What does this do and how is this different from other tab groups changes in Chrome?
Now, Google has already been working to allow users to save bookmarks of tab groups as a single folder for some time now, as noted above. But this appears to work a bit differently. Rather than bookmarking, the new feature shows a new option under a right-click on a tab group. Specifically, that’s a “Save group” option. The option is shown with a toggle. Effectively letting users save any given group, even through a complete reboot of Chrome. Although it still isn’t clear exactly how this feature will work, Google also seems to want it to do more. In the description for the newly added test feature, it’s described as a way for users to “explicitly save and recall tab groups.” That could indicate more control over when the groups are opened or closed. Well beyond simply letting them be saved through a reboot. And potentially with some kind of tie-in with the above-mentioned bookmarking feature.
When is this coming?
In terms of when this feature might arrive in its entirety, that remains to be seen. As already noted, this is only available in Chrome’s least stable Canary Channel. Which means, for Mac, Linux, and Windows users, downloading a different version of the browser from Google. For Chrome OS users, it’s even less accessible since a full system update has to be performed. And that comes with risks for major bugs. As of this writing, the feature also first appeared in Chrome Canary 95. So it may take until that stable version releases for the feature to be finalized. And that would put its launch around October 19, if the ability to save tab groups in Chrome isn’t pushed back to the November 2 refresh update. Or later. In the interim, users can try out the feature urly by navigating to the “chrome://flags” URL in Canary Chrome on desktop. Since this feature likely won’t appear on Android or other mobile operating systems. A search for “tab groups save” will bring forward the appropriate flag, which needs to be turned on prior to a complete restart of the browser.
