How to close tabs to the left in Chrome

TabCmdr's way

Close the tabs to the left with TabCmdr

TabCmdr is a keyboard launcher that lives in your browser. It has the command Chrome’s menu is missing: Close Tabs to the Left closes every tab before the one you’re on and keeps your pinned tabs.

Before you start: add TabCmdr from the Chrome Web Store. It has a 7-day free trial and needs no account.

Step 1: Open the palette on the tab you want to keep first

Switch to the tab that should come first after your pinned tabs, then press ⌘+K on a Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux. To check what’s open first, press → for the Tabs filter. By default it lists your tabs in tab bar order, with pinned tabs under their own Pinned heading and tabs from your other windows included.

Step 2: Type close left

Close Tabs to the Left shows up under Commands, already highlighted.

Step 3: Press Enter

The palette closes, and so does every unpinned tab to the left of yours in this window. A message at the bottom of the page says how many, such as Closed 3 tabs. With nothing to the left, it says No tabs to the left.

What stays open

• The tab you’re on and every tab to its right.
• Pinned tabs. They sit at the left end of the bar and the command skips them, so the bar ends up as your pinned tabs, then the tab you’re on.
• Tabs in other windows. The command only works on the window you’re in.

Tabs in a tab group to your left close too, even when the group is collapsed.

Closed more than you meant to? Each closed tab gets its own row in Recently Closed. Type :r to list them, or see how to reopen closed tabs. For the other side of the tab bar, see how to close tabs to the right.