Browsers like Vivaldi, Edge, Firefox, and Brave have long had vertical tabs. This makes handling tiny tabs easier by moving tabs from the top of the browser to a vertical sidebar on the left. It’s a shame that Chrome doesn’t have it yet. But that might be changing soon. Google is reportedly testing vertical tabs in the Canary version of Chrome for desktop.
Chrome for desktop will soon get vertical tabs
The development, as spotted by Windows Report, means you can now start using vertical tabs in Chrome. This is only if you’re using the latest Canary version. You can switch to the vertical layout by right-clicking on the horizontal tab bar. It will show a menu with an option to “Show tabs to the side.” If you click on it, the tabs will stack up neatly on the left side.
You’ll also see a Tab Search and the button to collapse or expand it at the top of the sidebar. The Tab Groups and the plus button for new tabs are at the bottom. These buttons are apparently fully functional in the early view.
Google is finally catching up
You can always go back to the previous layout if you’re not into this new design. Just select “Show tabs at the top” after right-clicking in the sidebar. The report notes that the feature is not completely there yet. It’s currently only available in the Canary channel and apparently not as polished as other browsers yet. This means it should be a while before it rolls out to the stable channel.
As said, competitors have had this feature for a long time. It’s good news that Google is paying attention and catching up in modernizing its Chrome browser. The advantage of vertical layout is that it doesn’t crowd the top bar and makes it easier to navigate between tabs.
