Skip to Content

Submit your nominations for the Luxist Awards' Best in Decor
AOL Tech

Filed under: Mac 101

Mac 101: Navigating Safari Tabs

TUAW reader Jason wrote in asking us how to switch between open tabs in Safari. If you're using tabbed browsing in Safari, it may not be immediately obvious how to navigate other than to click on the tab you want to view. Fortunately, Apple did build in keyboard shortcuts: to cycle left between tabs, type Command-Shift-Left Arrow or Command-Shift-[. To cycle right, use Command-Shift-Right Arrow or Command-Shift-].

Firefox uses a different approach. To select a tab, hold down the Command key while pressing a tab number. Command-1 selects the first tab, Command-4 the fourth. (For the curious, in Safari, this Command-Number approach selects the nth item in your Bookmark bar that is not a folder.)

More after the jump...

If you don't have Safari's tabbed browsing enabled and want to give it a try, open preferences (Command-,), click Tabs and check "Enable Tabbed Browsing"

Other tab-fu tricks:

Open links in new tabs: If you have a scroll-wheel mouse, click the link with the scroll-wheel button. If you have a regular mouse, command-click the link instead. Add the Shift key to select the new tab after opening it. If you always want to select new tabs as they are created, open Preferences (Command-,) and check the proper option in the Tabs pane.

Create a new empty tab: Type Command-T or select File -> New Tab.

Open a folder of bookmarks into separate tabs: Control-click (right-click) a folder in your bookmark bar or Bookmarks window and choose "Open in Tabs".

Closing tabs: Click the close "X" in the corner of the tab to close it. Holding down option closes all tabs but the current one.

Navigate tab history: Each tab has a separate history. You can navigate through the history using Command-Left Arrow and Command-Right Arrow (alternatively, Command-[ and Command-]).

Check out the command cheat sheet: Open the Tabs pane in Safari Preferences (Command-,) and pay attention to the bottom of the pane. You'll find a four-item cheat sheet showing you the various Command-click options with modifiers. These change based on whether you have enabled tabbed browsing.

jobs & resumes
Lead Blogger

AOL Find a Job - New York, NY (2 weeks ago)

See More Relevant Jobs ›

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Tip of the Day

Reply in the Mail.app with a specific quote.
Select the text you want quoted and then hit the reply button.
Only your selected text will copied to the reply email.


Follow us on Twitter!
 TUAW [Cafepress]

Featured Galleries

DNC Macs
Macworld 2008 Keynote
Macworld 2008 Build-up
Google Earth for iPhone
Podcaster
Storyist 2.0
AT&T Navigator Road Test
Bento for iPhone 1.0
Scrabble for iPhone
Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer Briefcase
Apple Vanity Plates
Apple booth Macworld 07
WorldVoice Radio
Quickoffice for iPhone 1.1.1
Daylite 3.9 Review
DiscPainter
Mariner Calc for iPhone
2009CupertinoBus
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
MLB.com At Bat 2009
Macworld Expo 2007 show floor

 

More Apple Analysis

AOL Radio TUAW on Stitcher