Google is working on a new feature called Split Tabs, which is similar to Split Screen, which is already available in Microsoft Edge and Vivaldi. Currently, this feature is available in Chrome Canary and allows you to split and merge tabs through the right-click context menu using the Show side by side option.
How split tabs work in Chrome
When you have multiple tabs open, you may want to view or compare two pages — for example, documents or websites. The split screen feature makes this much easier.
To use Split Tabs, do the following
- Open at least one tab — Chrome will automatically open the other side as a new tab.
- Right-click on the tab and select Show side by side.
- The two tabs appear on opposite sides of the screen, separated by a center line.
- To exit split-screen mode, right-click again and select Exit side-by-side.
The feature also supports grouped tabs. When it’s active, a Split Screen button will appear in the upper left corner of the browser (similar to Edge). For now, this button is just a stub, but in the future it can be used to quickly switch modes without having to open the context menu.
How to turn on Split Tabs in Chrome
- Close Chrome Canary if it’s running.
- Right-click its desktop shortcut and select Properties.
- In the Target field, add a space and paste the following code:
--enable-features=SideBySide - Click OK and Apply.
Launch Chrome Canary with the modified shortcut, open multiple tabs, right-click, and select Show side by side to split.
Split tabs in action
Google is already renaming Side by Side to Split Tabs in the code, so the names of the options may change in the future. The feature is still in early development, may cause crashes, and is not yet available via chrome://flags.
In Microsoft Edge, the split screen shows the active tab on the left and a list of open or recently viewed tabs on the right, allowing you to quickly select the page you want.
In Chrome, you can currently only split two tabs, without the ability to select from open tabs. This feature may be improved in the future.
Brave recently added a similar feature called Split View.
Since Edge and Vivaldi already support this feature, Chrome users may also find it useful to have a built-in feature for multitasking. Previously, you had to use a tab-splitting extension, manually resize windows, or use the built-in Windows/macOS features to split the screen. Now, Chrome will have a native split-screen feature.
Google is expected to make this feature available for wider testing via chrome://flags in future versions of Canary.
