Google Chrome is getting tab groups, now available in beta

[zanderthunder]

 

Many people are likely familiar with the struggle of managing multiple tabs open at the same time on their web browser. Now, Google is doing something about it in Chrome, with the ability to sort tabs into tab groups. This feature is already available in Chrome Beta.

 

The way it works is pretty straightforward. You can right-click the tab bar to create a new tab group, which will let you give it a name and give it a label color. Multiple groups can be created, with different names and colors, to make it easier to keep track of what's what. Grouped tabs can still be moved around at will, as you'd expect.

 

This feature won't feel all that new for everyone, as Vivaldi, a Chromium-based browser aimed at power users, has offered its own tab stacking solution for some time. In that case, though, each stack of tabs only takes up as much space as one tab would, while Chrome while still display all open tabs in the same bar. Rather than tab groups, Microsoft's solution for organizing tabs comes in the form of vertical tabs, which are coming to Edge sometime soon.

 

Tab groups in Chrome will start rolling out gradually with next week's Chrome update. It won't be available to all users at once, as Google wants to look into the performance and stability impact of the new feature before a wider release.

 

Source: Google Chrome is getting tab groups, now available in beta (via Neowin)

[Karlston]

Chrome Canary users can now collapse tab groups to save space

Google unveiled a new tab management solution that lets users group tabs in the Beta version of the Chrome Browser. The feature is a welcome addition for those that want to keep a track of similar websites for work or other tasks. However, unlike Vivaldi’s implementation of stacking tabs, Chrome’s tab groups still stay expanded, though they can be moved around. Now, the company is bringing a new flag to Chrome Canary (spotted first by Techdows) that lets users collapse the tab groups.

 

The feature is currently hidden in the Canary version of the browser under the ’Tab Groups Collapse’ flag. Enabling the flag lets users click on the name of the group to collapse the entire group. The entire group can then be moved about as expanded groups would be. Users can also move the entire group to another window, add a new tab to the group, or ungroup the tabs by right-clicking the group name.

The addition of the ability to collapse a tab group vastly improves the feature by reducing clutter and letting users set aside tabs if they are not in use, especially on smaller screens. The search giant is expected to gradually roll out the tab groups feature to users in the stable channel. However, it might be a while until the option to collapse these groups heads to all users.

 

For now, users can download Chrome Canary on Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chrome OS, head to chrome://flags, search for the ‘’Tab Groups Collapse’ flag, and enable it to check out this feature.

 

 

Source: Chrome Canary users can now collapse tab groups to save space (Neowin)