[Tip] Remove Tab Search (Arrow) Button from Title bar in Google Chrome
If you upgraded to latest version of Google Chrome web browser, you might have noticed a new drop-down Arrow button added to the top title bar or tab bar. If you hover mouse cursor over the Arrow icon, Google Chrome shows a tool-tip labeled as “Search tabs“.
When you click on the Arrow icon, it shows a popup bubble or flyout containing list of all running tabs. Google Chrome displays web page titles and URLs opened in each tab. You can close any running tab by clicking on the Close (x) icon present next to the tab title. You can also search inside all opened tabs by typing any word present in tab titles or URLs.
This new feature is called “Tab Search“. Following screenshot shows this new feature live in action in Google Chrome web browser:
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You can quickly access Tab Search feature by pressing Ctrl+Shift+A keys together.
If you remember, we told you about this new feature in following article when the feature was under development and not available to public by default:
[Tip] Enable Tab Search Feature in Google Chrome Browser
At that time, the feature was hidden and interested users needed to manually activate and enable it.
Now Google team has started rolling out this feature to public. Some Chrome users have already received the feature and some are waiting for it. If you didn’t receive the Tab Search feature and want to activate and enable it right now, above mentioned article will help you.
But if you have already received Tab Search feature but don’t like it and want to get rid of Tab Search feature and its icon from title bar, this tutorial will help you.
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Fortunately, the same hidden preference/flag which we used to enable Tab Search feature, still works and can be used to disable the feature if required.
If you want to delete or remove Tab Search Arrow button from Chrome title bar and want to disable new Tab Search feature entirely, following steps will help you:
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 search in the “Search flags” box.
It’ll directly go to following option:
Enable Tab Search
Enable the Tab Search feature in Top Chrome UI, which will show a popup bubble that allows users to search over their currently open tabs. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#enable-tab-search
3. To deactivate and disable Tab Search feature in Chrome, select Disabled from the drop-down box.
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 disabled Tab Search feature in Google Chrome. The drop-down Arrow button will no longer show in top titlebar.
PS: In future, if you decide to restore Tab Search feature and its button in Chrome titlebar, select “Default” option from the drop-down box for above mentioned option and restart the browser.
Also Check:
[Tip] How to Disable or Enable “Reading List” Feature in Google Chrome
Yet another absolutely HORRENDOUS, needless, unwanted, clunky tabletized ‘update’ for chrome.
EVERY SINGLE update trying to dumb down the browser making it look like a phone screen.
Thanks !
Already the second time I have to go disable something in the chrome://flags/… If I need to do it at each update it’ll start to be painful. Thankfully I’m not the only one bothered by it, and more qualified people know what to do !
Good tip. I am trying to get this to work when launching chrome by adding
–disable-tab-search
to my desktop shortcut without success. Or at least when I check the flags page it still shows as default. Are you able to get this to work?
Thanks!
Thanks for the tip…. It happened with me before and I disabled it but again now the icon reappeared and I can’t find the “enable tab search” in the chrome flags website… What is happening I am so confused pls help
On 5/28/2021 I went to chrome://flags/ and searched for “tab search” but it said there weren’t any results. There was no Enable Tab Search for me to disable. Is there another way to get rid of the Search Tabs Icon? Thank you!
I am trying to deactivate the new search tab icon. I deactivated it one time; however, it popped back up on my lab top and now I am not even provided an option to disable it. Please take this drop down arrow icon off my computer. This will be the second time disabling it. I do not want it. It is unnecessary.
Tip no longer is available in Google Chrome.Google Chrome v91 has the ability to disable the search tab removed and it appears to be using more system resources than it did before… 🙁
November 24th 2021 Search Tabs Icon and function was not able to be removed using these steps. Disabled the feature and it still shows after relaunch. Windows pc, current chrome browser
@Iarakj and VG
Me too not
Unfortunately Chrome team has removed the flag from new versions of Chrome. Now there seems no way to remove the tab search button. If I come across any working solution, I’ll update the article.
Thx
Stay healthy
it doesnt work on the school laptop the tabs just keep showing
Is this method still current? It’s not working for me. When I type “tab search” in the “Search flags” box, I only get the item “Tab Search Media Tabs”. I have already deactivated this option and relaunched Chrome, but I still get the tab search button. Any updates will be largely appreciates. What bothers me about this feature is that it’s right next to the “minimize” button, and the symbol is also prone to confusion, so I keep hitting it when I want to minimize the window. Thanks!
Looks like the latest update of chrome, the one I allowed to happen yesterday, removed the ability to disable the tab search drop down. I’m glad the developers of Chrome are hard at work letting me know what interface I should prefer.