How many browser tabs do you have open right now?

Bamb0 · 14 May 2026, 03:59 AM

I just scanned for new activity so right now I have 17 open...

JeremyNicoll · 14 May 2026, 07:00 AM

about 70 ......... in 19 windows

hadaso · 14 May 2026, 08:20 AM

On all my devices together it's more than a thousand open tabs.
I have 16 tabs in the current Firefox window: all are threads in these forums, except one that is the search for new posts. I have 549 tabs open in the other Firefox window. (I also have 6 tabs open in Adobe reader).
I have 20 tabs open in Firefox on my phone, however those are called "active tabs". There are also 331 "inactive tabs" that are tabs that I haven't accessed for a while but haven't closed, so the Firefox apps keeps them in the "inactive tabs" area in case I want to access them again. I have several hundred additional open tabs on firefox on my office PC, and I have a few hundred more on Chrome on the office PC. I have some old tablets and some tablets that I haven't turned on for years, and I guess there are many more open tabs there.
I also have a bookmarks folder named "tabs" where several times I bookmarked all open tabs and closed them (I did that twice in 2011 and foer times in 2016 and never since 2016' so I guess the open tabs I have have accumulated since 16 August 2016. But perhaps it was only since I got my current laptop, which is perhaps 2021).

dryoldlime · 14 May 2026, 09:02 AM

Just 2 right now. Sometimes as many as 4. More than 4 at a time usually mean, being sloppy.

Something I often like to do is, sign in, do some brief movement among links, and then right-click on some item and choose "new tab, open". Then move to that new tab. When done, one option may be, just close the tab and I am back to the main signed-in site.

Grhm · 14 May 2026, 09:37 AM

Rarely more than three. I'm quite fastidious about closing them when I've finished with them. Curious how people use the same tools in dramatically different ways.

Bamb0 · 14 May 2026, 09:55 AM

north · 14 May 2026, 03:47 PM

1579 tabs open

chrisretusn · 14 May 2026, 06:17 PM

When I read the "New Post list, one tab. Saw this thread, now two. Noticed "Which apps would you not want to miss, or try soon?, now three. After I close this post two tabs. Very rare for me to go past 10.

JeremyNicoll · 15 May 2026, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grhm

Rarely more than three. I'm quite fastidious about closing them when I've finished with them. Curious how people use the same tools in dramatically different ways.

In my case I regard my 70 open tabs as excessive; I think 15-30 would be more common for me. How many one can have is probably directly related to how much RAM one's PC has.

But ... just three ... would be hard to cope with; two of mine are the Firefox task manager, & my (static local html) bookmarks. I usually have the EMD main page & the main (folder list) pages of my two mail providers open too. If I'm expecting deliveries I'll have tracker pages open for each of them (usually not on my main screen though).

I usually have pages open for whichever 'TV' programmes I'm watching - more than one because I find I sometimes can't concentrate on some things - or the subjects are so grim I watch them in chunks. I also have several 'Radio' pages open - lightweight shows for listening to in dribs & drabs during TV-shows' ad breaks; heavier ones for when I'm up to it.

But /70/ ...?
What's happened is that I was researching some programming problems & followed links to related pages (closing those I had no interest in on the way) ... and ran out of oomph. When I have some I will go back to those sets of pages & links & summarise what I found & file the notes away.

ISTR I stumbled across some utility programs too - which are not directly related to what I was looking into - but notes on these will get added to a big folder of notes on software-to-investigate-again.

Bamb0 · 15 May 2026, 02:51 AM

Yes 70 is awesome Jeremy!!

Right now I have 2 pesky tabs open... (They are fighting about which one Im gonna goto next!!)

JeremyNicoll · 15 May 2026, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by north

1579 tabs open

Which browser(s)? ...

I counted my 70 manually ... but I don't suppose you did that for 1579? Is there a total displayed somewhere?

chrisretusn · 15 May 2026, 09:22 AM

I can grasp the idea of 70 but 1579

Wow, amazing, how do you mange them. Like @JeremyNicoll asked, what browser?

Bamb0 · 15 May 2026, 04:04 PM

I think he was joking

My browsers limit is 100 tabs. (I could change it but I only hit it one time!! (So far))

Right now I have 1 lonely tab open.....

JeremyNicoll · 16 May 2026, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamb0

My browsers limit is 100 tabs. (I could change it but I only hit it one time!! (So far))

You could probably also run multiple instances of a browser provided it (like Firefox) offers you a way to start each one with a different profile.

hadaso · 16 May 2026, 07:12 AM

You don't need to run multiple instances of a modern browser to have zillions of open tabs. The browser manages them for you. Open tabs don't need to be in memory when you don't use them. And you can search open tabs. In Firefox ctrl+tab shows the number of tabs and allows navigating between them, listing them and searching them.

14 May 2026, 03:59 AM	#1
Bamb0 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,370	I just scanned for new activity so right now I have 17 open...

14 May 2026, 07:00 AM	#2
JeremyNicoll Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Scotland Posts: 855	about 70 ......... in 19 windows

14 May 2026, 08:20 AM	#3
hadaso Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 5,212	On all my devices together it's more than a thousand open tabs. I have 16 tabs in the current Firefox window: all are threads in these forums, except one that is the search for new posts. I have 549 tabs open in the other Firefox window. (I also have 6 tabs open in Adobe reader). I have 20 tabs open in Firefox on my phone, however those are called "active tabs". There are also 331 "inactive tabs" that are tabs that I haven't accessed for a while but haven't closed, so the Firefox apps keeps them in the "inactive tabs" area in case I want to access them again. I have several hundred additional open tabs on firefox on my office PC, and I have a few hundred more on Chrome on the office PC. I have some old tablets and some tablets that I haven't turned on for years, and I guess there are many more open tabs there. I also have a bookmarks folder named "tabs" where several times I bookmarked all open tabs and closed them (I did that twice in 2011 and foer times in 2016 and never since 2016' so I guess the open tabs I have have accumulated since 16 August 2016. But perhaps it was only since I got my current laptop, which is perhaps 2021).

14 May 2026, 09:02 AM	#4
dryoldlime Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2023 Posts: 292	Just 2 right now. Sometimes as many as 4. More than 4 at a time usually mean, being sloppy. Something I often like to do is, sign in, do some brief movement among links, and then right-click on some item and choose "new tab, open". Then move to that new tab. When done, one option may be, just close the tab and I am back to the main signed-in site.

14 May 2026, 09:37 AM	#5
Grhm Essential Contributor Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: UK Posts: 299	Rarely more than three. I'm quite fastidious about closing them when I've finished with them. Curious how people use the same tools in dramatically different ways.

14 May 2026, 09:55 AM	#6
Bamb0 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,370	11

14 May 2026, 03:47 PM	#7
north Essential Contributor Join Date: May 2012 Location: north Posts: 242	1579 tabs open

14 May 2026, 06:17 PM	#8
chrisretusn Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Philippines Posts: 959	When I read the "New Post list, one tab. Saw this thread, now two. Noticed "Which apps would you not want to miss, or try soon?, now three. After I close this post two tabs. Very rare for me to go past 10.

15 May 2026, 02:51 AM	#10
Bamb0 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,370	Yes 70 is awesome Jeremy!! Right now I have 2 pesky tabs open... (They are fighting about which one Im gonna goto next!!)

15 May 2026, 09:22 AM	#12
chrisretusn Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Philippines Posts: 959	I can grasp the idea of 70 but 1579 Wow, amazing, how do you mange them. Like @JeremyNicoll asked, what browser?

15 May 2026, 04:04 PM	#13
Bamb0 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,370	I think he was joking My browsers limit is 100 tabs. (I could change it but I only hit it one time!! (So far)) Right now I have 1 lonely tab open.....

16 May 2026, 07:12 AM	#15
hadaso Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 5,212	You don't need to run multiple instances of a modern browser to have zillions of open tabs. The browser manages them for you. Open tabs don't need to be in memory when you don't use them. And you can search open tabs. In Firefox ctrl+tab shows the number of tabs and allows navigating between them, listing them and searching them.