Tab Activate

Name: Tab Activate
Rating: 4.071698113207547 (265 reviews)
Author: Tab Activate

New tabs open immediately instead of in the background

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Tab Activate is a Chrome extension that changes how new tabs open in your browser. Instead of opening new tabs in the background, this extension immediately switches focus to the newly opened tab, making browsing more efficient and intuitive. If you prefer to open a tab in the background occasionally, simply hold the Shift key while opening the link — an override feature for more control.

The extension respects your privacy—no data is collected or altered. To detect the Shift key press, it requires certain permissions but uses them solely for functionality without accessing website content. Tab Activate also supports bookmarks and has been updated to be compatible with the latest Chrome Manifest V3. Whether you're managing multiple tabs or browsing intensively, Tab Activate streamlines the tab opening process to fit your workflow.

Extension Productivity Utilities Developer Tools

By:

Users:

Rating:

Version:

3.2.1 Last updated: 2022-05-20

Creation date:

2020-01-15

Risk:

Permissions:

tabs

Size:

6.14KB

Email:

ta*****@gmail.com

Full description:

Source:

Chrome Web Store

Updated:

13 hours ago

Ranking

# 3,379 ▲ 72

Other rankings

#9884 in Workflow & Planning ▲ 22

#6 in tab keyword 81

#12 in new tabs keyword 48 ▼ 5

#24 in no code required keyword 18 ▲ 1

#32 in new tab keyword 48 ▼ 8

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User reviews

Tab Activate is valued for its simple yet effective functionality that automatically switches focus to new tabs, streamlining tab management in Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. Users praise it as a feature Chrome should natively include. However, it has notable drawbacks: it forces all tabs to load on startup, potentially causing unresponsiveness, conflicts with Vivaldi's lazy loading, expands tab groups undesirably, and sometimes behaves buggy in newer Chrome versions. Some privacy concerns exist due to requested permissions. Despite these issues, many users find it indispensable for smoother browsing.

Pros

Effectively switches to new tabs immediately upon opening, improving user workflow.
Simple and lightweight extension with straightforward functionality.
Highly appreciated by users who want Chrome to behave like other browsers with tab switching.
Works well with other extensions that manage tabs, such as "Open Last Tab."
Compatible with multiple Chromium-based browsers including Chrome, Edge, and Vivaldi (with some caveats).

Cons

Causes all tabs to load immediately on Chrome startup, which can make the browser unresponsive, especially for users with many tabs open.
Incompatible with Vivaldi's lazy loading feature, leading to performance issues.
Tab groups get expanded on Chrome startup, which some users find annoying.
Extension requires permissions that may no longer be necessary, causing privacy concerns.
Does not function properly on some websites, e.g., Coinbase.
Buggy behavior in newer Chrome versions, requiring manual disable/enable cycles.

Recent reviews

Works like a charm! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! (I fail to understand why this is not a standard option in Chrome settings.)

Mi*****, 2025-06-11

Enabling this extension will cause Google Chrome to attempt to load all tabs when it is restarted. As a result, Google Chrome will be unresponsive. The only available option is to forcibly close the application. If you attempt to force quit Google Chrome, you will find that you cannot disable or remove the extension. This is because the extension will behave the same the next time you start it. The extension does work as it claims, it is not a good extension for users who have many tabs open all the time. I disabled all extensions installed in Google chrome and enabled them one by one and found that it is this extension that is the cause. For users who only have a few tabs open.

予約*****, 2025-06-03

Excellent, just what I needed! Now I wish to find an extension which could control where in a row of open tabs the new link or duplicated tab opens - at the beginning, to the left or right of the original tab, or at the end of all open tabs. There was a number of such extensions but Google killed them all :(

Sv*****, 2025-03-06

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Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

Tab Activate requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
High ******* ******* **** *** ****** ***** *** ***** ** ******* **** ********* ********* ** * *********** *****

Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Chrome extension may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Chrome extension reputation on Chrome Web Store, the amount of time the Chrome extension has been around, and other signals about the Chrome extension. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Chrome extension.

Tab Activate has earned a fairly good reputation and likely can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
Low **** ********* *** ******* **** **** * ****** **** ***** ******** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
Good **** ********* *** **** **** *******

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