Google Chrome is finally getting vertical tabs, a long-requested feature that many users have come to love in newer, design-forward browsers. Announced Tuesday, the update lets you move your tabs from the top of the window to the left side, making long page titles easier to read and crowded tab bars far more manageable—especially if you’re juggling multiple projects at once.
Once you switch to vertical tabs, that layout stays in place as your default until you decide to change it back. Google says you can turn the feature on anytime by right-clicking on an empty area of the Chrome window and selecting “Show Tabs Vertically.” It behaves like Chrome’s traditional tab system, too: each window keeps its own set of tabs and tab groups, so you can separate work, personal browsing, and research without everything blending into one endless list.
Vertical tabs are particularly useful for power users—anyone who lives with dozens of tabs open, constantly scanning for the right one. They also help solve a surprisingly common pain point: when you open multiple pages from the same site, the favicons often look identical, and horizontal tabs quickly become a row of tiny icons that are hard to tell apart. A vertical list gives you more room to see titles at a glance, making it easier to switch quickly and stay organized.
While this is a new official step for Chrome, it isn’t Google’s first attempt at side tabs. The company experimented with similar ideas years ago, but the effort never graduated beyond testing. This time, development has moved further along, and some experienced users have already been enabling vertical tabs through experimental settings in recent versions. With competition in the browser space heating up—and more alternatives trying to win users by offering cleaner interfaces and smarter workflows—Chrome’s move suggests it’s taking those expectations more seriously.
Vertical tabs are arriving alongside another readability-focused change: an updated Reading Mode. Chrome’s refreshed Reading Mode is designed to be a distraction-free, text-first experience, now expanding into a full-page interface intended to reduce visual clutter. The timing makes sense. Many websites, especially news and content sites, have become packed with ads, pop-ups, and prompts to subscribe, all of which can make reading frustrating. Google says this new Reading Mode experience will become the default for Chrome users, signaling a stronger push toward a cleaner way to consume articles and long-form content.
These updates also fit into a broader wave of changes Chrome has been making recently, including new AI features, improved autofill tools, Split View capabilities, and a faster release cadence.
Google says vertical tabs are rolling out gradually to users worldwide, so if you don’t see them immediately, they should appear as the update reaches more installs. For anyone who constantly fights tab overload—or just wants a more organized, modern browsing layout—this could be one of the most practical changes Chrome has introduced in years.
