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How to Open Webpage Links in a New Tab in Chrome

Lee Stanton November 7, 2020

All web browsers have individual features and functions. While most of them share that collection, for the sake of uniformity and intuitive design, many of them have additional features that are not immediately obvious. Here are a few things you should know about the Chrome web browser, including how to open links in a new tab in Chrome.

How to Open Webpage Links in a New Tab in Chrome

Opening Links in a New Tab—What Is the Problem?

For those who are not clear on the subject, this article is about opening a link in a new tab on Chrome. When you click a link the usual way, the web page does one of two things. Either the link sends you to the destination (usually being another web page), or you click a link, and it opens a new tab on your Chrome web browser.

Who decides if the link loads the page right there or opens it in a new tab? The HTML/code determines how a link opens, whether in the existing tab, a new tab, or even a new window.

Why Do People Want “Every” Page Opened on a New Tab?

There are many reasons why someone would want every page opened on a new tab. The user may wish to keep the existing tab open and usable as a reference or as a place to return.

They may also want to compare webpages for information, such as product reviews, specs, processes/instructions, or definitions. This scenario is especially essential when clicking on an ad. The user won’t like losing their page on a website and having the ad take its place.

Regardless of situations, the most common reason to open links in new tabs is that people want to check out many different videos from a list, but they do not want to lose the list or the search when they click on the video links. Therefore, they open a series of other tabs with different videos on them, check them out, and close them if they have no interest in them.

Regardless of the purpose, people will open the search engine result links in new tabs, let them load, and then quickly skim through the opened pages, closing any that are not relevant. Here’s a list of methods that show you how to open links in a new tab in Chrome.

Method 1 – Use the Middle Mouse Button/Scroll Wheel Button

If you are using a mouse with a scroll button in the middle, you can press that button to open links in a new tab. This process also works for many types of videos and even picture files. You press the middle mouse button, and a new tab appears in the same web browser window.

Method 2 – Use a Touchpad

You may be using a laptop or another device that doesn’t use a mouse. If that is the case, use a three-fingered tap or click. However, some touchpads are not compatible with the three-fingered click, so you’d have to use the pressable buttons below the touchpad.

Most touchpads have two pressable buttons below them that replace the left and right clickers on your mouse. Press both buttons simultaneously to instigate a scroll-wheel click.

Method 3 – Hold Down the CTRL Key

Have you ever read documents on Microsoft Word or LibreOffice and noticed that you could open the links if you hold CTRL and then left-click them with your mouse cursor. The same function applies to Google Chrome. The process overrides existing functionality that makes the destinations load on your current tab.

The CTRL method’s problem is that some websites may have a use for the CTRL button. For example, if you are trying to sign in to Outlook and you CTRL-click the small link that says, “Forgotten your password,” it will open a new tab on the forgotten password page. However, if on the same Outlook website, you CTRL-click the function that says “Sign-in Options,” then the in-page tool will activate rather than loading a new tab.

Method 4 – The Right-Click Menu

The method you are probably most accustomed to is clicking the right mouse button and selecting ‘Open Link in New Tab.’ Nevertheless, the right-click method has its uses.

For example, if you are on an untrusted website and are unsure if a hacker hijacked the page, you can use the right-click method to open it in a new tab. This method is safer because you can usually close the tab if code on the page tries to take over with executions, installations, or browser redirects. The situation is often the case with hijacked websites/webpages.

Final Thoughts – What About Apps and Browser Extensions

Though there are several useful apps and extensions available on the internet, you should probably stick to the methods listed in this article. There are three reasons for this:

Apps and extensions can alter your clicks and easily track your web usage.
You can never be sure if an app is genuinely trustworthy, as is the case with Google Play apps.
Some web pages use the same functions that apps and browser extensions use, making said apps/extensions unsuitable for certain websites, especially for online games.