I’ve been a champion of Opera’s workspace tab management feature since the beginning. This is the best tab management feature in the market. But even when using Workspace, my tabs can still be erratic, especially when I’m doing some research. I can end up with more than 30 tabs open in a workspace, which can be hard to separate — and that redundancy can become a problem.
Given how much Opera prioritizes tab management, it’s no surprise that the browser has yet another feature to make working with a growing number of tabs even easier.
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This feature is called simply tabs, and it lets you view all open workspace tabs in its own tab. These tabs are formatted into an easy-to-read list of clickable links Click on the link you want and it will immediately take you to the open tab.
As I said, this feature works on a workspace-by-workspace basis, so it only displays tabs for the workspace you’re currently viewing.
So, how does this feature work? Show me.
How to Enable Opera’s Tabs Feature
What you will need: All you need for this feature is an updated version of Opera browser installed. Make sure you upgrade recently, so you get all the security patches, bug fixes and new features
Also: Firefox vs. Opera: Which Web Browser is Best for You?
Of course, you’ll want to keep lots of tabs open (otherwise, you wouldn’t need this feature in the first place).
Open Opera and right-click (or tap with two fingers) on the left sidebar. From the resulting popup, click Sidebar Setup.
Before you can access quick access, you must first add the tab feature to the sidebar. Screenshot by ZDNET/Jack Wallen
Scroll to the Opera Tools section of the sidebar and click the checkbox for Tabs. This action will add a new icon to your sidebar that looks like a computer monitor with a small rectangle in the lower left corner. Once this icon is added, you can close the sidebar setup tool.
You can add/remove any feature you need from the Opera sidebar. Screenshot by ZDNET/Jack Wallen
Using the tab feature
Click on the New Tab icon in the sidebar and a new tab will open. In this new tab, you’ll see a list of all tabs open in the current workspace. Click on any entry in the list and it will take you to the tab in question.
This is a small sample of the tabs I have open in Opera. Screenshot by ZDNET/Jack Wallen
One thing you’ll notice is that tabs stay open, even after you click on a tab. I recommend closing that tab as soon as you find what you’re looking for. If you don’t, and you keep clicking on the tab icon, you’ll end up opening multiple tabs (confusing, right?).
If you use Opera across multiple devices and each of them is connected to your Opera account, you’ll notice an additional section on the Tabs tab through the sidebar. That sidebar lists all the tabs you have open on each device. You can click on any of these lists to view the tabs and then open a tab loaded in the browser from your connected device. Only this feature is worth adding a tab icon to your sidebar.
Also: How to use Opera’s built-in AI chatbot (and why you should)
Opera has many simple tricks up its sleeve. If you’re a master of tabs or want to be one, I recommend adding this icon to your sidebar, so you can more easily locate the tab you want, and even access open tabs from Opera on your connected devices.