Firefox 131 shipped native vertical tabs. After years of extensions filling this gap, it's now built in. Here's how to set it up and what the actual experience is like.
Enabling Vertical Tabs
- Click the hamburger menu (☰) → More tools → Sidebar
- Or: View menu → Sidebar → Show Sidebar
- In the Sidebar, click the Tabs icon
The sidebar opens on the left with a vertical list of your tabs. The horizontal tab bar can be hidden (View → Toolbars → Tabs Bar → uncheck) to reclaim vertical space.
Alternatively: about:preferences → General → look for "Sidebar" section.
What's Different from the Horizontal Tab Bar
Readability: Tab titles are fully visible in vertical layout. In horizontal layout with many tabs, titles get truncated to a few characters or disappear entirely. Vertical tabs show the full page title.
Scanning: With 20+ tabs, scrolling vertically through a list is much easier than trying to read tiny favicons in a horizontal strip.
Grouping: The sidebar supports tab groups — drag tabs together or right-click to create a group. Groups can be collapsed to save space.
Width: The sidebar takes horizontal space. On a wide monitor, this is fine. On a 13" laptop, it's a more significant tradeoff.
Using It in Practice
With sidebar open: The sidebar lists all tabs. Click to switch. Right-click for close, pin, move to group, etc.
Collapsed sidebar: You can collapse the sidebar to just icons. Still navigable but less readable.
With horizontal tabs hidden: Feels very different from standard Firefox. More like a tree-style tab manager.
Keyboard Navigation
With vertical tabs, keyboard tab navigation still works:
-
Ctrl+Tab/Ctrl+Shift+Tab— cycle through tabs -
Ctrl+1-9— jump to tab by position in the vertical list -
Ctrl+Shift+T— reopen closed tab
The vertical list is also searchable via the address bar with % mode.
Comparison to Extensions
Before native vertical tabs, Tree Style Tab and Sidebar Tabs were popular choices.
Tree Style Tab (TST) — supports nested/tree structure. If you open links, child tabs appear indented under parent. Very powerful for research sessions. Native vertical tabs don't have tree nesting.
Native Firefox vertical tabs — simpler, integrated, no extension required. Missing: tree nesting, more customization.
If you need tree-style nested tabs, Tree Style Tab is still worth it. If you just want a readable vertical list, native is sufficient.
Tab Groups in the Sidebar
Tab groups are a separate feature from vertical tabs but work well together:
- Right-click a tab → "Add Tab to New Group"
- Name the group
- Tabs in the group show under the group header
Groups can be collapsed. This is closer to Chrome's tab groups (which Firefox was missing for a long time).
Combined: vertical sidebar + tab groups = manageable organization for large tab counts.
When Vertical Tabs Help Most
- 20+ tabs regularly: Horizontal becomes unmanageable. Vertical stays readable.
- Wide monitor: Extra horizontal space for a sidebar is available.
- Research/reading workflows: Many tabs from the same site or project, organized in groups.
When to Skip Them
- Few tabs (under 15): Horizontal tabs work fine, sidebar takes space without benefit.
- Small screen (13"): The width loss is significant.
- Muscle memory: If you've used horizontal tabs for years, vertical takes adjustment.
Session Management Across Tab Groups
One current limitation: tab groups aren't preserved when you save a session using Firefox's built-in tools. If you use Tab Manager & Session Saver, it saves the set of tabs in a session — but tab group assignments in the sidebar aren't currently included in the saved session format.
This is likely to improve as Firefox's native session features mature. For now, if tab groups are important to your workflow, manual group reconstruction after restoring a session is needed.
Verdict: native vertical tabs are a solid addition. Not as powerful as Tree Style Tab for nested structures, but good enough for most users who want readable tab titles without installing an extension. Enable it, try for a week, and see if it changes how you navigate.
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