Until you experience vertical tabs, you won’t realize how much better they are at keeping all your open tabs organized and easier to see. With this feature, you can read tab names better so you don’t get lost in a sea of small icons. Some vertical tab features also integrate with Workspaces for better tab management.
While a select few browsers (like Arc Browser, Vivaldi, Edge, Brave, and Safari) have vertical tabs built in, the most widely used browser on the market — Chrome — doesn’t. Luckily, a number of extensions in the Chrome Web Store add this feature to the browser.
Also: You Need a Browser with Vertical Tabs — Here’s Why and 5 Options to Try
However, not all of those extensions are created equal. Some are poorly designed or poorly implemented. But among those poor extensions are some that add vertical tabs to Chrome perfectly. In my opinion, the best of them all is tabVertikal. This extension includes all the features you need to improve your tab management, such as:
- Working space
- Tab hangers (and auto hangers)
- Native Chrome tab grouping support
- Automatically group tabs based on custom rules
- Import/Export Tab
- Custom window title and tab title
- Remove duplicates and organize tabs
- Dark Mode
- Dozens of topics
- Fuzzy search
This extension is free and can be installed on Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. Let me show you how to install and use tabVertikal.
How to add vertical tabs to Chrome browser
What you need: The only thing you need is to install the latest Chrome browser on your desktop.
On the resulting page, click Add to Chrome. When prompted, click “Add extension” to complete the action.
Click Add to Chrome and you’re halfway there.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
To make this extension easier to use, click the puzzle piece icon on the Chrome toolbar and then click the pin icon for theVertikal tab. You will now see theVertikal tab icon to the left of the puzzle piece.
You don’t have to pin the extension, but it will make it easier to access.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Using the Vertical tab
Before you dive into tabVertikal, know that there aren’t many configuration options. However, you can move the sidebar from right to left (which is my preference). To do that, paste the following URL into Chrome’s address bar:
chrome://settings/appearance#:~:text=side%20panel
On that page, click “Show Left” in the Sidebar.
You can use the Vertical tab on the left or right.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Also: Beyond Google: 5 Chrome Extensions That Give You Search Superpowers
Now, when you click on tabVertikal, a sidebar will appear on the left side of your browser with all of your currently open tabs. As you’ll notice, you can’t hide the top tab bar from view, so with this extension (as with all vertical tab extensions for Chrome), you get both.
The tabVertikal extension also adds Workspaces to Chrome. That feature alone is worth using the extension for. If you click on the Workspaces dropdown, you can start creating a new workspace. Not sure what Workspaces are? Think of them as categories to organize your tabs. For example, you might have workspaces for Productivity, Shopping, News, Entertainment, and Education (or whatever you need). Create those workspaces and then start adding tabs to them. One thing you can’t do (and the extension developer should consider adding) is move tabs from one workspace to another.
Create custom group rules
Another handy feature is the ability to create custom rules to automatically group tabs. Here’s how to create a rule.
Click the three-dot menu in the upper right corner of the sidebar and click Add group rule.
On the results page, click Add Rule.
All your rules are here.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Also: Why I Always Have More Than One Browser Installed on My Computer (and You Should Too)
In the new pop-up window, give the rule a name. In the next field, you’ll want to add any text the title might contain (such as technology or News). For the Domain option, I found the only way to get the Auto Group feature to work properly was to select Domain.
Next, give the tabGroup a name and color, then click Create Rule. Now, when you open a tab that follows the rule you just created, it will be added to the group.
Please make sure to fill in all the information, otherwise the rule will not be valid.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Once that’s done, you’ll need to enable automatic tab grouping. To do so, click the three-dot menu in the sidebar and select Settings. From the tabVertikal Settings page, click the On/Off slider for Automatic Tab Grouping until it’s in the On position.
If you don’t enable Automatic Tab Grouping, your rules won’t take effect.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
One caveat I will make is that tabVertikal’s Auto Grouping feature isn’t perfect. Sometimes new tabs will be added to a group they don’t belong to, and removing them from the group requires creating a second group. There’s no option to remove from a group, so the grouping feature can be problematic. Personally, I don’t use the tab grouping feature and instead stick with Workspaces and the basic features, which makes this vertical tab extension pretty good.
Also: How to Add Gemini Access to Your Chrome Browser
There are other vertical tab extensions for Chrome, such as Vertical tabs in the side panel, SideTab ProAnd Vertical Tab. If tabVertikal isn’t your choice, one of these three options should work for you.
