Google Chrome Help

Watch a video about using tabs

Tabs in Google Chrome sit on top of the browser toolbar, so you can easily switch between multiple websites within one browser window. Besides the tips listed below, you can take advantage of many keyboard shortcuts available for windows and tabs in Google Chrome. Click the following links to jump directly to a section below:

• Drag and drop to move tabs around
• Navigate in your current tab
• Open new tabs

• Resize tabs
• Reopen closed tabs
• Close tabs

Drag and drop to move tabs around

You can easily rearrange the way your tabs are arranged.

• To reorder your tabs, click a tab and drag it to different position along the top of the browser window.

  

• To move a tab into a new window, click and drag the tab down past the address bar. You'll see a thumbnail of the tab you're moving.

  

• To move it to a different window, click and drag the tab from its original window to the top of the destination window. The tab should pop in automatically.

Navigate in your current tab

• Use the forward and backward arrows on the browser toolbar to go to webpages you just visited in the tab.
• Click and hold either of the arrows to see a drop-down menu of more webpages from your current browsing session.

  

  Select Show Full History to access the History page, where you can view all the webpages you've ever visited while using Google Chrome in standard mode.

• Click the circular button on the browser toolbar to refresh the page and see its latest content.
• When you load a webpage in a tab, a slow-spinning gray circle on the tab lets you know that Google Chrome is connecting to the website. The circle turns blue and spins faster once loading is in progress. Once the webpage is completely loaded, the icon changes to the website's graphic.
• When you download a file, an arrow appears on the tab to signify a download in progress.

Open new tabs

• Click the plus icon next to the last tab (or use the Windows keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T), which opens the New Tab page.
• If you click a link that opens in a new tab by default, the new tab is positioned next to the tab you're currently in, so that related tabs are grouped together.
• To force a link to open in a new tab, press Ctrl on your keyboard when you click the link.
• Want the same webpage opened in multiple tabs? Right-click the tab containing the webpage in question and select Duplicate.

Resize tabs

Drag a tab to pre-defined locations, or docking positions, on your computer monitor or browser window to quickly resize your browser window. When the docking icon appears, release the mouse over the icon to have the tab snap in place.

Here are the different docking positions:

1. The top of your monitor, in the middle: The tab appears maximized in a new window when you release it.
2. The bottom of your monitor, in the middle: The tab appears in a new window that fills the lower half of your monitor.
3. The left and right sides of your monitor, in the middle: The tab opens in a new window that fills up either the left or right half of your monitor.
4. The bottom of a browser window, in the middle: The tab appears in a new window below the existing browser window. The two windows splits the monitor in half.
5. The left and right sides of a browser window, in the middle: The tab opens in a new window that fills up either the left or right half of your monitor. The existing browser window takes up the other half of the monitor, so that the two windows appear side-by-side.

Reopen closed tabs

Accidentally closed a tab? Quickly recover it using one of the following shortcuts:

• Go to the New Tab page and find your tab in the Recently closed section.
• Right-click the area next to the plus icon at the top of the browser window and select Reopen closed tab.
• Use the Windows keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+T. Keep pressing the shortcut to reopen up to your last 10 closed tabs.

Close tabs

• The easiest way to close a tab is to click the x icon in the tab (or use the Windows keyboard shortcut Ctrl+W).
• If a particular tab unexpectedly malfunctions, you can force just that tab to close. Tabs work independently in Google Chrome, so shutting down one tab won't affect non-related tabs or the overall responsiveness of the browser.
• Closing the last open tab also closes the browser window.