04
Jan
2012
Re-enable Vertical Tabs (Side Tabs) on Google Chrome 16
My previous post “Using Side Tabs on Chrome and Firefox” outlined steps to switch website tabs from stretching horizontally across the top of your browser to a vertical stack on the side. The post outlines the many benefits of using this layout of tabs, however recently the Chrome team decided to take this feature off the browser.
Currently the only way to re-enable vertical tabs (side tabs) is to roll back to an older version of Chrome. Here are the steps:
- Uninstall Chrome
- Install version 16.0.899.0 from http://www.oldapps.com/google_chrom…old_chrome=6660
- Disable Chrome updates: http://www.chromefans.org/chrome-tu…tic-updates.htm
- Reactivate side tabs
I recommend you setup Chrome Sync before this process, so you can easily restore everything.
Once you are back up and running, you might get a “This version of Chrome is older than the user profile on this machine” message. To remove that message, follow these steps:
- Open Windows Explorer, show hidden files
- Browse to: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
- Delete the “Web Data” file
- Close and re-open Chrome
[...] “Side Tabs” option might not be available to you. If not, please view my “Re-enable Vertical Tabs on Google Chrome 16” [...]
You may also consider using Firefox. I have created an addon called Side Tabs, it was inspired by Chrome 15′s side tabs.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/side-tabs
That is not a very clever solution… you will be quite vulnerable to drive by attacks, because you don’t get important security patches anymore! Please don’t do this.
Best regards, Alex
Alex,
This is only a temporary solution until Chrome releases their alternative to side tabs. Also, being several releases behind on Chrome is nothing compared to being up to date on the slower release cycles of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. Once side-tabs (or a similar solution) are reintroduced, I will be removing this post.
[...] Reactivate side tabs I recommend you setup Chrome Sync before this process, so you can easily restore everything. Disable Chrome updates: http://www.chromefans.org/chrome-tu…tic-updates.htm Once you are back up and running, you might get a “This version of Chrome is older than the user profile on this machine” message. To remove that message, follow these steps: Re-enable Vertical Tabs (Side Tabs) on Google Chrome 16 [...]
thank you for posting the last version where real vertical tabs are possible. but theres still one mandatory, but very important, feature missing: the possibility to change the tabs width! could anybody recompile this version just with a wider width?
i need that so much, i would pay for it