Tab search boxes are undoubtedly useful when you’ve got a multitude of pages open in your browser. They enable you to find pages opened in a browser by entering keywords, which can be quicker than looking through a cluttered tab bar. This is how you can search open tabs in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
How to Search Tabs in Google Chrome
Google introduced a tab search box in Chrome in 2021. Now it’s no longer an experimental feature, Chrome’s tab search box is enabled by default. You can search tabs in Google’s flagship browser like this:
Click the down arrow button on Chrome’s tab bar. Or you can press a Ctrl + Shift + A hotkey for it. Input a keyword with which to find a webpage in the Search tabs box. Entering a website’s title will be sufficient if you only have one page open from it. Click a page found in the search results to view it. Or, you can press the up and down arrow keys and Enter to select one. Alternatively, you can select any page on the search tool’s Open Tabs list to view it without inputting a keyword.
Google Chrome’s search tab tool also has some experimental features that aren’t enabled. Chrome’s Experimental features tab includes flags with which you can enable media tabs and fuzzy search phrases for that search utility. You can turn on those features as follows:
To view the Experimental tab, input chrome://flags/ in Chrome’s address bar and hit Enter. Then input tab search inside the Search flags box. Select Enabled for the Tab Search Media Tabs flag. Click Enabled on the Fuzzy search for Tab Search drop-down menu. Press the Experimental tab’s Relaunch button.
Enabling the Tab Search Media Tabs flag adds media indicator icons for tabs playing music, video, etc. For example, try playing a YouTube video. You’ll see a speaker icon by the tab playing the video in Chrome’s search tab tool.
The Fuzzy search for Tab Search option enables you to find tabs with less clear keywords. For example, entering YT in Chrome’s search tool will find YouTube with fuzzy searching enabled. Thus, you can find tabs with less specific keywords.
There are many more experimental features you can enable with flags in Google Chrome. Check out our guide to Chrome’s best flags post for further details about how you can upgrade that browser with them.
How to Search Tabs in Edge
Edge’s tab search tool is quite similar to the one in Chrome. It lists open and recently closed tabs in a pop-up window and shares the same hotkey. However, that search tool isn’t incorporated within Edge’s tab bar in the same way. This is how you can find tabs with Edge’s search tool:
Click the Tab actions menu button at the top left of Edge. Select the Search tabs option. Type a keyword inside the search utility’s text box. Now you can use the up/down keys or click a tab with the mouse in the search results to view its page.
How to Search Tabs in Firefox
Firefox’s tab search tool is a little different from those in Chrome in Edge. The URL bar in Firefox incorporates that browser’s tab search utility. You can find tabs using Firefox’s website address bar in the following steps:
Press the + Open a new tab button in Firefox. Click inside Firefox’s website address bar to select the Tabs (rectangle icon) option. Then, Firefox’s tab search feature will display a list of open page tabs. You can click the Switch to Tab options there to view listed pages. Or input a search phrase in the URL bar to find a specific tab. Then click its Switch to Tab option.
How to Search Tabs With Browser Extensions
Although extensions are no longer essential for searching tabs in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, there are still some good tab search tools you can add to those browsers.
Search all Tabs
The Search all Tabs extension enables you to find tabs with search operators.
When you’ve added Search all Tabs to Chrome or Edge, you can access that search tool by clicking the Extensions button and selecting it from there. Firefox users can click Search all Tabs directly from Fox’s URL toolbar.
Then enter a search phrase in the extension’s type your query box. It will find open page tabs in your browser that include words that match your entered keyword. The extension shows percentage figures for tabs found to highlight how closely they match up with the entered keyword. Click a tab search result there to view its page.
Download: Search all Tabs for Google Chrome | Edge | Firefox (Free)
Hare
Hare is another free tab search add-in you can install for Firefox and Edge. However, that extension no longer appears to be available in the Chrome Web Store.
After installing Hare, click that add-on button on Firefox’s URL toolbar or inside Edge’s Extensions menu. Then you’ll see a large Search open tabs box that lists your page tabs. You can click a page tab listed there without searching or input a keyword to search.
Hare has a variety of hotkeys with which you can utilize that extension. To view them, click the Toggle shortcuts button at the bottom of the search tool.
Hare’s search tool also enables you to close multiple page tabs. To do so, click the checkboxes beside pages you want to close. Then press the Close Tabs button. That’s a useful feature for closing tabs neither Firefox’s nor Edge’s built-in search tools include.
Download: Hare for Firefox | Edge (Free)
Find Your Tabs Better in Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge
The Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge tab search tools provide a clear overview of pages opened in your browser. They’ll come in handy for clearly identifying and finding specific tabs whenever you’ve opened many webpages.
The additional options for opening recently closed pages and closing webpages in Chrome’s and Edge’s search tools are also useful additional tab management features.
