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I have 26 tabs open on my laptop. Can you help me get organized?


No, dear reader, I cannot—because I have the same issue. 

I’m only kidding—not about the open tabs but about helping. Of course I will try to help, and I’ll hopefully get some guidance along the way, too.

Maybe you live by the saying, “out of sight, out of mind” like I do. I’m a visual person who has to write everything down or I’ll forget. My brain is constantly buzzing with a dozen thoughts at once; my former supervisor dubbed it “hummingbird brain.” (It’s really fun up there!)

Trying to juggle multiple tasks or tabs at once is not only difficult for our brains, but it’s similarly exhausting for our computers, too.

This translates into many Post-Its, a never-ending to-do list, and 20+ tabs open at any given time. 

But for humans, multitasking can present challenges. Trying to juggle multiple tasks or tabs at once is not only difficult for our brains—it can lead to reduced efficiency and performance and increased risks of burnout—but it’s similarly exhausting for our computers, sometimes leading to the dreaded “blue screen of death.” Too much of a good thing leads to overload, and 26 tabs may be pushing that limit.

But I’m guessing you already suspect that! So let’s figure out some solutions, shall we?

1. Ask, “Do I *need* every tab open?”

It starts innocently enough. You open one tab for work email, another for personal email, maybe a third for your calendar. Then a fourth one pops up for music or a fifth for social media. Before you know it, there are 42 tabs tightly crammed onto your screen and you don’t know how you got here.

Consider if you actually need all those tabs open and which ones can be consolidated.

Consider if you actually need all those tabs open and which ones can be consolidated. Can you merge your different emails into one place (like the Mail app) or streamline them into a singular tab? What if you play music via an app? Can you X out of your calendar whenever you don’t need it, but keep it bookmarked for easy access?

A tool I’ve found exceptionally helpful here is OneTab. It’s a free extension which consolidates all your tabs together for later use. All you need to do is hit the icon, and it’ll save that entire window’s tabs in a vertical list. (Mashable shares other extensions you can also try.)

I’ve personally used OneTab for years, and there are currently 100+ links saved that I slowly work through during free time, which leads me to tip #2.

2. Make time for decluttering & sorting.

After we get past 8-10 tabs, we can’t even see what they are anymore. Was it a link to a recipe? An interesting article? A must-read from your boss? The world may never know.

Can you order tabs by most to least relevant? Can you use the Chrome ‘group’ function to put similar links together?

The good news is: The teams behind browsers like Chrome and Firefox are aware of our tendencies to open excessive tabs. That’s why newer functions like “add to reading list,” “group,” and “close tabs to the right” are being released left and right. Have 10 unrelated tabs you no longer need? Drag them to the right, then close them all with one right-click.

Or, if you need them all: Can you order tabs by most to least relevant? Can you use the Chrome “group” function to put similar links together (like when you’ve opened 10 tabs to find a new rug. Oh, just me?). If you use OneTab, can you allocate 10-20 minutes at the end of your workday to go through as many outstanding tabs as possible?

3. Be flexible.

Of course, you have to actually practice these tips every day or you’re back at square one. That’s why, the next time you must have 10+ tabs open, give yourself some grace and try to be strategic:

  • If you’re researching a project or comparing prices for a product, consider dragging allll of those tabs to a new window. You won’t necessarily have fewer links open, but they will be more organized and in one place.

  • If you notice the habit continues, set regular reminders to open only what you need and X out of the rest. (You can always find it again in your history!)

  • If you struggle with this digitally outside of your browser—like with your desktop, email, or downloads—you can apply similar principles to sort through the excess. Folders are your friend, like KonMari compartmentalized drawers for your computer.

We can organize our digital lives in a way that caters to our needs, rather than the other way around.

We digital packrats (I say this with love) need to stick together, so I’ll be implementing these solutions, too. In fact, I have only eight tabs open right now, a minuscule of progress. Bring in the dancing lobsters!

In all seriousness, the beauty of the internet is that we have an endless expanse to discover, but it can easily become too much. Instead, we can take back control of our surfing habits and organize our digital lives in a way that caters to our needs rather than the other way around. Hopefully these tips will help you cull through the excess for the long haul. I’ll be here hoping to do the same.


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Henah Velez (she/her) is an Editor at The Good Trade. Prior to her work here, Henah worked in the nonprofit sector for more than seven years including at She’s the First, a nonprofit fighting for a world where every girl chooses her own future. Based out of Santa Barbara, you can usually find Henah roaming around local downtowns and small businesses, hanging with her pets, or traveling as much as possible.