Tab revolution on Chrome and Edge: what’s changing

New features for tabs on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers: two new functions to navigate between tabs from the search bar

A tab revolution is underway for those using Google's Chrome and Microsoft's Edge browsers. Two new features have appeared in the search bar of the browsers, both based on Chromium, that allow you to do internal searches in sites and not open double tabs while surfing the web.

Some users can already experience the two features present in Edge and Chrome, which appear directly when you type text in the browser's search bar. These are the "Switch to this tab" options, which allows you to access the tab you already have open without opening a duplicate, and "Press TAB to search on", which allows you to search internally on the site of your choice. At the moment, there are no official announcements about the new features, which may be being tested for both Google's and Microsoft's browsers.

Switch to this tab: how it works

If you use the Chrome or Edge browsers, some users may have noticed a handy new feature called Switch to this tab. When you have several tabs already open, opening a new one and typing text into the browser's search bar will bring up a box on the right side next to the available results that says "Switch to this tab". Clicking on it, the user will access the tab already open, without the risk of opening two tabs with the same url.

Internal site search: how it works

Another new feature that appeared for some users while browsing on Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome allows you to search internal websites directly from the search bar of the browser in use. By typing in the name of the website, for example Facebook, a box will appear on the right side of the search bar that says "Press TAB to search Facebook".

Pressing the TAB key will open the "Search Facebook" entry in the search bar and the "Type in search term" suggestion. Entering the search term and pressing Enter will automatically take you to the Facebook page with the results of the search you just did. The feature is available for several websites that contemplate internal search and is very useful for all users.

Tab Revolution: who can use it

The new features have been reported by several users who can already access them for simplified browsing in Google's Chrome and Microsoft's Edge browsers. Neither browser has announced the new features, which may still be in the testing phase, and therefore not yet available to all users. To know more, we will have to wait for further news from Google and Microsoft, which offer two Chromium-based browsers.