Keyboard shortcut to pull Google Chrome tab into its own window

Question

Is there a keyboard short cut, or extension, that lets you rip a tab into a new window in Google Chrome instead of using the mouse?

IMHO: this really should be crtl+shift+u ('undock'), same as in Matlab... all of the solutions are annoying or at minimum dissatisfying — user2305193, Sep 28 '20 at 09:35

score 95 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 22 '15 at 03:44

95

With the Vimium extension for Chrome, Shift+W will move the current tab to a new window.

This was added in version 1.43 (2013-05-18), Vimium on GitHub.

edited Oct 22 '15 at 03:44

G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica'

7,827

answered Apr 24 '14 at 15:09

Stephen

2,424

1

Must have been added in a version newer than 27 as it is not present in that version. – Dan D. Apr 24 '14 at 16:19
1

Not sure if this is actually part of Chrome itself, but it works for me with Vimium installed. – sjy May 22 '14 at 08:33
8

This shortcut isn't indeed part of Google Chrome but was introduced in Vimium v1.43 (2013-05-18). – Franck Dernoncourt Nov 02 '14 at 15:36
1

Since VIM is an extension in Chrome, this will work on all platforms. By default, you can start with the modifier keys ctrl + x or alt + x, then pressing shift + w to invoke this functionality. – cody.codes Dec 01 '17 at 16:10
1

Is there any way to do the opposite? I mean, move the tabs from a window to another existing window – Gabriel Ziegler Oct 14 '21 at 01:13
Fdj (upvote) thanks – ecoologic Mar 03 '22 at 22:47
@GabrielZiegler - shift W seems to do that for me. – haku Jan 20 '23 at 18:56
Yo as if I needed another argument to get everyone from work on vim shortcuts. Literally everyone uses Chrome. So hype!! – Nathan majicvr.com Feb 20 '24 at 02:46

lenooh · Answer 2 · 2023-11-20T10:31:57.217

37

On Mac you can add custom shortcuts for any menu option. The option to detach a tab is named "Move Tab to New Window" (it has to be written exactly as in the menu, including capitalization of letters), so just add this to the shortcuts under settings (and select Application Google Chrome):

And then choose a shortcut, like Cmd+Shift+X or whatever (just make sure it's a unique combination, or it won't work).

edited Nov 20 '23 at 10:31

answered Jun 05 '20 at 10:23

lenooh

501

3

This is excellent. Update for Big Sur, which still works for me: Select 'Shortcuts' menu at top of Keyboard Settings. Select 'App Shortcuts' from left hand menu. Press the '+' button to add an app shortcut. – greg7gkb Mar 31 '21 at 16:52
2

Works from Hammerspoon too: something like app = hs.application.frontmostApplication() or whatever to select the application, and then app:selectMenuItem("Move Tab to New Window") to simulate clicking on that item (and thus move the tab to a new window). – ShreevatsaR Jul 03 '21 at 01:58
The menu title is case sensitive. So you must use the exact casing which as of v117 is Move Tab to New Window – Hady Nov 01 '23 at 21:36

score 31 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 25 '13 at 14:40

31

A workaround would be: Ctrl + L, + C, + W, + N, + V, and Enter.

Or

F6, Ctrl + C, Ctrl + N, Ctrl + V, Enter and an optional Alt + Tab, Ctrl + W, Alt + Tab, to close the old tab.

You could automate the whole thing with AutoIt (under Windows) and create a Hotkey for it (here, it's Ctrl + Alt + x):

HotKeySet("^!x", "split_tab")
Func split_tab()
    Send("{F6}^c^n")
    Sleep(999)
    Send("^v{Enter}")
    Send("!{Tab}^w!{Tab}")
EndFunc

I always have an additional application like this running in the background, offering useful keyboard shortcuts which automate and simplify tasks.

Alternatively, you can hit Ctrl + L instead of F6, which would be substantially easier as your hand does not have to leave the home row.

edited Apr 25 '13 at 14:40

rahi

1,387

answered Sep 22 '11 at 09:26

Samoth

519
5
10

1

wish this was built in! the disadvantage of this group of commands is it doesn't save your scroll position. – Damon Sep 05 '13 at 20:44
Well, that might be possible to preserve with some more code... I ain't got Chrome installed here, so I can't test this any more. But It shouldn't be much of a problem to read and set the vertical scroll bar position. – Samoth Sep 06 '13 at 05:39
1

Or use Alt + D instead of Ctrl + L as their proximity is higher. – Benjamin Feb 24 '15 at 09:17
3

Ha, at first I thought this was some fancy incantation, then while following noticed that it's just 'jump to loc bar, copy URL, close tab, open new window, paste URL, and nav'". Clever in its simplicity/straightforwardness/Ruby slippers-ness. ;^) – ruffin Jul 06 '18 at 12:34
1

-- Here is a Mac/hammerspoon version of the above AutoIt shortcut -- Only downside is it wipes the back history. -- https://superuser.com/questions/182720/keyboard-shortcut-to-pull-google-chrome-tab-into-its-own-window hs.hotkey.bind({"cmd", "ctrl"}, 'x', function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "l") hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "c") hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "n") hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "v") hs.eventtap.keyStroke({},"return") hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "`") hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "w") end) – thadk Aug 15 '18 at 20:25

score 23 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 02 '20 at 18:03

23

Just press Cmd/Ctrl + L and then Shift + Enter. However this refreshes the site and does not close the old tab. Vimiums Shift + W won't refresh the page and closes the old tab.

answered Nov 02 '20 at 18:03

dnl.re

331

3

This is better than the selected answer since it's just two commands – testing_22 Oct 18 '21 at 13:12
1

also of note alt+d and then shift+enter works – CasualT Oct 07 '22 at 19:58

score 18 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 02 '21 at 06:33

18

No out-of-the-box solution, but here is an open-source chrome extension that does exactly that, Tab to Window/Popup.

edited Jun 02 '21 at 06:33

Denilson Sá Maia

13,151

answered Dec 03 '15 at 11:32

Roy Tsabari

281

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 22 '22 at 09:18

4

In more recent versions of Chrome, you can use Shift+F6 to select the tab.

This means you can now use the sequence Shift+F6, Shift+F10, M, Enter, Enter

You can assign this sequence to a single hotkey combination by using tools such as AutoIt, AutoHotkey, or Phrase Express.

The advantage of using this method is that it doesn't reload the tab.

answered Jun 22 '22 at 09:18

Garrulinae

1,859

1

If you have the bookmarks bar visible, the first Shift+F6 puts you there -- press Shift+F6 again to select the first tab. – mr.Reband Sep 01 '23 at 14:13

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered May 03 '15 at 21:11

The easiest way to do this is to add the Tab To Window Keyboard Shortcut extension. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tab-to-window-keyboard-sh/adbkphmimfcaeonicpmamfddbbnphikh?hl=en-GB

Personally I use Vimium and had just found the Shift+W and was loving it, since Ctrl+W closes a tab, having Shift+W open it in an new window made sense.

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 30 '10 at 23:50

1

There doesn't appear to be a keyboard short cut built in. Maybe auto-hot-keys can be used, but I'm not familiar with them. I'm also assuming that you already know that dragging the tab out creates the tabs own window.

answered Aug 30 '10 at 23:50

James Mertz

26,344

Ya, I know that dragging does that. I just wanted to see if there was a way to do it without the mouse. – Stephen Aug 31 '10 at 19:13

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 06 '24 at 18:32

It's criminal that google doesn't provide a hotkey for this after all these years of people asking for it, but you can automate it with the following ahk script bound to winkey+n:

#n::
if (WinActive("ahk_exe chrome.exe"))
{
Send, {SHIFTDOWN}{F6}{F10}{SHIFTUP}m,{enter}{enter}
}
return

Note that shift-F6 only selects the current tab if there isn't a bookmark bar in your window. There's probably a workaround but I've not looked into it.

Franck Dernoncourt · Answer 10 · 2014-11-07T17:28:10.443

If you use voice recognition software Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Windows/Mac, non-free), you can create the voice command:

Sub Main
    SendKeys "^l"
    Wait(0.2)
    SendKeys "^c"
    Wait(0.2)
    SendKeys "^w"
    Wait(0.2)
    SendKeys "^n"
    Wait(0.2)
    SendKeys "^v"
    Wait(0.2)
    SendKeys "{ENTER}"
End Sub

enter image description here

Annoyingly this reloads the page, which is not good in some situations, e.g. if the page contains a form you have started to fill.

Keyboard shortcut to pull Google Chrome tab into its own window

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