Google’s new Chrome feature is enough to make you switch browsers

April 19, 2020

By Kim Komando

Take a look at your browser. How many tabs do you have open? There are probably more than you want to admit.

We all fall into the trap of keeping tabs open to read something later, work on another project or finish a digital task. But those tabs stack up quickly, and before you know it, your browser is a mess and your computer is lagging.

Your inbox is probably a mess, too. Tap or click here for Kim’s secrets to maintaining inbox nirvana.

Google Chrome has a new feature to help with all those tabs — no plug-in, extension or download required. We’ll show you how Tab Groups work and how you can use them to stay organized.

Your new productivity hack: Tab Groups

It’s easier than ever to become overwhelmed with tabs. From entertainment to social media to work, we’re opening up new pages all day long.

And until now, there hasn’t been a good way in Google Chrome to organize your tabs unless you use a plug-in or extension, but Tab Groups is changing all that.

Here’s how it works: You can create groups, with a name and color, and assign tabs to them. Sounds simple, right? It is.

Hopping between tabs in each group and opening new tabs within a group is easy, fast, and intuitive.

In practice, you could use this to group all your entertainment options — like Netflix, Spotify and YouTube — in one place, your favorite news sources in another, your work-related sites in yet another and so on.

A more organized browser can help you focus, but sometimes the pull of certain sites is too much to ignore. Tap or click here to learn about a free Google Chrome extension that blocks distracting sites.

How to use Tab Groups in Google Chrome

Chrome’s Tab Groups feature is only available in the latest version of Chrome, so first you’ll have to make sure your Chrome browser is up to date. It only takes a few clicks. Here’s how:

1. Open Chrome on your computer.
2. Click the Three Dots icon at the top-right of the application, then click Settings.
3. On the left-hand side of the screen, click About Chrome.
4. Chrome will now automatically check for updates.

Once you’re running the latest version of Chrome, using Tab Groups is as simple as the update process:

• Right-click on a tab and select Add to new group to create a new Tab Group.
• Tabs in groups will change colors to reflect the group they’re in.
• A colored box with the name of the group will appear next to the first tab in the group. Click on this box to change the name of the group.
• Right-click additional tabs and select Add to the existing group, or simply drag and drop tabs on top of a specific group to add them to a Tab Group you’ve created.

If you updated and still don’t see the option, you may not have access to the feature yet. You can enable it by typing chrome://flags into your browser and switching Tab Groups to Enabled. 

This update might not seem like much at a first glance, but once you get in the habit of grouping your tabs, tab bloat disappears and so does a lot of the slowdown that usually comes with it.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of Tab Groups, find another way to organize your tech. Kim has 10 great suggestions. Tap or click here for 10 spring cleaning tips for the quarantine era.