Do you use Google's Chrome as your browser? If you do, there are two tips you should know to make using it easier. Before we look at these two tips, let's take a look at a website and get to know some of the features that we will be using.

In this screenshot, I'm looking at the Legacy Webinars website. The website is in my browser window. In this case, I only have one website open but I could have multiple tabs in one window. At the top right are three horizontal dots that when clicked, reveal a drop-down menu. At the top left is the tab with the title of the website, and next to it is the button to click to open a new tab "+".  At the bottom is a toolbar with the Google Chome logo.

#1 Opening the Closed Browser Tab

The first tip is one that I use quite a bit. I'm one of those people who opens way too many browser tabs as I research. And then, I get so caught up in researching and stop paying attention to what I'm doing that I accidentally close a  tab with a website I'm using.  What can you do if you close a tab before you want to?

There are three ways you can reopen that closed browser tab. First, you can simply use a keyboard shortcut, in this case, CTRL + Shift + T.

Or you can hover your mouse and click the right-click button where the "+" sign appears in the browser.

Finally, you can click on the three dots to the upper right of the browser, and then in the drop-down menu, hover your mouse over the word History and you will see a history of the websites you've looked at. Choose "Recently Closed."

Now that dread of losing the web page you were using is gone.

#2 Focusing your Search with More than One Window

Let's go back to this problem of having too many open browser tabs. When I'm on the computer I typically am multitasking which means I'm working on genealogy but I'm also taking a look at other websites. Perhaps you multitask. Maybe you're checking social media, researching that new refrigerator you need, or mapping out your research trip. All of those open browser tabs make it challenging to focus on just one project, and you may have so many browser tabs open that you lose sight of which one is for which website.

One way to focus is by opening another window. You can have more than one window open and keep your genealogy research in one  and all your  other tasks in another. Thus lessening how many browser tabs you have open.

To do this, click on the New Tab button "+" at the top to open a new browser tab. Enter the URL or conduct a search. Now that the website is open right-click on the browser tab. This will open a drop-down menu. One of the choices is "Move tab to another window." By clicking on that, your website will go to another window.

Now, to access that other window, go to your toolbar (most likely at the bottom of your screen), where it shows the Chrome icon, and hover your mouse. Your windows will appear, and you can click on the one you want to use.

Browsers Do More than Search

Browsers have all kinds of options to make searching and finding websites easier. If you need more help with Google Chrome, see Google Chrome Help.

Gena Philibert-Ortega is an author, instructor, and researcher. She blogs at Gena's Genealogy and Food.Family.Ephemera. You can find her presentations on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website.