Google Chrome Finally Adds Vertical Tabs: Here’s How to Enable Them
If you’ve ever found yourself with fifty tabs open, so small that you can only see the tiny website icons (or nothing at all), you know the "tab overload" struggle. While browsers like Microsoft Edge have offered vertical tabs for a while, Google Chrome has finally joined the party.
In this post, we’ll break down how to get vertical tabs working on your browser right now, whether you are on the standard version or a testing build.
What are Vertical Tabs?
Traditionally, browser tabs sit at the top of your window. As you open more, they shrink horizontally. Vertical tabs move that list to the side of your screen.
Why use them?
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Readability: You can see the full title of the page, not just the icon.
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Screen Real Estate: Most modern monitors are widescreen. Moving tabs to the side uses that extra horizontal space instead of taking up vertical space.
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Organization: It’s much easier to scroll through a long list of tabs vertically than it is to hunt through tiny slivers at the top.
How the Interface Works
One of the best parts of this feature is its flexibility. You can toggle between two modes depending on how much detail you need:
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Expanded View: This shows the full title of every page alongside the website icon. This is perfect when you have multiple pages open from the same site and need to tell them apart.
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Collapsed View: If you want to maximize your browsing area, you can collapse the bar. This shrinks the sidebar into a thin strip that only shows the website icons (favicons). You can still switch tabs easily, but the sidebar stays out of your way.
How to Enable Vertical Tabs in Chrome
The process varies slightly depending on which version of Chrome you are using.
1. For Chrome Beta or Canary Users
If you like living on the cutting edge, this feature is very easy to access.
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Right-Click Method: Right-click on the empty space next to your current tabs at the top. You should see an option that says "Show tabs vertically."
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Settings Method: Click the three-dot menu (top right) > More Tools > Show tabs vertically.
2. For the Standard (Stable) Chrome Version
If you are using the regular version of Chrome, the feature is hidden behind an "Experimental Flag." Here is how to unlock it:
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Open Chrome and type
chrome://flagsinto the address bar. -
In the search box at the top, type "Vertical Tabs."
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Change the setting from Default to Enabled.
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Click the Relaunch button that appears at the bottom.
Note for Stable Users: Sometimes Chrome might get "stuck" after you enable this. If the browser doesn't open properly, you may need to open your Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), find "Google Chrome," right-click it, and select End Task before trying to open it again.
Once restarted, right-click the tab bar and select "Move tabs to side" (or "Show tabs vertically").
Why the different names?
You might notice that the Beta version calls it "Show tabs vertically" while the Stable version might say "Move tabs to side." Because the Beta version is further ahead in development, "Show tabs vertically" is expected to be the final name when the feature rolls out to everyone automatically.
I’ve also made a video on this topic — you can watch it below.
Check out my other posts, I post useful tutorials and tech tips, maybe you will find something useful 😉.