Tip of the Week: How to Use Tabs to Their Full Potential

Tabbed browsing--it’s so commonplace that some might not even think about what it was like to use the Internet before tabs became a thing. Believe it or not, even this seemingly simple feature has a lot of depth to it. There are all sorts of tips and tricks that you can use to better use the tabbing features of your favorite web browser.

Open a Link in a New Tab
There are several ways to open up a link in a new tab. The first is to use the middle button of your mouse, which can be found by clicking in the mouse wheel used for scrolling. You can also right-click the link and select Open in a new tab. Furthermore, in Internet Explorer and Firefox, you can simply hold down Ctrl and click the link to open it in a new tab.

Close a Tab
The middle button on your mouse is great for closing out of a tab as well. You can just click the X, too, but what fun is that? After all, shortcuts are placed in order to make your life easier, so why not use them to the best of your ability?

Open a New Tab
There’s a keyboard shortcut to open up a new tab. To do so, just use Ctrl+T.

Reopen a Closed Tab
Let’s say that you accidentally close a tab that you wanted to keep open. You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+T to reopen a closed tab. If there are multiple tabs that you want to reopen, just repeatedly use the shortcut until you are content.

Switch Between Open Tabs
You can even use your keyboard to jump quickly from one tab to the next. Just hold down Ctrl and press the corresponding number on your keyboard. For example, if you use Ctrl+1, you’ll be directed to the first tab from the left.

BONUS for Edge Users
Do you use Windows 10’s Edge browser? If so, there is a great new tab feature for anyone who tends to have way too many tabs open at any given time (you know who you are). Edge users can make groups of tabs and set them aside for later. Click the icon to the left of your tabs (it looks like a window with a back arrow) and it will move all of your open tabs into the menu on the left. You can click on the far-left icon to view all of your stored tabs.

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