Chrome workspaces like Edge, and what maps across

Chrome has no feature called Workspaces, and there is no setting that turns one on. What it does have is enough to rebuild most of what Edge Workspaces does for one person: saved tab groups for a named set of tabs that comes back later, profiles for separate sign-ins, vertical tabs for keeping a big project readable, and an open source extension that copies the Edge behavior of one window per saved workspace. The part that cannot be rebuilt is the shared half, where several people see the same tabs update in real time. The sections below map each Edge behavior to its Chrome counterpart, using Microsoft's and Google's documentation as checked on October 18, 2026.

What Edge Workspaces actually does

Before choosing a Chrome replacement, it helps to know which part of Edge Workspaces was in use, because Microsoft's feature bundles two different things.

Microsoft's administrator page, Microsoft Edge Workspaces, describes each workspace as containing its own sets of tabs and favorites, saved automatically and kept up to date. It names two scenarios. One is a single person organizing open tabs per project. The other is onboarding a colleague by sending one link to a shared set of open sites and files.

The same page lists the requirements for the work version: a Microsoft Entra tenant, Edge version 114 or later, and access to a OneDrive for Business license to create a workspace. It also notes that personal use became available in Edge stable version 120.

The sharing rules are specific:

• Shared: the workspace's tabs, favorites and history, in real time, plus which tab each member currently has open.
• Not shared: logins, passwords, downloads, extensions, cookies, appearance and search settings.
• Closing a tab closes it for everyone using the workspace.
• Locked Tabs, from Edge stable 116, keep a tab from being closed or moved. Only the workspace creator and the person who locked it can unlock it.
• Scope: a workspace can only be shared inside the same Microsoft Entra tenant, and its data is stored in the creator's OneDrive for Business.

One detail matters for anyone hoping a workspace kept accounts apart. Because cookies are not part of the workspace, every person brings their own sign-ins to the sites inside it. On one machine, two workspaces still share the same browser profile. Edge Workspaces is a filing and sharing feature, not a session separator.

The Chrome pieces that cover the same ground

Chrome spreads this territory across four tools. None is called a workspace, and no menu groups them together.

Tab groups

A tab group is a named, colored run of tabs in the strip. Google's page Use tabs in Chrome gives the steps: right-click a tab, choose Add tab to group, then New group. Right-clicking the colored circle or the group name renames it or changes its color.

The feature that makes groups act like Edge workspaces is Close group. Google states that a closed group is not deleted. It is saved in the bookmarks bar or in the menu, and reopened from More, then Tab groups. When history and tabs are synced with a Google Account, changes to groups are saved and synced to the other devices.

Profiles

A profile is Chrome's boundary for bookmarks, history, passwords and settings. It is added from the Profile button at the top right, then Add Chrome profile, as described in Manage Chrome with multiple profiles. Each profile opens in its own window with its own cookies, which is the only way inside Chrome to be signed in to two Google accounts with no overlap.

Vertical tabs

Google announced vertical tabs on April 7, 2026, in a post on the Chrome blog. Right-click any Chrome window and select "Show Tabs Vertically." Google's stated reason is reading full page titles and managing tab groups when the tab count reaches double digits. The post says the feature is rolling out gradually, so it may not appear on every Mac yet.

A workspace extension

The open source project Edge Workspaces for Chrome sets out to replicate the Edge feature. Its README describes saving the state of a whole window and reopening it later, automatic saving while working, import and export to a file, and an optional read-only copy of each workspace in bookmarks. Usage follows the Edge pattern: click "+" in the popup, choose New workspace or New workspace from window, name it, and a new window opens for it.

Edge behavior, mapped to Chrome

Edge Workspaces behavior	Closest Chrome option	Gap
A named set of tabs per project	Tab group	Groups share one window unless moved out
One window per workspace	Workspace extension, or one window per group	Needs an extension for automatic window saving
Saved automatically, reopened later	Close group, then reopen from Tab groups	None for one person
Available on other devices	Tab group sync with a Google Account	Syncs one person's groups only
Favorites per workspace	Bookmarks per profile	Bookmarks belong to the profile, not the group
Separate sign-ins	Separate profile	Edge workspaces do not do this either
Shared tabs updated live for a team	None	This is the real gap
Locked tabs others cannot close	None	Pinned tabs are personal

For a single person, almost everything has a counterpart. For a team that used the shared half, nothing in Chrome replaces it, because Chrome sync moves one person's data between that person's devices and has no shared container like a OneDrive for Business folder inside an Entra tenant.

Why the extension route needs a second look

Searching the Chrome Web Store for "workspaces" returns many tab managers, and the store looks different from a few years ago. Google's Manifest V2 deprecation timeline records two dates that matter here. On July 24, 2025, with Chrome 138, Manifest V2 extensions were disabled for all users with no option to turn them back on. On August 31, 2026, all remaining Manifest V2 extensions were removed from the Chrome Web Store. Installs already on Chrome 138 or earlier keep running, but they get no updates and cannot be reinstalled.

So a tab manager recommended in an article from 2022 or 2023 may no longer exist at its old listing. Before installing one, check three things on the store page: the last updated date, the recent reviews rather than the overall average, and the permissions requested. A tool that saves and restores whole windows needs to read every tab in the profile it runs in. That is a reasonable request from a maintained project and a poor one from an abandoned one.

An open source extension has one advantage here. Its code and commit history are public, so whether it is still maintained can be checked directly on the repository page rather than inferred from ratings.

Two details from that project's README are easy to miss. The bookmark copy of each workspace is read-only in effect: editing the bookmarks does not change the workspace, because the bookmarks are only a copy. And internal pages such as the new tab page, settings and the extensions page are not saved into a workspace. The same README links a Firefox version, which helps anyone who keeps one browser for work and another for personal use and wants the same habit in both.

A setup that behaves like Edge

The setup that causes the fewest surprises starts on paper.

Sort old workspaces into identities and projects

An identity is defined by who is signed in: a client's Google Workspace, a personal Gmail, a second Slack. A project is defined by the work: a launch, a quarterly review, a migration. Identities become profiles. Projects become tab groups inside the right profile. Mixing the two, for example one profile per project, multiplies windows quickly and gains nothing, because projects inside one identity do not need separate cookies.

Build the profiles

Add one profile per identity from Profile, then Add Chrome profile. Choose a distinct color for each. Under Manage Chrome profiles, turning on Show on startup makes Chrome ask which profile to open at launch, which prevents opening work tabs in the personal window.

Build the groups

Inside each profile, create a group per project and name it after an outcome rather than a topic. "Q4 pricing review" tells the reader when the group can be closed. "Pricing" never can be. When a project pauses, use Close group, not Delete group. Google notes that Delete group, and also Ungroup, remove the group on every device signed in to the same account.

Turn on vertical tabs where the work is

If "Show Tabs Vertically" is available, use it in the profiles that hold real work. Long group names stay readable in a side list in a way they do not in a crowded horizontal strip.

Add the extension only if windows matter

If the Edge habit was specifically one window per workspace, opened from a list, the extension above reproduces that. If the habit was a named set of tabs, closed groups already do it without adding anything.

Where the Chrome version starts to strain

Two limits appear after a week or two.

The first is memory. A collapsed group is still a set of open tabs. Chrome's Memory Saver, under Settings, then Performance, deactivates idle tabs at Moderate, Balanced or Maximum levels, according to Personalize Chrome performance. The same page lists tabs it will not deactivate, including pinned tabs, tabs playing audio or video, and tabs with a partially filled form. Pinning six all-day apps tells Chrome to keep all six awake permanently. Closing groups, rather than collapsing them, is what actually frees memory.

The second is switching. Profiles are windows, so three identities mean three windows that look identical except for the small colored profile button. Notifications from mail or chat in any of them arrive as Chrome notifications with no hint of which identity they belong to. Google's profile help page also points out that profiles separate information without protecting it: anyone using the Mac can switch to any profile.

For people whose Edge workspaces were mostly a way to keep everyday web apps, such as mail, chat and project tools, apart from research tabs, an app aggregation browser takes a different approach. Each web app gets its own place and its own signed in session, and apps are grouped into named spaces with their own color and search engine. The Workspaces page shows how those spaces are arranged, and the Shift comparison covers how products of this type differ on free plan limits.

What to change first

List the old Edge workspaces and mark each one as an identity or a project. Create a profile for each identity and a tab group for each project, and use Close group whenever work pauses. If the time lost turns out to be switching between profile windows for the same handful of apps, SpaceDeck groups those apps into spaces in one window, with a free plan of one workspace and up to three apps.