Google is giving Chrome users two pretty meaningful desktop upgrades, and one of them feels long overdue. Chrome is now rolling out support for vertical tabs alongside a new fullscreen mode on desktop.
These changes were announced by Google as features built to make tab-heavy browsing more convenient to manage, while also offering a cleaner way to read cluttered webpages.
Why ‘vertical tabs’ is a game changer for Google Chrome
Just as the name would suggest, vertical tabs work by vertically stacking your open Chrome tabs. So rather than keeping all your tabs crammed into the usual strip across the top, Chrome can now show them in a neat list along the left side of the Window. Google says this makes full page titles easier to read, especially once your open tab count starts getting out of hand. It even makes Tab Groups easier to organize.
Chrome also lets users collapse that left-hand panel down to a slimmer row of favicons, which should help if you want the cleaner look without giving up too much screen space. To enable this feature, simply right-click the top of any Chrome window and choose “Show Tabs Vertically”, with the option to switch back whenever you want.
What else is coming?
The second addition is an updated immersive reading mode. Instead of opening in a side panel, the feature now takes over the full page by creating a more text-focused view that strips away distractions from busy websites. Google also describes it as a way to turn cluttered pages into a cleaner reading experience.
To access this feature, just right-click a page and select “Open in reading mode,” or by tapping the “Reading Mode” button in the address bar. This feature is already live now. Though availability may vary a bit at first.