Native Tab Grouping / More Customizable Tab bar

[Vinci480]

I'm personally a heavy tab user but have always wondered why there is almost no support for tab grouping or customization in the native tab bar in Firefox.

I think making it able to group like Google Chrome does for example or at least giving more access for extensions and add-ons would significantly improve the UI in that regard.

[wsve]

Vertical tabs and tab groupings are the reason I switched from 100% Firefox to 80% MS Edge, 20% Firefox. It's a killer feature. Huge respect to the FF extension devs trying their best to add that functionality, but it just doesn't come close to the feeling of having them integrated the way MS Edge does.

[ikpjr]

Native(or extension/API enabled) tab grouping makes sense for when tab strip layout is horizontal since no other option currently exists for this scenario. 

On the other hand, for users that prefer vertical tab strip layout(tabs on the sidebar) "Tree Tabs" has groups with folders(useful for efficient workflows: organizing related tabs in folders and be able to retrieve such tabs easily). As this capable addon option exists, a native vertical option would not be needed(especially with improvements added to existing addons - this is detailed below, in the following text).

An alternative to Tree Tabs is the Simple Tab Groups and Tab Sidebar addon combo. Improvements to the latter(combo) would satisfy once and for all the the vertical use case. Not the least, with native horizontal "folders" implemented and previously mentioned improvements also applied, both layouts would be at feature parity. Then, tab organization would definitively be efficient(tabs, folders and groups are easy to pick, find or rearrange), productive(burning speed through tasks/folders in projects/groups) and an issue of the past(it covers both tab layout modes and fulfills majority of tab management user workflow cases). 

Links to those existing detailed improvement suggestions and workflows they enable, both here on Connect  and on github.com , the latter with a UI integration and code logic perspective.

PS: I've tried Edge's and Vivaldi's horizontal, vertical layouts and tab stacking but Firefox is top in vertical tab workflow when using described combo and additional CSS modifications(for ex: compact sidebar like in Edge).

[M4x]

Personally, Mozilla Firefox is set as my default browser. But please Firefox could you guys add the “ Organise tabs with tab groups” function. Because as a software engineer I always have alot of StackOverflow tabs open, and sometimes I get lost while searching for certain tabs.

Native Tab Grouping / More Customizable Tab bar    #Accessibility #Tabs

[fazer227]

I would find cool if Firefox has tabgroups like Safari, which sync through the devices. When I transfer tabs to a tabgroup I could hide many tabs at once and open other tabs which have nothing to do with these. Later I can reopen these tabs on the same device or another device, just like I want.

[vko]

This would be such a huge quality of life addition. I love the way tab grouping works on Edge.

[Spirit_uS]

I would love for this feature to be implemented. I use Chrome and Edge, which implement it identically and Opera, which uses workspaces rather than tab grouping. Both solutions are fine and really handy.

[Motzerilla]

The lack of a good, native tab grouping solution has been the biggest hurdle migrating over from chrome. I think this would be a very worthwhile idea to implement!

[Tenum]

I guess that one of the main reasons why I'm looking at other browsers on the market is just because most of them have a native tab grouping option while Firefox doesn't. Would love to see this feature prioritized and released soon!

[blrff]

Long overdue and not sure why they had it at one point and now so difficult to bring native Tab Groups back to FF. Sounded like Dev was looking at it a few months ago but still no sign of it. Very disappointed. Would use FF all the time if it had Native Tab groups just like Chrome and Edge. Fingers crossed it will come soon.

[msaf]

Other browsers are providing tab grouping or workspace facilities which makes a better browsing experience, especially for people who are doing different kinds of work at the same time.

Firefox has been my favorite browser for years but no features like tab grouping & also incompatibility with the Chrome web store makes my browsing difficult.

It's a request to Firefox to please consider this suggestion because not only me but many people want it.

[banish_fault]

There is an API for containers that can show only the tabs of X container. Why do we need to install some extension with permission to read everything (including usernames and passwords) to get this functionality? Safari and Chrome based browsers have a native one.

[logicalwillow]

This idea has been in "Exploring more" for more than a month

[ghostpiss]

To me it’s very clear that tab grouping is the only essential browser feature that Firefox is missing. This is supported by the fact that literally every other major browser (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, etc.) has native tab grouping.

3rd party extensions that require invasive privacy permissions to function are not a solution. Not to mention none of them currently even fit into firefox’s proton aesthetic, and they might be abandoned at any time.

Bookmarks also aren’t a solution. Having to actively and consistently reorganize and then delete every temporary page you visit through a single line description in your bookmarks is absolutely terrible UX.

Over the past year I’ve noticed myself drifting over to Safari, as using it for many different active projects (especially on my phone) doesn’t feel like the mess of tabs I’m forced into with Firefox. Even though I prefer Firefox otherwise. I would be shocked if many others weren’t also forced into this situation.

[gamer191]

@JonIs this still being explored? I'm not trying to rush Mozilla's team, I'm just curious whether this has been abandoned, given how long it's been since the last update

[Jon]

Thanks for following up @logicalwillow and @gamer191! I know our team has been hard at work on some other projects, but yes this is still being explored. Let me reach out to the Product Team and see if there are any other updates.