Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Handy Extensions: Tab Scissors and Tab Glue

Back when I used Outlook for my email and Microsoft Word for my word processing, I would often resize my windows so that I could look at something in my internet browser while I was creating a document or email.  I might also want to look at an email while I was working on a document.  Now that most of what I do involves Google Apps - all my work is in web browser windows.  What if I want to look at more than one thing at a time?  I could click on a tab in my Chrome browser, drag it away from the rest of the tabs which will make it into a separate window.  Then I can resize both windows so that I can see them side by side.  It's a bit of a hassle, but it works.  I used to do it.  Then I discovered the Chrome extensions Tab Scissors and Tab Glue.  These are must-have extensions!  You can have your two windows with just one click of your mouse!

Tab Scissors will split your Chrome browser tabs into two windows, perfectly positioned side by side, at the tab you have selected when you click the extension.  Tab Glue will, you guessed it, put them all back together again in one full sized browser window.

You must be using Google's Chrome Browser in order to install and use these nifty little extensions. To learn more about Google Chrome - click here.

To install these handy extensions, browse to the Chrome Web Store.  Type "Tab Scissors" into the search bar and you will see both extensions come up.


To install one of these extensions, click on the blue "Free" button to the right of the extension you wish to install.

It will prompt you for permission to add the extension.  Click "Add".


After installation is complete, it will give you a little message in the upper right hand corner of your screen.  You will see the little icon, in this case a pair of scissors, next to your address bar (also called the Omnibox).


Once you have done this for both extensions, you should see both the scissors and the little glue bottle next to your Omnibox, along with any other extensions you have installed.  


The other extension you see in this picture is Google Docs Quick Create.  It's another one of my favorites.  You can read my post about it here.  

Now, when you are browsing, if you need to see two windows side by side, make sure the two tabs you want to see are next to one another.  You can click on a tab and drag it to reorder the tabs.  Once the two tabs are next to each other, click on the righthand tab and then click on the Tab Scissors icon.  The Tab Scissors extension will take the tab you have selected and the one before it, and split your browsing window right between them.  Any tabs before will be in one window, and all the tabs after will be in another.  


So if I want to see both my blog and my new Google Doc, you can see I chose to select the tab with my blog in it, because it was on the right side.  I know the split occurs just to the left of the tab I select.  Now I click on the Tab Scissors icon and ta da!


Two windows!  Handy, right?  When you are all finished and you'd like to return to one window, simply click on the Tab Glue icon and it will put it all back together again in a nice full sized window.

I hope this tip is helpful to you, I know I use it almost daily!  

Thank you for stopping by the TeachingTechNix blog.  Drop in again soon for more handy tech tips!


No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment!

Helping teachers incorporate technology, one tech tip at a time.