Chrome tab groups in one minute
Chrome tab groups are the base everything here builds on, and they are worth knowing even without an extension.
- Right-click a tab and choose Add tab to new group. Type a name and pick a color.
- Drag tabs into or out of a group to change its members.
- Click the group name to collapse it to a single chip, and click again to expand it.
- Right-click the group name for more: add a new tab to the group, ungroup it, close it, or move it to a new window.
- Ctrl+Shift+A (Cmd+Shift+A on a Mac) opens tab search when you only need to find one tab.
Where grouping by hand breaks down
Groups are quick to make and slow to maintain. Sorting thirty tabs means thirty drags. Every link you open lands outside the groups. And every group stays expanded, so the tab strip fills up again by lunchtime.
What Bookmark Organizer adds
Group tabs by topic in one click
Open the popup and it shows how many tabs in the window are ungrouped. With ten or more, the grouping button sits at the top of the popup; with fewer, it is a small row further down. One click sorts the loose tabs into Chrome tab groups with short topic names. Tabs that match a group it made earlier join that group, and only new topics get new groups.
New tabs find their group
With automatic grouping on (the default), a newly loaded tab that clearly belongs to one of the extension's groups joins it. A tab that does not fit stays ungrouped. Automatic grouping never creates new groups; that only happens when you click.
Only the group you are reading stays open
With more than 15 tabs open, leaving a group collapses it, so the strip shows the group you are in and compact chips for everything else. Groups you made yourself are never collapsed.
A nudge when tabs pile up
The toolbar icon shows a count once ten or more tabs in the window are ungrouped, so you know when a quick sort is worth it.
Archive a topic, restore it as a group
When you are done with a topic, ask the agent to archive it (for example, "archive the Kyoto trip tabs"). Its tabs are saved as one section with the group's name and color, then closed. Restoring reopens them together as the same tab group. Archives are listed in the extension's tab archive view, where you can restore or delete them. If you want to compare this with the classic approach, see our OneTab comparison.
What it will not do
- Rename, recolor or dissolve a group you made.
- Close tabs on a timer. Archiving happens only when you ask.
- Close pinned tabs or browser pages such as settings.
- Reshuffle everything without being asked. The full Regroup tabs button re-sorts every tab in the window, including tabs in your own groups, and runs only when you press it.
Chrome alone vs Chrome with Bookmark Organizer
| Chrome tab groups | With Bookmark Organizer | |
|---|---|---|
| Creating groups | By hand, one tab at a time | One click sorts loose tabs by topic |
| New tabs | Open ungrouped | Join a matching group automatically (optional) |
| Staying tidy | Collapse groups yourself | Groups you leave collapse when more than 15 tabs are open |
| Your own groups | Yours to manage | Left untouched by automatic and one-click grouping |
| Putting a topic away | Close the group or save it | Archive it and restore it later as the same group |
Bookmark Organizer is also a bookmark manager: the same popup suggests a folder for the page you are on. If your bookmarks need attention too, start with how to organize bookmarks.