---
title: "Vertical Tabs"
description: "Move your tabs to the side for a cleaner, more organized browsing experience"
---

BrowserOS supports vertical tabs — a side panel that lists all your open tabs along the left edge of the browser window. Instead of shrinking tab titles into a cramped horizontal strip, vertical tabs give each tab its own full-width row so you can read titles at a glance, even with dozens of tabs open.

## Why Vertical Tabs?

Modern screens are wide, not tall. A horizontal tab bar wastes vertical space you could use for content, and tabs quickly become unreadable as they shrink. Vertical tabs solve both problems:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Read every tab title" icon="text">
    Tabs stack vertically with full-width labels, so you always know what is open — no squinting at favicons.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Handle many tabs" icon="layer-group">
    Open 30, 50, or 100 tabs without the strip becoming unusable. The side panel scrolls naturally.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Reclaim vertical space" icon="arrows-left-right">
    The horizontal tab bar disappears, giving web pages more room on widescreen monitors.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Stay organized" icon="folder-tree">
    Combine vertical tabs with tab groups to visually separate work, research, and personal browsing.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Enabling Vertical Tabs

Toggle vertical tabs on or off from the Customization settings page.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Settings">
    Go to `chrome://browseros/settings` in the address bar.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Go to Customization">
    In the left sidebar, select **Customization**.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Toggle Use Vertical Tabs">
    Flip the **Use Vertical Tabs** switch to on. The browser immediately moves your tabs to a side panel.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Frame caption="Enable vertical tabs in Settings > Customization">
  <img src="/images/features--vertical-tabs-setting.png" alt="Vertical tabs toggle in BrowserOS Customization settings" />
</Frame>

To switch back, return to the same setting and turn the toggle off. Your tabs move back to the horizontal strip instantly.

## How It Works

When vertical tabs are enabled, the tab strip relocates from the top of the window to a collapsible side panel on the left. Each tab is displayed as a row showing the page favicon and full title.

- **Click** a tab row to switch to it.
- **Right-click** a tab for the standard context menu (pin, mute, close, move to group).
- **Drag** tabs up or down to reorder them, or drag them into and out of tab groups.
- The panel can be **collapsed** to show only favicons, freeing up even more horizontal space.

## Vertical Tabs + Tab Groups

Vertical tabs pair naturally with [tab groups](/features/workflows). Groups appear as collapsible sections in the side panel, making it easy to keep projects separate and fold away tabs you are not actively using.