Manage windows, and move tabs between them quickly with the Winger extension for Firefox

Ashwin
Feb 18, 2021
Firefox, Firefox add-ons
|
3

Do you have several windows open in Firefox? Many people do, it's a good way to categorize tabs or run two Firefox instances side-by-side on a widescreen display. Having all your work related tabs in window, social stuff in another, personal interests, news, etc., does help, but it may be difficult to manage.

Manage windows, and move tabs between them quickly with the Winger extension for Firefox

Firefox allows you to detach or move tabs to new windows, but it can't send them to a specific window. Other browsers, Chromium-based ones, support this natively. This is where you may find Winger to be useful if you are using Firefox as it introduces the functionality in the browser.

It is an open source extension that allows you to manage windows quickly. Click the add-on's button on the toolbar to view Winger's interface. The hotkey to access it is Alt + W.

Winger edit window name

The extension lists all windows that are open, with a number next to them to indicate the number of tabs the window contains. The current window is displayed at the top of the panel above the search box, while the other windows are listed below it. You can rename a window, but this is just for your reference. Use the search box (called Omnibox) to quickly find a specific window, this is the reason why you may want to name your windows.

Select a window from the pop-up panel to switch to it. Right-click on a tab in the tab bar and you'll see an option that says "Send tab to Window", you can use this to move tabs between windows.

Winger tab menu

Winger's pop-up panel has two ways to manage tabs. You may have noticed the two icons to the left of each window's name. The button with a single window is the "Send Tab" (to Window) option. The other button, with two windows, is the Bring Tab button.

Winger bring tab to

It might sound confusing, but it's simple, if you want to move a tab from Window 1 to 2, without switching to the 2nd window, use the Send button. To send a tab and jump to the window in a single-click, use Bring option. Not sure which button does what? Ctrl + click to send or Shift + click to bring, and select a window's row in the pop-up, this is somewhat easier than aiming for the buttons too.

Winger supports moving pinned tabs, though you'll need to enable the option for this from the extension's settings. You can enable the add-on to run in private windows, but technically there is no way to move tabs from Private to regular windows, so the private tabs will be reloaded in the normal window that you select.

Winger link context menu

The add-on can be used to open links in specific windows, right-click on a URL and select the context menu option "Open Link in Window". But sadly, Winger doesn't have an option to move tabs from the page menu, i.e. when you're viewing a web page and want to send it to a window, you can't do this from the right-click menu, you've to use the tab menu.

Winger firefox extension settings

Winger has some keyboard commands called Slash commands, which you can type in the Omnibox. The command has to start with a forward slash /. These are the ones that are available right now: /h opens the help page, /e to use the edit mode for renaming windows, /s to access the extension's settings.

Winger firefox extension settings 2

I came across Winger about 6 months ago, when it was called WinMan (short for Window Manager). I'm not sure why the add-on's name was changed. The add-on is pretty useful, but I think it could be better with a context menu to move tabs and switch windows, it just might be even faster.

Summary
software image
Author Rating
1star1star1star1stargray
5 based on 2 votes
Software Name
Winger
Operating System
Firefox
Software Category
Productivity
Price
Free
Landing Page
Advertisement

Tutorials & Tips


Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. Anonymous said on August 27, 2021 at 1:53 am
    Reply

    It would be nice if it could also bring back a closed window that had been listed in the Pop-up Panel.

  2. max3 said on February 21, 2021 at 3:59 am
    Reply

    I would like to see an addon that creates two rows of tabs, where the top row of tabs loads different groups of tabs under it. For instance: top row tab one could be Reddit windows in tabs underneath it, top row tab two could be Youtube pages underneath, top row tab three could be Facebook pages, top row tab four could be pornhub, err… I mean Pinterest pages, or however you’d want to group them. A bonus would be if the top row corresponded to containers keeping everything data-wise separate.

  3. foromir said on February 19, 2021 at 7:46 pm
    Reply

    Meh. I prefer drag and drop. You can even turn a tab into a window by dragging the tab onto the windows taskbar!

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.