Tabs in Windows Explorer: How does it work?

In Windows 11 22H2 update tabs for Windows Explorer have been introduced. The tabs will eventually be available for all Windows 11 computers.

If you do not yet see or cannot use the tabs in Windows Explorer, you can enable these tabs. Read more about this in this article.

The tabs in Windows Explorer are very similar to the tabs we know from browsers. You can operate the tabs via the mouse by clicking on elements in the Windows Explorer tabs.

Just like in a browser, you can also open, close tabs and more via key combinations. The use of key combinations makes working with the tabs in Windows Explorer very easy and much faster than clicking.

In this article you can read all about working with the tabs and how you can use some of these tips to use the tabs the way you want.

Tabs in Windows Explorer: How does it work?

Open new tab

You can open a new tab in Windows Explorer in various ways. The first is of course by clicking on the “+” icon.

Opening an additional tab via a key combination works via the “CTRL + T” key combination. A new tab will then open in the same window.

To open a new tab in a new window, you can right-click on the folder you want to open. In the menu, click on “Open in new window”. Alternatively, you can open a new window via “CTRL + N”. This is not related to tabs, but still useful to know.

Close tab

There are several ways to close a tab in Windows Explorer. If you have opened a tab, you will see an “X” on the right side of the tab. Clicking on this will only close this specific tab.

There is also a key combination for closing this specific tab. If you use the key combination “CTRL + W” the active tab will be closed.

If you want to close other tabs, there are more options. To do this, right-click on the tab you want to keep.

You will then see the following options:

• Close tab.
• Close other tabs.
• Close tabs on the right.

Switch tabs

If you use multiple tabs, you can also quickly switch between these tabs. The first way is of course by clicking on the relevant tab. The tab opens immediately.

If you prefer to use a key combination, you can use “CTRL + TAB” to go to the next tab. You will immediately see the focus jump to the next tab. If the focus was on the last tab, the focus returns to the first tab.

By pressing “CTRL + TAB-NR”, for example “CTRL + 4”, the focus of the Windows explorer switches to tab 4 in the row. This way you can quickly jump to an open tab.

Move tabs

You can also move tabs. You can do this by clicking and holding the tab with the left mouse. While still holding the tab with the left mouse, drag the tab to the desired position in the row of tabs.

This is useful, for example, if you use the “CTRL + TAB-NR” key combination a lot and want to manage the order of the tabs yourself.

Move files or folders via tabs

Moving files or folders hasn't actually changed. You can still move a file or folder by copying and pasting the item into the contents of another tab. You can copy and paste using the “CTRL + C” key combination and copy and paste using the “CTRL + V” key combination.

It is not possible to hold and drag an item on a tab. Windows will then not know where in the contents of the tab you want to place the item and will block the action.

Lees meer: 15 tips for Windows Explorer in Windows 11

I hope this has informed you, Thanks for reading!