How to Save Browser Tabs as List

When you are working or researching, it is not uncommon to open multiple tabs that you plan to return to or reference later. But you can end up with dozens of tabs open that you want to save and return to later. But is there an easy way to save browser tabs as list?

Save Browser Tabs as a List in Your Browser

If you want to save browser tabs as list in your browser to restore or return to later, there is a simple way to do this in Chrome, Safari, and other browsers.

Google Chrome

If you are using Google Chrome, you can bookmark all your tabs in a single folder. Choose the three-dot hamburger menu in the upper right and choose Bookmarks > Bookmark All Tabs. You’ll then be asked to name the folder where your tabs will be listed.

There is also a keyboard shortcut – Cmd + Shift + D for Mac or Ctrl + Shift + D for Windows. From your bookmarks bar, you can review or restore the list of tabs later.

Safari

The process works the same for Safari. Go to the Bookmarks menu, and you will see an option to “Add Bookmarks for These X Tabs” (it will show the number of tabs you have open). Again, just name the folder and return to it later.

Export Browser Tabs as a List

But what if, instead of revisiting your tabs in your browser, you want to export your browser tabs as a list to use elsewhere?

Chrome

There is no native way to do this in Chrome, but it is simple with the free OneTab Chrome extension.

Once you have installed the extension, which you can do by simply selecting “Add to Chrome” from the top left of OneTab’s page in the Chrome Web Store, click on the icon in your extensions bar in the top right to the left of the three-dot menu.

This will automatically generate a list of all your open tabs, which you can then name for later. From there, you can click through tabs individually, restore your tabs, or export and share your tabs for use elsewhere by creating a web page link or exporting them as an HTML file.

Safari   

In Safari, you also have the option to use AppleScript to export all open tabs as a list in a text file. To list the URL and title of all the tabs open in your frontmost window, you can use the command:

osascript -e{‘set o to””‘,’tell app”safari”‘,’repeat with t in tabs of window 1’,’set o to o&url of t&” “&name of t&”\n”‘,end,end,o}|sed \$d

You can then save the output of this command to a text file with the command:

osascript -e{‘set text item delimiters to linefeed’,’tell app”safari”to(url of tabs of window 1)as text’} > ~/my_safari_session.txt

But if you’re not comfortable using a scripting language and prefer something simpler, you can download Tabs Saver for Safari from the Mac App Store for $4.99.