Organizing Chrome

Owned by Julian Muir
Last updated: Jan 14, 2024
3 min read

There are various way to unclutter and simplify in chrome.

  • Chrome tab groups

    • Make tab groups persistent: You need to set restart to “Continue where you left off”

      • Obviously you need to do this before you start using tabs

      • They will survive restarting Chrome and restarting the OS – tested on Mac, Win & Linux

      • I am using Chrome Version 120.0.6099.129 – so you need a recent version

      • If Chrome does not restart cleanly you can use History > open all tabs to recover them

      • NOTE: This applies to the local machine only the settings are not shared between devices – this is probably what I prefer anyway as I don’t want to share to other devices

        Screenshot 2024-01-14 at 13.56.50.png

    • There is an experimental flag to enable sharing with other devices

      • First you need to enable the “Tab Groups Save and Sync” flag

        Screenshot 2024-01-14 at 14.11.36.png

      • Then you should see the “Save Group” option enabled it looks something line this:

    • These are chrome tab groups – currently I am using the concepts group while writing this article

    • Just right click on a tab to manage your tab groups

    • Tab groups can be managed like other tabs

      • NOTE: You cannot bookmark a tab group – seems to me that would be a nice feature 😊

    • Click on a tab group to rename it or change the colour

    • I decided to use blue for my work related tabs

    • Tabs can drastically reduce the number of Chrome Windows and Mac Virtual screens

      • Each of my tabs could have been another chrome window often on another virtual screen

  • Sleep inactive tabs to save memory

    • Chrome has this built in for the latest versions

    • There are also various plugins

  • Chrome also has profiles and it is probably a good idea to setup separate work and private profiles

    • You could also setup a profile for a hobby perhaps I should setup a coffee profile

    • I have not tried profiles yet but I am planning to soon – I will probably say more after that

There are also various plugins to help organize and remember tabs

  • All of these plugins groups tabs and save/open those groups

  • These groups of tabs can be opened in a new or existing Chrome window

    • So if you want to “group” the tabs “visually” you need to use a Chrome window

  • Unfortunately none of the plugins i found work with Chrome tab groups

    • To be fair they do organise tabs visually usually in a seperate tab or window – but this does help to visually unclutter the your Chrome windows (which I think is a big + for stress reduction)

  • Tabli

    • Saves its groups as bookmarks

    • If it would save/restore tab groups as bookmarks it would be a killer feature IMHO

  • Session Buddy – seems popular has free and paid versions

  • Workona – seems like a well sorted commercial tab manager (free version is limited)

  • One Tab – a limited but useful tool

  • Brain Tool – tame your tabs and control your browser, looks interesting

  • There are dozens if not 100s more that you can find – but the above seem to be some of the better and more interesting ones