10 Power User Tips and Tricks

Google Chrome is by far the most-used internet browser in the world. It’s arguably the one with the most intricate and versatile features—some of which largely go unnoticed. If you’re one of the many people who use Google Chrome often, you’ll want to know these tips and tricks for using tabs. They’ll make your browsing experience more fun and interesting!

1 Create and Manage Tab Groups

If you’ve got a ton of tabs open, you can organize them better by creating Chrome Tab Groups.

Open a new tab and right-click it to bring up a pop-up menu. Near the top of this pop-up menu, you’ll see the option to “Add Tab To New Group.” Selecting this option creates a Chrome Tab Group.

Once you’ve got a Chrome Tab Group created, you’ll see a small dot icon to the left of it. Right-click that icon to choose a color and name for it.

When you use multiple Chrome Tab Groups, this makes it easier for you to organize them. You can add more tabs to this group by right-clicking on the desired ones and selecting “Add Tab To Group” or by simply dragging a tab into a created group.

To collapse a tab group, simply click its icon, and to open it again, click it once more. If you want to remove a tab from a group, right-click it and select the “Remove From Group” option from the pop-up menu. When you’re done with a tab group, click its icon and select either “Ungroup” or “Close Group” to get rid of it entirely.

2 Switch Tabs While in Full-Screen

To swiftly switch between tabs while in Chrome’s full-screen mode, you can use a few different keyboard shortcuts. Here are the ones for Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS:

• Ctrl+1-8:
  This lets you swap between any of the first eight tabs you’ve opened. The numbering starts from the left side—the far left tab is #1

• Ctrl+9:
  If you’ve got more than eight tabs going at a time, use this shortcut to switch to the right-most tab you have open

• Ctrl+Tab
  or
  Ctrl+Page Down:
  Use one of these to go to the tab to the left of the one you’re in

• Ctrl+Shift+Tab
  or
  Ctrl+Page Up:
  Conversely to the above-mentioned shortcut, this one lets you go to the tab to the right of the one you’re currently using

If you’re on a Mac, here are the same shortcuts:

• Cmd+1-8:
  Same as Ctrl+1-8—lets you swap between the first eight tabs you’ve opened with #1 being on the far left

• Cmd+9:
  Similar to Ctrl+9—use this to navigate to the right-most tab

• Cmd+Option+Right Arrow:
  Just like with Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+Page Down, this one allows you to jump to the tab to the left

• Cmd+Option+Left Arrow:
  Lastly, like with Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+Page Up, use this shortcut to hop over to the tab to the right

3 Search Your Tabs

After being rigorously tested back in 2021, users have been able to make use of the Tab Search Icon for a while now. By clicking this little downwards-pointing arrow next to the minimize window button in Chrome, you can bring up a handy menu showing the audio and video media that are being played, the open tabs, and the recently closed tabs.

Through this menu, you can quickly navigate to any of the aforementioned options. If you’ve got a lot of similar tabs open—like multiple YouTube, Slack, or Google ones—this menu lets you see the details of each so that you can jump to them in a fast and efficient manner.

4 Save Google Chrome Tabs for Later

Although a lot has changed since 2020, saving tabs in Google Chrome has remained mostly the same. When you’ve got an important browsing session going and want to keep track of all your current tabs, you can do so easily by right-clicking any open space at the top of your browser window and selecting the “Bookmark All Tabs” option—or using the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+D on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. On Mac, the shortcut is Cmd+Shift+D.

When you do, Google Chrome creates a handy folder for them—which you can name before hitting the blue “Save” button at the bottom-right of the folder creation window.

Alternatively, you can save individual tabs by clicking the “Bookmark This Tab” icon on the far right of your address bar, which looks like a small star. Or, instead, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+D to do the same on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. For Mac, use Cmd+D. Once you do so, make sure to click “Save” to keep this tab stored securely.

To find all your saved bookmarks, click the three-dot button at the top-right of your window (just below the “X” button that closes the window), and you’ll see the “Bookmarks” option. Hover over “Bookmarks” to look at what you’ve saved here as well as to access the “Bookmark Manager.”

On Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, you can use Ctrl+T to open and go to a new Chrome tab in one shift motion! The equivalent on Mac is the Cmd+T shortcut. This works in both regular and incognito mode.

If you’ve got a URL in your clipboard and want to navigate to it with the utmost speed, use this shortcut and then press Ctrl+V on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS (Cmd+V on Mac) to drop that destination into your address bar. Tap the enter button, and bam—you’re there!

Similarly, on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, you can use Ctrl+N to open and enter a new Chrome window (Cmd+N on Mac). Or, for your stealthier needs, you can use Ctrl+Shift+N to open a new incognito window (Cmd+Shift+N on Mac).

6 Open a File in the Current Tab

In addition to being a robust internet browser, Google Chrome also has pretty hefty media capabilities. You can use it to open a ton of different files that are stored on your PC, including videos, audio, and images.

To do so, use Ctrl+O on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS (Cmd+O on Mac) to open your file directory. From here, select the file you want to view in Chrome and click “Open” to have it appear in your current tab. You’ll also see the file path in your address bar.

This is an alternate way to open a file instead of using the default program/app on your computer. For example, Windows Media Player can be the default program on a Windows OS that is used when you double-click a video file.

Some features that make this tab trick useful include testing a file to see if it plays properly (cross-referencing how it performs in different programs/apps can help you find errors and glitches). Another use is sharing the file, casting it, or sharing a link to a file via Chrome. Plus, since the file is now in Chrome, you can use the browser’s other features on it—like bookmarking it for easy access. Overall, it’s another way to examine and handle files if you need such help.

7 Turn a Tab Into a Window

On occasion, you’ll find that it can be useful to have multiple windows open in addition to many tabs. Conveniently, you can turn the latter into the former with a quick trick. All you need to do is click and hold onto a tab before dragging it downwards.

As you’re dragging the newborn window southward, you’ll see a white bar at the top of your screen. Don’t worry; this only indicates that you’re currently moving a window and nothing more.

If you want to reverse this process to turn a window into a tab inside another window, do the opposite: click and hold the top of your separated window before dragging it among the tabs in a different window. You can pull it into any tab slot, such as in between two chosen tabs or to the far right or far left; put it wherever you think is best.

8 Quickly Close One or All Tabs

If your boss is walking by and you need to hide a tab you have open, swiftly strike the following keyboard shortcut on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS: Ctrl+W (Cmd+W on Mac). If you’re quicker on the draw with a mouse than a keyboard, you can also close a tab by middle-clicking it (that is, if your mouse has a middle button).

Or, if your top-secret operation has led to a whole host of tabs that need immediate closing, you can use Ctrl+Shift+W to shut all open tabs in a window on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS (Option+Cmd+W on Mac).

At times when you need to quickly force quit an entire program due to unmentionable activities (we’re not judging, we’ve been there), use the classic Alt+F4 on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS (Option+Cmd+Esc on Mac).

9 Re-Open the Tab You Just Closed

Ever accidentally hit the “X” on the right of a tab? Us too! It just happens when you’re flipping through a bunch of them. Thankfully, all is not lost, as you can re-open a closed tab by using Ctrl+Shift+T on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS (Cmd+Shift+T on Mac).

The revived tab will appear exactly where it was closed, regardless if it was at one end of your window or in between a couple of other tabs. This can be particularly handy when combined with the previous tab tip we gave you. Your “Sneak” level just increased—you’re welcome (cue the Skyrim drum beat).

10 Customize Your Chrome Tabs

Last but not least, it’s time to learn how to trick out your tabs! In a new tab, look to the bottom-right corner to find the “Customize Chrome” button.

Once you click it, a vertical menu appears on the right side of your window. Here, you can choose a new color scheme for your tabs (sometimes known as a “Colorway“), a theme featuring high-resolution photographs or art, the option to enable new tab shortcuts, and the ability to change said new tab shortcuts to ones you curated yourself or set them to be for sites you visit most often.

There you have it: ten ways to enhance your Chrome tab experiences. Now that you’ve upgraded your web surfing savviness, you’re ready to rock and roll through the series of tubes known as the internet. While you’re flying through your favorite websites, feel free to further refine your time in Chrome by turning off the browser’s targeted advertisements and using extensions to block pesky spoilers for your favorite media.