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Tabshift
Add to Chrome, it’s free

Almost in Firefox Add-ons.

Tabshift for Firefox is on its way to addons.mozilla.org. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.

Any web address, as your new tab.

Your inbox, a team wiki, localhost:3000 or a file on your computer. Pick it once and every new tab opens it, with no flash and the cursor still in the address bar.

Add to Chrome, it’s free

Can’t see the sites you visit. No account, no ads. Also on Microsoft Edge. Coming to Firefox too. Phone browsers don’t run extensions. Add it on your computer.

Almost in Firefox Add-ons.

Tabshift for Firefox is on its way to addons.mozilla.org. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.

Click the keys, or press T, to open a new tab.

New tabs open

Like notion.so, localhost:3000 or a file on your computer

A day of new tabs

Most of us open a new tab dozens of times a day, and almost always want the same few pages. Here’s one ordinary day with Tabshift, from the first tab to the last.

  1. The first tab of the morning is your inbox.

    You press ⌘T before the coffee is ready. The inbox is already there, and the cursor is waiting in the address bar in case you meant to search for something instead.

  2. Standup, so the wiki takes over.

    Right-click the Tabshift button and pick Team wiki. Every new tab now opens the handbook, until you shift again.

  3. Someone sends a page you’ll live in all week.

    It’s the launch checklist. Click Tabshift, then Use this page. It’s saved to your list and it’s your new tab, in one click.

  4. Heads down on localhost:3000.

    Your dev server becomes your new tab. Tabshift knows a local address wants http, not https, so you type it the way you always do.

  5. Back is just Back.

    Open a new tab, then press Back. Other redirects throw you forward again. Tabshift shows a calm page with your new tab one click away, and you carry on.

  6. One last fix, with the lights off.

    Dark mode stays dark. Tabshift paints the new tab in your theme’s own colour before it sends you on, so there’s no white flash at midnight. Then the laptop closes.

The small things, done right

Opening a page on every new tab sounds simple. Most extensions that do it get the small things wrong, and small things that happen thirty times a day stop being small.

A wall of white before every page

Usually. The extension’s own page paints first, white, then hands you on. In dark mode it’s a flash in your eyes thirty times a day.

With Tabshift. Tabshift paints the browser’s own new tab colour and moves on before anything else draws.

“Flashbangs my eyes with a wall of white every time.”

From a public review or issue about another new tab extension

Keep a few pages. Shift in one click.

The inbox in the morning, localhost in the afternoon. Keep them all in a short list and pick which one new tabs open, right from the toolbar. This is the real list, so try it.

Tabshift
New tabs open
⌥⇧Topens Tabshift

  • Click the Tabshift button. Your list opens. Pick a page, or press its number.
  • Right-click it. Switch to any page without opening anything.
  • Press a shortcut. ⌥⇧T opens the list, and you can give “Next page” a shortcut of its own.
  • Turn on Shuffle. Each new tab opens a different page from your list, never the same one twice in a row.

Type it the way you think.

No need for https:// or the exact spelling of a path. Tabshift reads what you type the way the address bar does, and when something can’t work it says why, in one line, before you save.

Opens notion.so

Try
notion.so
Names get https://, the way the address bar adds it.
localhost:3000
Your own machine and network get http://: localhost, 192.168…, .local, .test.
/Users/you/start.html
A path from the Finder or File Explorer opens that file, in Chrome and Edge.
chrome://bookmarks
The browser’s own pages work too: bookmarks, history, downloads. Firefox keeps its own.
data: and javascript:
The browser doesn’t let extensions open these, so Tabshift says so instead of failing.

Your browser will check with you once. Click Keep it.

Whenever an extension changes the new tab, Chrome asks whether you meant it. Its highlighted button, Change it back, turns Tabshift off. So Tabshift’s first new tab waits for your answer and points at the right button, and only then starts opening your page.

On Chrome it may say “Change back to Google?” instead. Same buttons: click Keep it.

On Edge a bubble by the toolbar asks “Is this the new tab you expected?” Choose Keep changes.

On Firefox a notice from the menu button says “Your new tab has changed.” Choose Keep Changes. Its other button, Manage New Tabs, opens Firefox’s settings and leaves Tabshift on.

Answer once and it’s settled. Tabshift’s welcome shows you all this before it happens.

It opens your page. It can’t see it.

“New tab redirect” sounds like something you’d want removed, so here is exactly what Tabshift can and can’t do. You can check every line on your browser’s extensions page.

Install warning
One: “Replace the page you see when opening a new tab”. Every new tab extension shows it.
Website access
None. Tabshift can’t read or change the pages you visit.
Network
None. No server, no account, no analytics, no error reporting.
Use this page
Reads the address and title of the tab you’re on, once, when you click it.
Your pages
Kept in your browser’s sync storage, so they follow you like bookmarks. Never sent to us.
Site icons
Off unless you turn them on. Then the browser asks first, and they come from its own cache.

Read the privacy policy. It’s short.

Love another new tab extension too?

Hallway, our free new tab switcher, keeps every new tab extension installed and lets you pick which one opens. Tabshift shows up in it on its own, so a web address becomes one more choice.

Meet Hallway

In your language

Tabshift speaks 54 languages and uses your browser’s, with the browser’s own words for its buttons, so the instructions match what you see.

Questions

Anything else? Support has quick fixes, and a person reads every email.

What does Tabshift do?

It opens a web address you choose every time you open a new tab: your inbox, a team wiki, a dashboard, localhost:3000, or a file on your computer. You can keep a few pages and shift between them from the toolbar.

Is it free?

Yes. No ads, no account, no premium tier. Tabshift is made by Mutables, a small studio, and it stays free.

Which browsers does it work in?

Chrome, Edge and Firefox (142 or newer). In Firefox it works the same way, apart from what Firefox doesn’t let add-ons do: open a file on your computer or Firefox’s own new tab, or show site icons. Hallway, our new tab switcher, is for Chrome and Edge only.

Can Tabshift see the sites I visit?

No. It has no access to the sites you visit and makes no network requests. When you click Use this page, it reads the address and title of that one tab, at that moment, because you asked.

Why does Chrome ask “Change back to Google?”

Chrome checks with you once whenever an extension changes the new tab. Click Keep it. The other button, Change it back, turns Tabshift off. Tabshift’s first new tab waits for your answer so the question doesn’t blink past. On Edge, choose Keep changes. On Firefox, a notice by the menu button says “Your new tab has changed.”: choose Keep Changes.

Where does the cursor go?

Into the address bar, like the browser’s own new tab, so you can type a search straight away. If your page has its own search box and you’d rather type there, choose “The page” under “Where the cursor goes” in Settings. Firefox always keeps the cursor in the address bar, so there it has no such setting.

Can my new tab be a file on my computer?

In Chrome and Edge, yes. Paste its path, like /Users/you/start.html. The browser asks you to allow file access once, and Tabshift opens the right settings page for you. Firefox doesn’t let add-ons open files.

Does it work in incognito windows?

Not in Chrome and Edge, and no extension can: they keep their own new tab in incognito and InPrivate windows. Tabshift says so in Settings rather than pretending. In Firefox, yes, once you allow Tabshift to run in private windows.

Do my pages follow me to another computer?

Yes. Your pages and settings sync with your browser profile, the same way your bookmarks do (in Firefox, through Firefox Sync). Nothing goes to us.

I already use another new tab extension. Can I keep it?

Yes, with Hallway, our free new tab switcher. It keeps all your new tab extensions installed and lets you pick which one opens. Tabshift shows up in it on its own. Hallway is for Chrome and Edge.

Your page, on every new tab.

  1. Add Tabshift to Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
  2. Pick your page. The welcome takes about 30 seconds.
  3. Press ⌘T and click Keep it, once. That’s all.
Add to Chrome, it’s free

Can’t see the sites you visit. No account, no ads. Also on Microsoft Edge. Coming to Firefox too. Phone browsers don’t run extensions. Add it on your computer.

Almost in Firefox Add-ons.

Tabshift for Firefox is on its way to addons.mozilla.org. This button will take you straight to it the moment it’s live.