Browser tabs are a blessing and a curse. They are easily opened, rarely closed fast, and tough to keep organized. You quickly end up with dozens of tabs in a single window and then what?
You need to switch back and forth, you struggle to navigate between tabs, your computer slows down, and usually you don't even need half the tabs. And if you do try to keep your tabs organized, you may often find yourself manually pulling out sets of tabs into a new window. What a hassle!
If this sounds like you, I have something to make your life easier.
Introducing Tab Scissors
Tab Scissors is a dead simple Chrome add-on that can separate two sets of tabs and display them next to each other.
You need a minimum of two tabs for the add-on to work. Select a tab and click the Tab Scissors icon in the top right of your Chrome window. The window will be split into two side-by-side windows that take up the same space as the original window. All tabs to the left of the selected tab will be in the left window. The selected tab itself and all tabs to its right will be in the right window.
A slight exception from this rule occurs when you select the left-most tab. In this case the selected tab will become the window on the left, while all other tabs are moved to the window on the right.
Basically, that is all there is to Tab Scissors.
Scenarios in Which Tab Scissors Will Come In Handy
1. Bookmarking a Set Of Tabs For Later
Maybe you have done some research and want to get back to the results later? However, you have a lot of other tabs open in the same window that you don't want to bookmark. Make sure the tabs you want to bookmark are on one side, use Tab Scissors to separate them from the rest, then bookmark all tabs as a new folder, close the window, and instantly free up system resources.
2. Comparing Two Sets Of Tabs Next To Each Other
You are planning a vacation and need to make up your mind between two possible destinations. You want to decide based on flights, accommodation, local culture, things to do, etc. You have a selection of tabs open with the relevant information, but need to see it side-by-side to compare. That's a perfect job for Tab Scissors. Be sure to maximize your window and quickly sort the tabs, before you apply Tab Scissors.
If you are running Windows 7, you could use an Aero Effect to achieve a similar result: simply drag one window to the left of your screen and another to the right and the two will be shown side-by-side. Also check out my article on PowerResizer to improve this feature further and Better Manage Your Open Windows.
Further Reading
Tab Scissors is one of our Best Chrome Extensions. Check out other highly recommended tab management addons for Chrome. I have previously introduced Tabs Expose and Awesome New Tab Page here:
- Get An Awesome New Tab Page For Google Chrome
- Navigate Multiple Open Browser Tabs with Ease using Tab Expose
The perfect match for Tab Scissors is Tab Glue. This add-on mends all open Chrome tabs into a single window and maintains the original tab sort order.
How do you manage browser tabs and are there any add-ons you can recommend for this task? Can you think of more uses for Tab Scissors?
Image credits: Scissors via Shutterstock