I start out each browsing session with good intentions, and about a half hour later, I have at least 20 tabs open. I get confused trying to figure out where I was, what I am done with, and where I wanted to go next. It is a small thing but until I learned a way to gain control of my tabs, I didn’t know how much time I was actually wasting messing with my open tabs.
Peering over my shoulder one day last month, one of my students suggested I close all tabs to the right! It was an eye-opening moment. While I had seen the menu that pops up when you right-click on an open tab in a browser, I had not actually looked at the options.
New tab, Reload tab and Close tab where options I was familiar with but generally, I used other mouse clicks or key strokes to accomplish those tasks.
My favorite options are:
Pin tab – this moves the tab to the far left, makes it smaller, and removes the X that closes the tab with a mouse click. Now I can have the tabs I regularly use throughout a browsing session to the left, organized and ready, and with no X, I am unlikely to accidentally close one.
Close tabs to the right – this closes all tabs to the right of the one you have right clicked on. I used this when I am conducting a google search. I make my search, right click on the link to open the page in a new tab, review my selections and then point back to the google search page and close all the tabs to the right. When you open a link in a new tab, the browser will add that tab to the right.
Close all tabs but this one – this is one I use at the end of a browsing session when I am on the last tab I am interested in reviewing. I celebrate almost finishing by cleaning up all the other open tabs.
I have found uses for the Duplicate tab option when online gaming and Mute site comes in handy when you open a site that automatically plays video or ads that you don’t want to hear!
Adding these options to my browsing sessions has given me more control, reduced confusion and frustration and saved time. Give it a try the next time you find you have way too many tabs open!
Bonus tip – Holding the control key and hitting the tab key on the keyboard quickly flips through all your open tabs.
This post is in response to the Daily Extend #oext167 It’s Technically a Celebration .
Scanning your textbook refers to swiftly reviewing the chapter by skimming the introduction, flipping through the pages to see the headings and layout of the chapter, paying attention to the main ideas and key terms, and skimming the conclusion or chapter summary. The goal is to gain a better idea of the purpose of the chapter and highlights of the material contained therein.
