How-to guide
How to mute a tab in Chrome
In Chrome, highlight the tabs, right-click one and choose Mute. With TabCmdr, press ⌘K and run Mute Tab, or mute any tab from its row without switching to it.
Quick answer
Mute the tab you're on in three steps
- ⌘K
Step 1
Open the palette
Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux. Works on any page.
- mute
Step 2
Type mute
Mute Tab and Mute All Tabs show under Commands.
- ↵
Step 3
Press Enter
The tab you’re on goes quiet.
Chrome's way
Chrome’s way to mute tabs
Chrome mutes tabs from the right-click menu on the tab strip:
- Highlight the tabs you want to mute. On Windows and Linux, press Ctrl and click each tab. To pick a run of tabs, click the first, press Shift and click the last.
- Right-click one of the highlighted tabs.
- Choose Mute. The same menu offers Unmute to turn the sound back on.
Source: Google’s tabs help page, checked in October 2026.
TabCmdr's way
Mute the tab you’re on
TabCmdr is a keyboard launcher that lives in your browser. 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
Press ⌘+K on a Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux.
Step 2: Type mute
Mute Tab and Mute All Tabs show up under Commands, with Mute Tab highlighted.
mute finds Mute Tab and Mute All Tabs.Step 3: Press Enter
Mute Tab silences the tab you’re on and closes the palette, and Tab muted shows at the bottom of the page. To turn the sound back on, type unmute and run Unmute Tab, which confirms with Tab unmuted.
Mute another tab without switching to it
The tab making noise is often not the one you’re reading. Type part of its title or address, such as spotify, so it’s the highlighted row. Then click the speaker button on that row.
You see Tab muted, the speaker on the row changes to a crossed-out one, and the palette stays open on the page you’re on. Click the same button again to unmute the tab. The row buttons work on tabs in every window.
Mute every tab at once
Run Mute All Tabs to mute every tab in every open window. A message at the bottom of the page tells you how many tabs it muted, such as Muted 8 tabs. That number counts every open tab, including the quiet ones. When you want the sound back, type unmute all and run Unmute All Tabs. Acting on tabs from the list covers the other row buttons.
Try it on your own tabs
Works in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi and Opera.
Install for Chrome