Google is currently testing a new feature in its Chrome browser, and that is the ability to Group Tabs according to necessity.
In a blog post, Google announced that Group Tabs will be a new feature in an upcoming stable Google Chrome release, with the intention to help users organize their browsing habits. This was based on the company’s alpha tests to internal users, noting how they utilize this feature.
We’ve been testing out tab groups for several months now (as have some of you), and we’re finding new ways to stay organized. Through our own usage and early user research, we’ve found that some people like to group their Chrome tabs by topic. For instance, it helps if you’re working on several projects, or looking through multiple shopping and review sites.
Others have been grouping their tabs by how urgent they are– “ASAP,” “this week” and “later.” Similarly, tab groups can help keep track of your progress on certain tasks: “haven’t started,” “in progress,” “need to follow up” and “completed.” My pro tip is that you can use an emoji as a group name such as ❤️ for inspiration or ???? for articles to read. Tab groups are customizable so you can decide how to use them. And just like regular tabs, your groups are saved when you close and reopen Chrome.
Google Chrome Team
The new Group Tabs update enables a customer to customize the colors for the group tabs, as well as renaming them with alphanumeric keys or emojis. Users will also have the ability to immediately switch them to another tab group by sliding the tab to another group.
This isn’t the first time we’re seeing tab management for browsers. Opera was one of the first to implement tab stacking in 2010’s Opera 11 version before it switched to Chromium later in the decade, while Firefox introduced a tab grouping add-on before but later dropped. Other newer browsers such as Brave and Vivaldi, both of which are Chromium-based, offer the feature from the get-go.
Group Tabs come as an update to a future stable Google Chrome release, while it’s now being seeded as the latest release to all beta users.
