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If you have been around here for any length of time, you know that vertical tabs in Chrome has been near the very top of my wishlist for a while. Microsoft Edge has had it for years. Vivaldi built its entire identity around it. Even Firefox has it via polished extensions. But not Chrome. Thats finally changing.
Vertical tabs have been spotted in the latest build of Chrome Canary (the experimental developer version of Chrome) by @Leopeva64 on X (via Android Authority), and unlike previous “side panel” experiments, this is the real deal.
How it works
This isn’t a hidden flag you have to dig for (though it is still experimental). If you are on the latest Canary build, the feature is hiding in plain sight behind a simple right-click menu.
- Right-click on your current horizontal tab strip.
- Select the new option: “Show tabs to the side.”
Boom. Your tabs instantly stack vertically on the left side of your screen.
What you get
According to early testing, the implementation is surprisingly robust for a Canary feature:
- Full Titles: Finally, you can actually read the names of your tabs instead of just seeing a favicon.
- Tab Search: A dedicated search button sits at the top of the sidebar.
- Collapsible: You can expand or collapse the sidebar to save space.
- Tab Groups: Your existing tab groups are supported and sit at the bottom of the bar.
If you decide you hate it, you can simply right-click the sidebar and choose “Show tabs at the top” to go back to the old way.
Why this matters
This is more than just a UI tweak; it’s a productivity shift. With widescreen monitors being the standard, vertical space is precious, while horizontal space is abundant. Moving tabs to the side reclaims that vertical height for your actual content—docs, spreadsheets, and websites—while making it infinitely easier to manage dozens of open tabs without them becoming impossible to click.
It’s still in Canary, which means it might be a little buggy and lacks the full polish of Edge’s implementation, but the fact that it’s here means it’s on the fast track for a stable release.
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