Grouping Rules
Manual grouping
Tab groups are useful for keeping related tabs together in the current window.
Create a new tab group:
- Right-click a tab, or select multiple tabs and right-click one of them.
- Select “Add to new group”.
- Name the group and choose a color if prompted.
Manage a tab group:
- To rename or recolor a group, right-click the group header.
- To add tabs, drag them into the group or use the tab context menu.
- To remove a tab from a group, drag it out or select “Ungroup tab” from the context menu.
- To collapse or expand a group, click the group header.
- To close or ungroup the whole group, right-click the group header.
Automatic Grouping Rules
Grouping Rules let you teach Tab Shelf where sites belong. For example, you can create a “Work Docs” rule that automatically groups docs.google.com, notion.so, and your project tracker.
Rules can match normal domains/URLs or regular expressions. A site or pattern can only belong to one rule at a time.
Creating your first rule
- Open Grouping Rules from the road-sign icon in the Top Bar.
- Click Create rule.
- Give the rule a name, such as “Work Docs”.
- Choose a group color.
- Add sites to the rule.
- Click Create.
After that, matching tabs can be placed into that group automatically.
Adding sites to a rule
When creating or editing a rule, click Add site. You can add sites in a few ways:
- Type a site or pattern manually.
- Pick from your currently open tabs.
- Pick from your bookmarks.
If a site already belongs to another rule, Tab Shelf will help you move it instead of creating a duplicate match.
Managing an existing rule
- Open Grouping Rules.
- Click a rule to see the sites inside it.
- Use Add site to expand what the rule matches.
- Use Run to apply that rule immediately.
- Use Back to return to the full rules list.
You can hover over a rule or right-click it to rename it, change its color, run it, disable or enable it, or delete it.
When multiple rules are selected, you can run, enable, disable, or delete them all at once.
Managing sites inside a rule
Inside a rule, each saved site pattern can be managed individually:
- Rename changes the site or pattern.
- Copy URL copies it to your clipboard.
- Delete removes it from the rule.
Use Search sites… when a rule has many entries. Use Sort to order the sites by URL or pattern type.
When multiple sites are selected inside a rule, you can copy their URLs or delete them all at once.
Useful shortcuts
In the rules list:
- Search rules… finds rules by name or by the sites they contain.
- Run all rules applies every rule at once.
- Sort changes the order of the rules list.
- More actions contains import and export options.
Rule behavior settings
Grouping Rules can be adjusted in Settings under Grouping Rules. Depending on your preferences, rules can run only for newly opened tabs, also run on already-grouped tabs, or run again when a tab’s URL changes.
If automatic grouping is turned off, you can still use Run or Run all rules to apply rules manually.