[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret Tab bar Scrolling Feature in Google Chrome

In Google Chrome web browser, if you require to open lots of tabs, you’ll notice that as soon as you start opening new tabs, the width of all running tabs is automatically reduced by Chrome to fit all tabs on the tab bar or title bar.

When Chrome starts shrinking tab widths, first the tab titles are removed, then site favicons size is reduced and a time comes when you can’t see anything on tabs. If you need to open more tabs, the new tabs will not be visible on the tab bar as shown in following screenshot:

Tab_Overloading_Shrinking_Problem_Google_Chrome.png

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This problem is known as Tab overloading or Tab overflow in Chrome browser and many users have complained about it in past. Other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox handle this problem perfectly using Tab Scrolling mechanism.

The good news is that Chrome team has implemented a similar Tab Scrolling or Scrollable Tabstrip feature in new versions of Chrome browser. Recently the feature was under development and testing phase and was available in testing builds of Chrome (such as Canary). Now the feature is available in public stable version of Chrome browser as well and anyone can use it.

Tab Scrolling feature is disabled by default and interested users need to manually activate and enable it by modifying a secret preference/flag.

Once enabled, whenever a user tries to open many tabs, the tab bar becomes scrollable and user can scroll from left to right and navigate between all opened tabs by clicking on Tab Scroll buttons present on the tab bar or using mouse wheel.

Following screenshot shows new Tab Scrolling feature activated in Google Chrome web browser:

Scrollable_Tabstrip_Tab_Scrolling_Button_Enabled_Google_Chrome.png

If you also want to enable Tab Scrolling feature in Chrome browser, following steps will help you:

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1. Open Google Chrome web browser and type chrome://flags/ in addressbar and press Enter. It’ll open the advanced configuration page.

2. Now type tab scrolling in the “Search flags” box.

You’ll get following 2 options:

Tab Scrolling
Enables tab strip to scroll left and right when full. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#scrollable-tabstrip

Tab Scrolling Buttons
When the scrollable-tabstrip flag is enabled, this enables buttons to permanently appear on the tabstrip. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#scrollable-tabstrip-buttons

3. To activate and enable Tab Scrolling feature in Chrome, select Enabled for both options from the drop-down box.

Enable_Scrollable_Tabstrip_Tab_Scrolling_Button_Google_Chrome.png

PS: There are many values available to select for Tab Scrolling option such as:

  • Enabled
  • Enabled – tabs shrink to pinned tab width
  • Enabled – tabs shrink to a medium width
  • Enabled – tabs shrink to a large width
  • Enabled – tabs do not shrink

If you select Enabled option, Chrome will automatically decide the tab width to shrink when the tab bar gets fulled by opened tabs.

You can select other Enabled options to manually set the tab width which will be used by Chrome while shrinking tabs to fit on scrollable tab bar.

You can experiment with different options and use the one which meets your requirements.

4. Google Chrome will ask you to restart the browser. Click on “Relaunch now” button to restart Google Chrome.

That’s it. You have successfully activated Tab Scrolling feature in Chrome. Now try to opened many tabs in Chrome and the tab bar will become scrollable when Chrome can’t show all running tabs on tab bar.

PS: In future, if you decide to disable Tab Scrolling feature and restore default tab bar behavior, select “Default” option from the drop-down box for both above mentioned options and restart the browser.

Also Check:

[Tip] Remove “Search Tabs” Arrow Button from Title bar in Google Chrome

[Tip] Disable or Remove Thumbnail Preview Images in Tab Hover Cards in Google Chrome

[Tip] Disable New Tab Hover Pop-ups and Restore Classic Tab Tooltips in Google Chrome

[Tip] How to Disable Tab Groups Feature in Google Chrome

Published in: Google Chrome

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

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