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Tabs, tabs, tabs. If you’re a multi-tasker, you love tabs. Thankfully, the days of having 30 separate Internet Explorer windows open in the Taskbar are behind us. Tabs make web browsers a lot easier to use.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t improve tabbed browsing. In fact, Google Chrome – one of the trailblazers of tabbed browsing – is starting to lag behind its competitors. Edge features such as Set Aside are nowhere to be found natively in the Google browser.
If you’re an avid Chrome user who doesn’t want to switch to an alternative app, you need to turn to third-party extensions for the functionality you crave. But which one should you use? Here are 10 of the best extensions for Chrome tab management.
1. The Great Suspender
It might have started life as a lightweight and super-fast browser, but these days, Chrome is a memory munching behemoth How to Identify Which Chrome Tabs Are Wasting RAM and CPU Resources How to Identify Which Chrome Tabs Are Wasting RAM and CPU Resources If Chrome is slow and laggy, it could be due to a rogue tab that's eating up too much RAM or CPU. Here's how to figure out which tab is the culprit. Read More .
It’s hardly surprising; it takes a lot of power to run lots of extensions and integrate the browser tightly with the Google ecosystem of apps.
Therefore, if you’re a tab junkie (or working on an old, underpowered computer), you need The Great Suspender. The open-source app lets you set a time period after which tabs will be “frozen” and their memory released. It’s one of those handy Chrome extensions you’ll want in Opera too.
Download: The Great Suspender
2. Tabli
The beauty of Tabli lies not in its ability to manage tabs in your current browser window, but to manage tabs in all the windows you have open.
For example, if you have a lot of work-themed tabs open in one window and all your social media open in another, you can hop between them while keeping the tabs themselves compartmentalized. Used correctly, Tabli can be an excellent way to boost your productivity.
Of course, all the usual features such as Save and Restore are also present.
Download: Tabli
3. Tabs Outliner
Do you use Workflowy? If you do, you’ll be instantly familiar with how Tabs Outliner works. For those who aren’t familiar with the productivity tool, you need to think of Tabs Outliner like a folder tree for tabs.
When you open a tab, it nests under the previous tab. You can drag tabs between different trees and add notes to help you recall why you were looking at it.
It also lets you close tabs but keeps them in your tree so you can revisit them later; it’s perfect for freeing up browser memory.
Download: Tabs Outliner
4. Tab Hibernation
Tab Hibernation is another memory-saving tab manager. It’s not feature-laden, but it’s straightforward to use. Just click the extension icon in the upper right-hand corner of Chrome and all tabs except the one you’re currently looking at will go into hibernation mode.
To reactivate a tab, navigate to its window and click Wake Up. The extension will remember exactly where you were on the screen and reload that particular point.
Download: Tab Hibernation
5. TooManyTabs
Excessive tabs are troublesome because they overwhelm Chrome’s ability to display content in a meaningful way. TooManyTabs solves the problem using a pop-out that provides a thumbnail preview of the tabs that you have open.
The extension also includes a search field so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
Download: TooManyTabs
6. Quick Tab
Similar in purpose to TooManyTabs, Quick Tab conquers extreme tab usage through a drop-down menu that presents all currently open tabs. A search function is also available.
While TooManyTabs is likely the better choice for users who routinely open 20 or more tabs, lighter tab-a-holics may prefer Quick Tab.
Download: Quick Tab
7. Hide Tabs Button [No Longer Available]
As I mentioned earlier, one of the most useful Edge features — Set Aside — isn’t natively available in Chrome. For those who don’t know, Set Aside can minimize and restore all your open tabs with a single click. It will even remember them between sessions.
If you’d like similar functionality in Chrome, check out Hide Tabs Button. It places an icon in the Chrome Toolbar. When clicked, it’ll close all the tabs you have open. Like Set Aside, it’ll also remember them if you close Chrome completely.
If you don’t want yet another icon cluttering your Toolbar, you can use the right-click context menu to access the extension instead. Lastly, unlike Set Aside, you can password-protected your closed tabs. Just right-click on the Hide Tabs Button and select Options.
8. TabJump
Created by the same folks that made TooManyTabs, TabJump is a contextual tab navigator that pops when you click on the extension’s icon.
Rather than listing all tabs in a lump, TabJump has three columns – Undo, Related, and Jump. Undo lists recently closed tabs, Related lists other open tabs from the same site you’re currently using, and Jump lists all other open tabs. It’s an excellent way to organize tabs, packing maximum information into limited space.
Download: TabJump
9. TabCloud
Tab lovers are going to fall head over heels with this extension. No longer are you restricted to bringing a single computer to its knees with tens or hundreds of open tabs. Oh, no – now you can save the tabs you have open and then open them on an entirely different computer.
While powerful, the extension is simple. You can save your browser’s state by clicking on the disk icon in the pop-up, and then restore it on any PC. You do need to log in with your Google account to enable this functionality.
Download: TabCloud
10. TabsPlus
This extension doesn’t add much to the Chrome interface. It’s instead a simple behavior modification extension that forces Chrome to the last selected tab whenever you close a tab.
You can also make slight modifications to the default behavior of new tabs, forcing them to open in the background or changing their position on the tab list.
Download: TabsPlus
Which Tab Manager Do You Use?
In this list, we’ve introduced you to 10 of the best tab managers for Chrome. It’s hard to name a definitive winner – a lot depends on how you use tabs and how you like to interact with your browser.
While exploring the above tools for making Chrome more effective, you might also want to take a look at these Chrome extensions to speed up your web browsing 5 Faster Chrome Extensions to Speed Up Web Browsing 5 Faster Chrome Extensions to Speed Up Web Browsing Google is king of the browser kingdom, but it gets slow with time. These tools speed up Chrome, especially on slower connections. Read More .
Explore more about: Browser Extensions, Google Chrome, Tab Management.
Tab Lister (https://tablister.com) ... for both Chrome & Firefox!!
This list is missing OneTab Pro (getonetab.com)
this was exactly what I needed. Thanks :-D
I am wondering why my Google news feed is pushing a story that was published nearly one year ago, and based on the comments, was probably originally published 7.5 years ago?
The only thing still relevant in this article today is that Chrome is still a memory hog and the need for extensions to manage tabs still exist. However I am unlikely to investigate recommendations for tab management that were made a year or more ago.
I wonder why my Google news feed is pushing an article that is nearly a year old, and based on comments, may have originally been published almost 7.5 years ago?
The only thing still relevant in the article is that Chrome is a memory hog and the need for extensions to help manage tabs still exist, but I'm not likely to investigate recommendations from 11 months ago.
Hi Dan, I was hoping your article would tell me an extension that would do something (I think is) simple: change color of the exposed tab itself. I get up to 60 or so open, and I would love to make one red (via right click) so I can always find it. Have you seen such a feature? Randy
quick tab is best
I love One Tab, as a chronic tab opener since the days of early StumbleUpon. It got me into the bad habit of opening too many tabs. OneTab is the only extension I use anymore. https://www.one-tab.com
I recommend SFocus
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/supper-focus/blecebkjfbkpannnmajllilknpccheak
nghianv, thanks thank thanks a lot!!!!
SFOcus give us the option to create a shortcut to fast switch to last active tab (just like Alt-Tab on Windows works for windows).
I´m searching for such feature for YEARS in Chrome.
In home I´m a Firefox use, where Tab Mix Options extension have been making this avaiable for years. But on work I have to user Chrome.
Thanks again!!!
In tabXpert you can assign a shorcut to a tab and then use Alt-0 to switch back.
"favourite tabs" is another one that lets u save sets of tabs. convenient if u want to open several sets of websites on a regular basis.
Try this extension out- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fajnahcfccoeadlnjibdcfhakbcpffki (Favourite Tabs). It lets you save multiple websites to a button.
Yesterday I finally forced myself to use Chrome for an entire day without giving up and returning to Firefox. You know what? I am now a Chrome user. I do miss a some things though which I have been spending a long time searching for ways to reproduce in Chrome:
1. The endless customizability (did I make up a word?) of the user interface in Firefox, which is virtually impossible in Chrome.
2. Blank Your Monitor, which is an extension to change the colors of a webpage with the touch of a button or hotkey. The only similar Chrome extensions are permanent (you have to go into Settings > Tools > Extensions to enable / disable them). I used BYM when using my computer in the dark to make webpage backgrounds darker to stop my eyes from burning. But I would disable it via CTRL+ALT+B when in the light as I prefer to see a webpage the way it was meant to be displayed.
2. Tree Style Tabs - Chrome's Side Tabs really just suck. You can't change the width, you can't move them to the right side. You can't customize anything about them to make them easier to work with. Also the title bar stays which prevents you some saving any vertical screen estate. In Firefox with Personal Titlebar extension I am able to put the address bar in the title bar with tabs on the side of the screen to have maximum vertical screen real estate.
3. AdBlock works but not near as well as in Firefox. There are still some ads that display on certain websites. The sneaky ones that slide up from the bottom of the screen. You have to manually block them, as well as some others. I also noticed a couple popups which I don't remember having in Firefox.
4. Stylish (the extension) can only customize websites in Chrome. Unlike in Firefox which you can use it to customize the entire browser (which is predictable since no extensions can customize the interface in Chrome aside from the lame backgrounds that Chrome calls Themes).
5. HistoryBlock - a great extension in Firefox that you can specify certain websites not to save history for. This is a great extension because you don't have to remember to enable or disable any private browsing extension. I used this for forums that I frequent and don't care for seeing the history, as well as the obvious mature sites I prefer not to be shown in history. This extension is greatly missed.
6. It's only been a day, I'm sure I will come across other problems.
All that put aside, after using Chrome for a day, it's just so smooth and fast. I'm am now a Chrome user. Hopefully either Chrome will catch up to Firefox in the extensions and customizability (my made up word again) department or Firefox will catch up to Chrome in the speed department.
Thank you for this extraordinary comment! You should contact the Chrome developer team and share your analysis. :)
I understand, actually. I don't find Chrome to be perfect, but the speed of Firefox 4 isn't sufficient compared to Chrome. Also, Firefox 4 always renders text in a strange way that really bothers my eyes.
Shame there's no perfect browser, but then what would be the fun in that?
@TinaMUO:disqus @Mattdoommaster:disqus
My second book: I came across another disappointment today. It seems all Chrome extensions are really just scripts so it's impossible to accomplish the same feats as Firefox extensions. I guess that is why you don't need to restart the browser after installing a Chrome extension as it's not really an extension of the browser but just a script. This was abruptly brought to my attention today when I attempted to use what I thought was a perfect alternative to a Firefox extension for taking webpage screenshots.
7. ScreenGrab is a Firefox extension that I use a few times a week. It allows you to take a screenshot of a webpage, choosing to screenshot either the visible portion or the full page. In Firefox it works flawlessly and on any website. In Chrome taking a screenshot of the full page is accomplished through a script which doesn't work well on all websites. It is also much slower as the script has to scroll the webpage to get a full page screenshot. I always save a screenshot of the full page after any purchase or transaction I make online (as well as print out a hard copy).
Today I purchased my credit report from Equifax and needed to save a screenshot. I tried all the Chrome screenshot extensions and they all are only capable of screenshoting (I make up words) the visible portion of the page at the Equifax site. The only way I was able to take a screenshot of the entire page was to do it through Firefox. Disappointing, but still not a deal breaker. Luckily I only take full page screenshots a few times a week so it's not too much of a hassle to do them through Firefox.
8. I have also noticed that Chrome extensions really aren't seamless like Firefox extensions. Obviously because they're scripts. For example Stylish for Chrome really doesn't compare to Stylish for Firefox. Using Stylish to customize sites in Firefox is seamless, type the site address into your URL Bar and it loads your customized version as if that was the way the site was meant to be displayed. In Chrome you see the site load normally then suddenly the script runs and you see it change to how you customized it. I find this rather interesting since these are scripts just like in Chrome, however Stylish in Firefox is actually integrated as a real browser extension (so the scripts are processed in a way that is seamless). Stylish in Chrome is a script running a script.
This is the same issue with all the Blank Your Monitor alternatives, you see the pages load normally and then suddenly they change.
What I find odd is how Adblock Plus (mistakenly wrote AdBlock in my previous post) works so well in Chrome (it doesn't block everything - like video ads outside of youtube and some other random ads). I think they found a work around of some sort as I don't see ads load and then disappear. It seems as if they are actually blocked from loading as they are in Firefox. If I am right I hope other extension developers take notice and enhance their extensions the same way. My guess is the script is forced to run before the site begins to load. However that makes me wonder if Adblock Plus is actually slowing down my surfing (this is only speculation, I am not a developer).
It seems to me that Google has no plans of improving the way extensions work because their main concern is speed. I think that's because Firefox extensions are the biggest cause for slowing the browser down. Firefox without any extensions (maybe Adblock Plus and NoScript) is relatively fast. It's not as fast as Chrome but it's acceptably fast for most people. The biggest speed issue with Firefox is when people install poorly coded extensions or when Firefox gets overloaded with extensions. I know people with as much as 30 extensions which is crazy and unsurprisingly affects the speed of the browser. Of course Chrome extensions are just scripts, so they make little to no impact on the speed of the browser (starting the browser, opening tabs etc. However they affect the loading of a webpage as I've explained previously.
Well, that's my experience so far switching from Firefox to Chrome. For people who rely on Firefox extensions, most have Chrome alternatives, however they cannot all be perfectly replicated. I actually surprised myself that I haven't returned to Firefox. Before giving Chrome a full day tryout I always thought my Firefox extensions far outweighed the speed improvements of Chrome. After using Chrome (now two full days), even with these extension set backs, I can't go back to Firefox, at least not until the speed is on par with Chrome.
ps. Matt Smith, regarding Firefox rendering text in a strange way. If you mean it's blurry, run the Google search: Firefox 4 blurry text
Also referring to your recent article about speeding up Firefox. I backup my bookmarks and uninstall (deleting all Firefox leftovers / profiles etc) once every couple months. I then do a fresh install of the latest version. I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my internet experience.
Firefox 4 is definitely fast and a huge improvement over Firefox 3.6, but it's not Chrome fast.
I can't edit my post as I'm a guest. "
However they affect the loading" should be "
However they _may_ affect the loading".
Small update: Time to contradict myself. The Chrome extension Facebook Clear works seamlessly. This is confusing, some page customizing extensions work seamlessly and others don't. :s
thanks for detailed input!
Very Cool
Haha. You would switch to a much better and much faster browser if it only had Tab Mix Plus? Wow. I've used Tab Mix Plus and definitely didn't think it was so awesome as to prevent from switching to chrome.
Firefox 4 is now just as fust as Chrome
If you say so
No, it's not. It's fast, but not as fast as Chrome by any means.
I love Chrome, but none of these options are as good as the tab organizer that comes with Firefox 4. The tab extensions in Chrome are a step but are still missing the mark.
Sorry, none of them listed extensions provide the tab control one gets out of Tab Mix Plus. I would switch to Chrome if I found an extension that gave me similar control, particularly always opening in a new tab without going through the proverbial two-step.
Middle mouse button...
i second that
Middle mouse button sucks compared to drag & drop. You have to move your finger everytime and can get very tiresome in the long run if you constantly open new tabs.
Middle mouse is pretty much the default way for me when it comes to
opening links. Never found it tiresome.