I have a question for you: how many browser tabs do you have open on your device right now?

(I had 19 open on my phone, by the way).

I am pretty sure having tons of browser tabs and windows open at all hours of the day is a common feature of everyday digital life for many of us. Browser bookmarks have been on the decline for years now, and that has a lot to do with just how many devices we shift from on a day to day or hourly basis. Personally, I use different browsers to help me keep some work/life balance, and it works for me.

Over the years, I’ve tried *a lot* of different tab management systems, but not a single one has really stuck for the long term. This article from WIRED has some decent options (“You Have a Million Tabs Open. Here’s How to Manage Them“) and perhaps it comes down to personal preference.

For whatever it’s worth, right now I’m using Raindrop.io and like it’s cross platform functionality. The best storage system is the one you can access whenever you need it, and I do like being able to shunt fairly seamlessly from one device to another.

By the way, I don’t have a set answer in mind in asking about how we use browser tabs. I’m genuinely curious if anyone has truly cracked this in their digital life triage. I’ve been using Raindrop for over a year now, and was surprised to see that I’ve saved almost 3,000 tabs. Do I need all of those saved tabs? Of course not. Will I delete them someday? Probably not. I like that Raindrop has a tagging system which makes it easier to sift through. Personally, I think tab management is just a way of keeping that fear of missing out feeling at bay.

This New York Times article has an interesting take on the topic which I enjoyed (“Stop, Before You Close This Tab (or Any Others) …“), that we might think of our browser ” like an ongoing autobiography” into what was capturing our attention span during a given moment. Which is all well and good, but sometimes it’s just too much, you know?

I use Safari for the majority of my browsing. There’s Safari Tab groups and it’s ok, I guess. Here are some tips if you might find this helpful, from The Verge: How to Use Safari Tab Groups.

In fact, there’s probably too many ways to manage tabs, so it can get a little confusing. You can use bookmarks and the reading list feature across Apple devices, which iDownLoad blog explains here. (I’ll talk more about our reading lists later).

But Safari tabs has never been the best user experience for me. iCloud has never been a perfect experience since … whenever iCloud came out. So, I prefer this method, which has helpfully been outlined by Lifehacker: “You Can Finally Share All the Links From Your Mess of Open Safari Tabs at Once”

“Tap the double rectangle icon in the bottom-right corner of the page—this is Safari’s tabs icon, and it will display all your open tabs.

Next, tap the Tabs button at the bottom of the page; it will include a number indicating how many tabs you have open. In the popup menu that appears, long press on the Tab Group you want to share. Another popup will appear with all of your open tabs in a list. Tap Copy Links at the top to copy all URLs to your clipboard at once. You can now paste the entire list anywhere you want to save or share it.”

And, do you already know about how to get those tab URLs on Mac Safari? I am mostly writing this done because I am positive I’ve looked this up over half a dozen times. Thanks to How to Geek:

And what about you? What’s your go-to method for dealing with browser tabs? Do you save browser tabs? I’d like to hear from you!

Hivemind Notes: 

I like Catherine’s tip over on Bluesky. Tab amnesty!

“I do a tab amnesty every 6 mo. I close every tab I can’t remember the contents of on the solstices – it’s a little cleansing ritual”