry, it is advisable to wait for Google to enable this function by default for all Chrome users.

But, if we can’t wait, so we can activate it manually.

Also read: Google Express – Google Express will join Google Shopping

Activate Tab Groups Manually

Until Google considers that this function remains sufficiently developed to reach all users, it will remain disabled by default. Therefore, to use it, we will have to enable it from the advanced configuration menu, or flags, of Chrome.

To do this, we will write “chrome: // flags” in the address bar of the browser. We will look for the ” Tab Groups ” section and bookmark this option as “Enabled”.

They restart the browser for the changes to take effect, and that’s it. We can now start using this new feature.

How to use Tab Groups in Chrome

Google has not chosen to add any flashy buttons to use this new feature. What Google has done has been to include it within the contextual menu of each tab.

We will choose to create a new group and, automatically, see how the tab fits into a colour drawer. If we click on the colour point, we can name the group or change its colour.

We can easily add any other tab to the group by right-clicking on it and choosing to add to an existing group. And we can also drag the charge into the group. In this way, we can have all the tabs we want within each group. As we can see, the colour bar that indicates the group will group all the accounts that we add.

We can create several groups, each with a name and a colour. Chrome also allows us to open new tabs directly in a group, ungroup tabs and dissolve the group and even all the accounts in a group with a single click.

Without a doubt, these groups of tabs are beneficial to be able to have all our accounts neat and organized. However, we have missed a few more features. For example, tab groups are temporary. It means that when you close the browser, the groups disappear. It would be nice to create persistent groups (similar to the browser’s pinned tabs” that open automatically when we open the browser.

We hope this comes later. For now, this is how this new feature of Chrome works that wants to revolutionize the way you surf the Internet.

Extensions to Manage Tabs in Chrome

Chrome has a series of extensions or add-ons that serve to give the Google browser more functionality. That is why we can find extensions that can help us manage tabs, like the ones we see below.

OneTab, Group all your Tabs in one

This add-on for Chrome could not be absent when managing and administering our tabs, as it provides us with functions to have them controlled and ordered efficiently.

Characteristics

OneTab allows us to turn all our tabs into a list. We can also create custom groups and delete those that we no longer want. Also, we can send any charge to remain saved in this way just by clicking on it through the context menu.

Advantages and Disadvantages

According to the developer, this add-on allows us to reduce the clutter of our browser tabs. And save a good amount of memory, up to 95%. Its primary disadvantage is that it is not a very attractive extension, making up for better Chrome performance.

Tabs Outliner, all-in-one Manager

We now come across a plugin that works as a fusion between a tab manager, a session manager and a personal information organizer.

Features to be Highlighted

Tabs Outliner dramatically helps us reduce the number of tabs we have open, allowing us to work with available accounts in the same way as if they were honest. It also allows us to organize groups delimited by priority or importance and add innovative charges that describe and contain functions, being able to make annotations in windows and add comments. Also, it has a restore function in case of any browser failure.

Strengths and Weaknesses

As a strong point, it should stay noted that it has a wide range of features that provide functionalities and help reduce memory consumption. On the contrary, as a weak point to add that although you can put category separators, it cannot deleting tabs by itself, so it can also remain filled with content.

TooManyTabs for Chrome

This application for Chrome has remained conceived to manage all our open tabs to improve our browsing and maintain a particular order when we have a wide variety of accounts running.

Main Features

Among the main features that we can highlight of TooManyTabs for Chrome is its ability to import data from Firefox tabs, have a bird’s eye view of all open tabs, and a clear preview of all the content of each tab. It also allows you to sort tabs by creation date, domain, or title and perform instant searches. Also, it is capable of restoring recently closed tabs.

Advantages and Disadvantages

One of its main advantages, along with its vast number of functions, is the possibility of suspending tabs that are inactive in a way that helps us reduce memory consumption. Its main drawback is that so many customization options can end up overwhelming the most inexperienced users.

Also read: Google Pixel 3 – Camera, Display, Exclusive Features and Software