How to enable tab groups in the new Microsoft Edge

The new Microsoft Edge based on Chromium supports tab groups despite being a hidden feature at the moment – let’s see how to activate it.

4 DECEMBER 2020 | Following the introduction of Tab Group last July, the latest version of Microsoft Edge Canary supports two new tab group features , Tab Collapse and Tab Groups Auto Create . We have updated the article with the guide to enable the new features.

Tab groups in Microsoft Edge

The Tab Groups feature shared with Google Chrome allows you to create and organize your tabs into groups on the new Microsoft Edge. This is a very handy feature if you typically keep many tabs open for work or play , making navigation more orderly and categorized.

NOTE | You can enable this feature on any version of Microsoft Edge . Here are the steps to follow:

1. Start Microsoft Edge
2. Copy and paste into the search bar edge: // flags / # tab-groups
3. Set the item to Enabled
4. Restart your browser

To create a group just open the pages of your liking and insert them in a group by right clicking on the tab and clicking on Add tab to a group . At this point, the group will be created that you can manage using the dedicated button in the shape of a dot next to the board. You can customize your tab groups with a name and color .

Compressed card groups

After enabling Tab Groups, you can enable group compression. The latter allows you to make space and hide the tabs of each group behind their label . This feature is very useful if you have many groups of tabs open.

NOTE | You can activate this feature on the latest version of Microsoft Edge Canary . Here are the steps to follow:

1. Start Microsoft Edge
2. Copy and paste into the search bar edge: // flags / # tab-groups-collapse
3. Set the item to Enabled
4. Restart your browser

To compress the group just go to a tab that is not part of the group and double click on the label of the group you want to compress.

Automatic card groups

After enabling Tab Groups, you can enable automatic creation of groups. The latter allows you to create a group of cards automatically and can be combined with the other two functions above . This feature is very useful if you open many links from the same page.

NOTE | You can activate this feature on the latest version of Microsoft Edge Canary . Here are the steps to follow:

1. Start Microsoft Edge
2. Copy and paste into the search bar edge: // flags / # edge-tab-groups-auto-create
3. Set the item to Enabled
4. Restart your browser

By opening many links in a new tab from the same page , the browser will recognize that they are similar links and will automatically group them into a group that you can rename and customize with the color of your choice.

NOTE 2 | Tab groups combine perfectly with Microsoft Edge’s portrait tab feature , which you will find more details about in this other article .

In case you want to disable one or all of the Tab Groups functions , just repeat the procedure to enable and set the flag entry to Default instead of Enabled.