Google Chrome is testing a big change to tabs

Google Chrome is testing a big change to tabs
By: Mashable Posted On: November 21, 2025 View:

Taking inspiration from other browsers.
 By 
Alex Perry
 on 
Google Chrome logo
Stacking tabs on tabs. Credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Google's flagship web browser is getting a new feature that people already love in other browsers — vertical tabs.

The new tab feature is available now as part of the Chrome Canary experimental build for developers, per Windows Report. In the developer beta, when you right-click on the tab bar that normally sits horizontally underneath the URL entry field in Chrome, you'll now see an option that reads, "Show tabs on side." This allows you to arrange your tabs vertically. If you do, the tabs will appear in a sidebar on the left side of the browser.

As with any developer beta, the feature will likely get some tweaks before it's released to users. And there's no way of telling when that might happen.

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Vertical tabs are a feature that has been available in other browsers, such as Vivaldi, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, for several years now. Chrome users have been living behind the times.

It sounds like the vertical tab interface gives you most of the features you'd want out of it. You can search tabs, arrange them into groups, create new ones, and switch back and forth between vertical and horizontal tabs at will. You can also collapse the sidebar to clean up your screen. While this is just a cosmetic change to a feature that Chrome has had since its inception, it's sure to be welcome news among avid tab collectors nonetheless.

That said, there's another option for managing tabs, if you're brave enough.

Topics Google

journalist alex perry looking at a smartphone
Alex Perry
Tech Reporter

Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

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