Manage tabs in Chrome

You can open multiple tabs in Chrome. You can also check and switch between all your tabs. When you open a new tab, Chrome opens a personalised New tab page.

Some of the ways that you can customise your New tab page content are with:

  • Different themes
  • Your shortcuts
Learn how to customise your new tab page.

Common actions with tabs

Perform basic actions when you search the web on Chrome.

Open a new tab
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. At the top right, tap More More and then New tab New tab.

Tip: At the top of your Chrome window, you can also open a new tab when you tap New tab New tab .

Open an inactive tab

If you haven't used a tab for 21 days or more, it'll move to the 'Inactive tabs' section.

To manage your inactive tabs:

  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. On the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs and then Inactive tabs.
    • If you have inactive tabs, you can find them at the top of the tab grid.
  3. Tap the tab that you want to open.

Tips:

  • Only ungrouped tabs can become inactive.
  • Once a tab becomes active again, the active tab count will be updated.
Close a tab
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs. Any open tabs will appear.
  3. At the top right of the tab that you want to close, tap Close Close. You can also swipe to close the tab.
Close all tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs. Any open tabs will appear.
  3. Tap More More and then Close all tabs.
Close all inactive tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
  3. Tap Inactive tabs.
  4. At the bottom, tap Close all inactive tabs and then Close all.
Manage inactive tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. Tap More More and then Settings Settings and then Tabs.
  3. To hide inactive tabs, select the time period.
    • To turn off this feature, tap Never more.

Tips:

  • Inactive tabs automatically closed after 60 days in the inactive tab folder.
    • If you don't want to close inactive tabs after 60 days, turn off Close after 60 days.
  • To access the settings page within 'Inactive tabs', at the top right, tap More More and then Settings.
Switch to a new tab
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs. Any open tabs will appear.
  3. Swipe to the tab that you want and tap it.
Reorder tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
  3. Touch and hold the tab that you want to move.
  4. Drag the tab to a different position.
Group your tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome .
  2. Tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
    • Create a tab group:
      1. Touch and hold a tab.
      2. Drag over another tab that you want to group it with.
      3. Enter the tab group name.
      4. Select the tab group colour.
      5. Select Done.
    • Add a tab to an existing group:
      1. Touch and hold a tab.
      2. Drag the tab into the group.
    • Find tabs in a group: Select a group.
    • Remove a tab from a group:
      1. Tap the tab group.
      2. Touch and hold the tab that you want to remove.
      3. Drag the tab to the 'Remove from group' area at the bottom of your screen.

Tips:

  • To open a link in a new tab in a group, touch and hold the link, then tap Open in new tab in group.
  • On your Android tablet:
    • To add a tab into an existing tab group in the tab strip, drag the tab into the group.
    • To remove a tab from a tab group in the tab strip, drag the tab out of the group.
Open a link in a tab group
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. Navigate to a link that you want to open.
  3. Touch and hold the link.
  4. Tap Open in new tab in group.
Reload tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap More More and then Reload Reload.

Perform bulk actions on tabs

You can perform bulk actions when you tap More or when you touch and hold tabs.

Close tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
  3. Tap More More and then Select tabs.
  4. Select the tabs that you want to close.
  5. Tap More More and then Close tabs.
Group tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
  3. Touch and hold any tab or tap More More.
  4. Tap Select tabs.
  5. Choose the tabs that you want to group.
  6. Tap More More and then Group tabs.
Ungroup tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome .
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
  3. Open a tab group containing the tabs that you want to ungroup.
  4. Touch and hold any tab, or tap More More and then Select tabs.
  5. Choose the tabs that you want to ungroup.
  6. Tap More More and then Ungroup tabs.
Close tabs in a group
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome .
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs .
  3. Open a tab group containing the tabs that you want to close.
  4. Tap More More and then Select tabs.
  5. Select the tabs that you want to delete from the group.
  6. Tap More More and then Close tabs.
Share tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome .
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
  3. Touch and hold any tab, or tap More More and then Select tabs.
  4. Choose the tabs that you want to share.
  5. Tap More More and then Share tabs.
  6. Choose where you want to share.
Share tabs in a group
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome .
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs .
  3. Open a tab group containing the tabs that you want.
  4. Tap Select tabs.
  5. Choose the tabs that you want to share.
  6. Tap More More and then Share tabs.
Bookmark tabs
  1. On your Android device, open Chrome .
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap Switch tabs Switch tabs.
  3. Touch and hold any tab, or tap More More and then Select tabs.
  4. Choose the tabs that you want to bookmark.
  5. Tap More More and then Bookmark tabs.

Open new windows on your Android tablet in Chrome

You can open up to five windows at a time and move tabs from one window to another on your Android tablet.

Open a new window

  1. On your Android tablet, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. Tap More More and then New window.

Move a tab to another window

Move a tab from the menu

  1. On your Android tablet, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. In the tab that you want to move, tap More More.
  3. Tap Move to other window.
  4. Select the window to which the tab is to be moved.
  5. Tap Move tab.

Move a tab by drag and drop

  1. On your Android tablet, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. In the tab that you want to move, touch and hold, then drag it to the other window.
    • You can drop the tab in the tab strip, tab switcher or over site content of the other window.

Tip: When you drag a tab over site content, the site content will be replaced by the contents of that tab.

Enter split-screen mode

Important: Split screen only works on Samsung tablets.

To open a new window and trigger split screen:

  1. On your Android tablet, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. To open a tab in a new window, touch and hold, then drag and drop it to the edge of your screen.

Switch windows

  1. On your Android tablet, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. Tap More More and then Manage windows.
  3. Tap the window that you'd like to open.

Close a window

  1. On your Android tablet, open Chrome Chrome.
  2. Tap More More and then Manage windows.
  3. Next to the window that you want to close, tap More More and then Close window.
  4. To confirm, tap Close window.

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