Google Chrome has a feature known as “Tab Search,” which lets you quickly find open tabs on the current window. One of the biggest problems using the web browser is that we tend to open a lot of tabs that causes the title to shrink to the point only the icon is visible, and as we continue to open more tabs even the page icon will banish, making it difficult to switch between pages, and this is when Tab Search comes in handy.
Tab Search on Chrome offers a search box to quickly find open tabs in the current window. In addition, the experience also exposes a list of all the pages eliminating the dependency of the tab information to move between tabs.
The feature is expected to become part of Google Chrome, but at the time of this writing, you need to enable the feature manually using the flags option if you are using the Canary version of the browser, or editing the target shortcut in the stable version of the browser.
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to enable and use tab search feature to quickly jump between open tabs on Google Chrome for Windows 10.
How to enable tab search using Chrome shortcut
The feature is available in the Canary as well as in the stable channel, but in the stable channel, you can only enable tab search by adding a specific option to the Chrome shortcut.
To enable tab search on Chrome editing the target shortcut, use these steps:
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Right-click the Google Chrome shortcut.
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Right-click the Google Chrome option (if applicable) and select the Properties option.
Chrome shortcut properties -
Click the Shortcut tab.
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In the “Target” field, at the end of the command, append a space, and add this option:
--enable-features=TabSearch
The shortcut should look like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --enable-features=TabSearch.
Chrome enable tab search -
Click the Apply button.
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Click the OK button.
After you complete the steps, the tab search button will appear in the title bar, which you can use to search open tabs.
How to enable tab search using Chrome flags
To enable tab search from the flags page, use these steps:
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Open Google Chrome.
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Type the following path in the address bar to open the flags experimental settings in the new feature location:
chrome://flags/#enable-tab-search
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Use the “Enable Tab Search” drop-down menu on the right and select the Enabled option.
Chrome enable tab search from Flags -
Click the Relaunch button.
Once you complete the steps, a new arrow-down button will appear in the right side of the title bar, which you can now use to bring up the tab search box to find open tabs. The experience also includes a list of the current tabs that you can use to quickly switch pages.
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 14 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 20 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].