How to Enable Side Tabs in Chrome on a Mac

With a little help from the Mac's Terminal.app, you can enable side tabs on your copy of Chrome.

In this age of wide-screen monitors, saving some space on your screen is a good way to reduce clutter and help you stay more organized. One way to do this on your Web browser is to enable side tabs, which will move the tabs from the top of the browser window to the left side. Unfortunately, no control directly enables this, but you can use your Mac's Terminal.app to open the browser in a mode that enables side tabs.

Instructions

1. Open the Terminal on your Mac.

2. Type: "/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --enable-vertical-tabs" without the quotes. Chrome opens.

3. Right-click on the "New Tab" at the top of the page.

4. Select "Use Side Tabs." The tabs will move to the left side of the browser window.

5. Right-click the "New Tab" a second time and choose "Use Side Tabs" to return the tabs to the top of the window.

References

• Web Builder Zone: Enable (Vertical) Side Tabs in Google Chrome
• 2ality: Enable (Vertical) Side Tabs in Google Chrome