Microsoft is building a vertical tabs navigation experience into its Chromium version of Microsoft Edge, and it’s almost ready as the new feature is now also available in the Beta Channel for some users. The new vertical navigation allows users to stack tabs at the left side, instead of having a long list of tabs at the top of the browser.
According to the company, vertical tabs makes it easy to shift your tabs view to the side allowing you to easily see the titles and access controls, such as mute and close. In addition, it makes it easy to reorder your tabs.
After the vertical tabs navigation becomes available on Microsoft Edge, you’ll notice a new button at the top-left corner of the browser. You can click the button to enable vertical tabs on the side.
Once the feature is enabled, a collapsed pane will appear on the left side with all your current open tabs showing as buttons.
You can hover over the pane to expand the view and find the tab you want to switch. If you move the mouse away, the pane will collapse automatically.
If you prefer to keep the pane open, you can click the pin button at the top-right of the pane.
While the new navigation mode may look a little different at first, it’s a good idea and especially ideal on laptops and displays using a 16:9 aspect ratio as most websites have a more rectangular view rather than a stretch view.
Vertical tabs for Microsoft Edge is now available in the Beta and Canary Channel and only to a select group of Insiders. If you want to enable vertical tabs on Microsoft Edge, there’s not a set of steps because the company is testing it out in a controlled feature rollout, but you may be able to get it (but not guaranteed) if you’re running the latest preview of Windows 10 in the Dev Channel and installing either the Beta Channel or Canary Channel build of Microsoft Edge.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].