Chrome Tabs Keyboard Shortcuts

 ⚠️ This article is written for Mac OS.

When Chrome introduced Tag Groups, it was a big organizing aid. I found there were a couple things missing to make it really productive: keyboard shortcuts.

Move Tab

This is a relatively undocumented shortcut that is already built into Chrome, although it is not available in the Tab menu:
[CONTROL]+[SHIFT]+[PAGE UP] to move a tab to the left.
[CONTROL]+[SHIFT]+[PAGE DOWN] to move a tab to the right.

If you are not on an extended keyboard, this is still possible with the function key:
[FN]+[CONTROL]+[SHIFT]+[UP] to move a tab to the left.
[FN]+[CONTROL]+[SHIFT]+[DOWN] to move a tab to the right.

System Shortcuts for Chrome

Other keyboard shortcuts will need to be added to the OS:
System Preferences » Keyboard » Keyboard Shortcuts » App Shortcuts » + (add) » Google Chrome.app

New Tab to the Right

I find this is really helpful when using Tab Groups. Using the built-in shortcut [COMMAND]+[T] will create a new tab but it will be outside the group and you will have to move it into the desired group. By using New Tab to the Right (available in the Tab menu), it creates a new tab inside the group. In the App Shortcuts:

  • Application: choose Google Chrome.app
  • Menu title: type New tab to the Right
  • Keyboard shortcut: press [COMMAND]+[OPTION]+[T]

Duplicate Tab

This one is not as much about tab organization but I find it’s really helpful when I need to reset a page to it’s original load state but don’t want to lose the state the current page is in. In the App Shortcuts:

  • Application: choose Google Chrome.app
  • Menu title: type Duplicate Tab
  • Keyboard shortcut: press [OPTION]+[SHIFT]+[D]

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