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To move Chrome’s tabs to the side, open Settings > Appearance and select Vertical under Tab position. You can also right-click the tab strip and choose Show Tabs Vertically. These controls are for desktop Chrome.
Turn on vertical tabs in Chrome
- Open Chrome’s menu and select Settings.
- Select Appearance.
- Under Tab position, select Vertical.
For a quicker switch, right-click a tab or blank space on the tab strip and select Show Tabs Vertically. On Mac, the same control is also available from the View menu. Google’s Chrome Help instructions also explain that you can resize the vertical strip, scroll through tabs, and reveal full titles when the strip is collapsed.
Switch back to horizontal tabs
To restore the usual strip across the top, go to Settings > Appearance > Tab position and choose Horizontal. Alternatively, right-click the tab strip or a tab and select Show Tabs Horizontally.
If the vertical-tabs option is missing
Google announced the feature as beginning to roll out on April 7, 2026, so availability may depend on your Chrome version and rollout status. First update Chrome, relaunch it, and check the Appearance setting again:
- Open Chrome’s menu and choose Help > About Google Chrome.
- Let Chrome check for and install any available update.
- Relaunch the browser when prompted, then revisit Settings > Appearance.
The official announcement describes the rollout, while the current Chrome Help page documents the native setting.
If an updated browser still lacks the control, an older Chrome Help Community answer suggested enabling chrome://flags/#vertical-tabs. Treat this only as a last-resort fallback: it is community advice from the rollout period, not the current official setup path. Chrome flags are experimental and may change or disappear.
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Native vertical tabs versus a side-panel extension
Chrome’s built-in control moves the browser’s tab strip to the side and works with its regular tab management. A side-panel extension is a different approach: it displays a separate list of tabs but does not move or hide Chrome’s built-in horizontal strip.
For example, the Chrome Web Store listing for Vertical Tabs for Google Chrome™ says extensions cannot hide the native strip. The listing showed version 4.2.0, updated June 24, 2026, and a developer statement that the extension does not collect or use data; listing details and permissions can change, so check them before installing. The native setting is the direct choice when it is available.
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