How to group tabs on Mac, and when grouping is not enough

To group tabs on a Mac in Safari, click the small arrow next to the sidebar button in the toolbar and choose New Tab Group with the number of tabs open, then type a name. In Chrome, right-click a tab, choose Add tab to group, then New group. Both browsers keep the group after the window closes, and both can sync it to other devices. The steps differ in detail, and so does what a group actually does once it exists: a Safari Tab Group replaces the whole tab bar, while a Chrome group is a coloured label on part of it. This guide walks through both with the menu names Apple and Google use today (checked on 18 October 2026), covers fast switching between groups, and ends with the point at which grouping stops being the right tool.

Grouping tabs in Safari

Apple's Safari guide gives two ways to make a Tab Group (Group tabs in Safari on Mac).

From the tabs already open

1. In Safari, click the arrow next to the Show Sidebar button in the toolbar. If the sidebar is already open, use the add button at the top of it.
2. Choose New Tab Group with [number] Tabs.
3. Type a name and press Return.

Every tab in the current window moves into the new group. This is the fastest way to tidy up a window that grew during a project.

Starting empty and moving tabs in

1. Use the same arrow and choose New Empty Tab Group.
2. Name it and press Return.
3. Control-click any tab in the tab bar, choose Move to Tab Group, and pick the group. Dragging a tab onto the group in the sidebar does the same.

Opening a group later

Choose the group from the same arrow menu, or click it in the sidebar. Control-click a group in the sidebar and choose Show Tab Overview to see thumbnails of every page in it. Apple adds one practical tip: dragging a group from the sidebar into an email message pastes all its links.

Automatic topics on macOS 27

On macOS 27, Safari can also organise tabs into suggested topics with Apple Intelligence. Apple's guide says a suggested topic appears in the tab row once two or more related tabs are open, and clicking it opens or collapses those tabs. Apple notes the feature is not available in every language or region and that usage limits may apply. It is a suggestion system on top of manual groups, not a replacement for them.

Grouping tabs in Chrome

Google's help for tabs covers groups in a few steps (Manage tabs in Chrome).

Making and editing a group

1. Right-click a tab.
2. Choose Add tab to group, then New group, or pick an existing group.
3. Right-click the coloured circle or name to the left of the group to name it, change its colour, add tabs or remove the group.

To add another tab, drag it into the group. To take one out, right-click it and choose Remove from group.

Collapsing, closing and reopening

Clicking a group's name collapses it to a single coloured label, which is the main space saver. Right-clicking the group and choosing Close group removes it from the tab strip without deleting it. Google says a closed group is saved in the bookmarks bar or in the menu, and can be reopened from either.

The sync details that matter

Deleting a group in Chrome deletes it on every device that uses the same Google Account. Google's help says the same about Ungroup: the tabs stay open locally, but the group itself is removed everywhere. Closing is safe, deleting is not. Settings under Appearance control whether groups show in the bookmarks bar and whether new ones are pinned there automatically.

Pinning instead of grouping

For a handful of pages that stay open all day, pinning is often a better fit than a group. Google's help describes it: right-click the tab and choose Pin, and the tab becomes smaller and shows only the site's icon. Pinned tabs sit at the left edge and are not affected when groups are collapsed or closed. A common split is to pin mail and calendar, and to group everything that belongs to a single task. Unpinning works the same way, from the right-click menu.

Moving a group to another window

When one task needs a second display, its tabs can go to their own window. Google's help shows that dragging a tab outside the Chrome window opens it in a new one, and that right-clicking a tab offers Move tab to another window. It adds one limit: both windows must belong to the same profile.

Safari and Chrome groups side by side

Behaviour	Safari Tab Groups	Chrome tab groups
How a group shows	Replaces the whole tab bar	Coloured label within the tab bar
Create	Arrow next to sidebar button	Right-click a tab
Close without losing it	Switch to another group	Close group
Find closed groups	Sidebar	Bookmarks bar or menu
Sync	iCloud	Google Account, if tabs sync is on
Share with others	Yes, shared Tab Groups	Not in the help page
Automatic sorting	Topics on macOS 27	Not in the help page

The first row is the real difference. A Safari group is a separate set of tabs, so switching groups clears the bar. A Chrome group is a way to fold part of one long bar. People who like a clean bar for each task tend to prefer Safari. People who want to see everything at once tend to prefer Chrome.

Switching between groups quickly

A Reddit thread that ranks for this search asks how to switch between Safari Tab Groups without the mouse. Safari's published list of keyboard shortcuts, checked on 18 October 2026, has no dedicated key for the next or previous Tab Group (Safari keyboard shortcuts). What it does list helps inside a group: Shift-Command-\ shows the tab overview, Command-1 to Command-8 jump to one of the first eight tabs, Control-Tab moves to the next tab, and Shift-Command-T reopens the last tab closed.

The workable routine is to keep the sidebar open while switching often, so every group is one click away, and to close it when focusing on one group. Apple's guide on editing Tab Groups also lets each group's start page have its own background, which makes the active group recognisable the moment a new tab opens.

In Chrome, collapsed groups can be opened and closed with a click on their label, and the tab search button in the tab strip finds a tab in any group by its title. That search is the quickest way back to a page buried in a collapsed group.

Naming that survives a busy week

Group names work best as nouns for the task, such as "Invoice October" or "Client B launch", not as dates or vague words like "Misc". Colours in Chrome should be assigned once per kind of work and kept, so red always means the same thing. In Safari, where only one group is visible at a time, the name in the sidebar is the only signal, so keep it short enough not to be cut off.

Keeping groups from turning into a second tab pile

Groups solve clutter for about a month. After that, many people have twenty groups and the same problem one level up. A short routine keeps them useful.

A weekly sweep

Once a week, open the sidebar in Safari or the tab groups menu in Chrome and look at each group. If a group has not been opened in seven days, close it in Chrome or move its useful links into bookmarks in Safari, then delete the group. A group is meant for live work, and bookmarks are the right home for reference material.

One group per outcome

Groups named after outcomes end naturally. "Tax return 2026" is finished when the return is filed, and the group can go. Groups named after topics, such as "Design" or "Reading", never finish and only grow. If a group has no end, it is probably a bookmark folder.

A cap on size

When a group passes about fifteen tabs, split it or close half of it. A Chrome group that cannot be read when expanded no longer saves space, and a Safari group with forty tabs is just the original problem with a name on it.

What a tab group does not separate

A group is a way to arrange tabs. It does not change who is signed in. Two tabs of Gmail in two different groups still share the same cookies, so they show the same account. This is the most common surprise for people who group by client and expect each group to keep its own login.

Combining groups with profiles

Both browsers solve sign-in separation with profiles. Safari's profiles live under Safari, Settings, Profiles, and Apple notes that each profile can have its own extensions and favourites while iCloud Keychain passwords stay available in all of them (Create profiles in Safari on Mac). Chrome's profiles keep bookmarks, history and passwords separate and open in separate windows (Manage Chrome with multiple profiles).

The practical pattern is profiles for accounts and groups for tasks. A work profile holds groups for each project. A personal profile holds groups for travel, shopping and reading. Tabs never cross from one profile to the other, which prevents the wrong account from opening.

When a group should have been a separate place

Grouping works well for pages that are read and closed: research, shopping, documentation. It works less well for web apps that stay open all day, such as mail, chat and calendars. Those apps are not tasks with an end. They sit in a group forever, and every time the group is collapsed, their notifications become harder to see.

Three signs suggest a different tool:

• The same three apps are in every group, because they are needed for every task.
• Two accounts of one service are needed at the same time, which groups cannot do.
• Most switching happens between apps, not between pages.

An app aggregation browser treats each web app as its own item in a sidebar, with its own sign-in, and leaves ordinary tabs for reading. One for macOS, made by the company that publishes this site, groups apps into workspaces that switch with Option Tab or Command Option and a number. Its free plan covers 1 workspace with up to 3 apps, and a 14-day trial unlocks everything first. How workspaces separate apps is set out on the workspaces page, and the list of services that work that way is under supported apps.

What to change first

Pick one browser, make three groups for the three biggest tasks this week, and close any group that has not been opened by Friday. If mail and chat keep turning up in every group, move them out of tabs altogether, which is what SpaceDeck is designed for.