Tabsome
Tabs for any window, from any app.
Free and open source. Requires macOS 26 or later. Signed, and notarized by Apple.
One gesture to learn
Browsers taught everyone how tabs work. Tabsome adds the one thing they can't do: turn any two windows into tabs. After that, everything works the way you already expect.
Drag a window
Hold a window by its title bar and drag it over the middle of another window, from the same app or any other.
Pause
Hold still for a moment. The other window lights up with a preview of the tabs it's about to get.
Let go
The two windows become tabs of one window. Keep going: a window can hold dozens of tabs.
It works like browser tabs
If you know Safari or Chrome, you already know Tabsome.
- Click, close, reorderClick a tab to switch. × or a middle-click closes that window, and the app asks to save first if it needs to.
- Drag tabs anywhereDrag a tab out to give it its own window again, or onto another window's tabs to move it there.
- Move the whole windowDrag the title bar or the tab strip and every tab comes along. The red, yellow, and green buttons act on all of them.
- Top or leftTabs along the top with app names, or down the left side as icons. Three sizes.
- Previews and badgesHover a background tab to see it. Unread counts from the Dock show on their tabs.
- Rename tabsDouble-click a tab to give it a name of your own, like renaming a file in Finder.
- Keyboard shortcutsThe browser layout, with ⌃⌥ standing in for ⌘. All of them can be changed or turned off.
- Quitting closes nothingQuit Tabsome and every tab goes back to being its own window. No app or window is ever closed.
Keyboard shortcuts
They work only while a tabbed window is in front, so the same keys still reach your apps everywhere else. Change them in Settings › Shortcuts.
| Shortcut | What it does | In a browser |
|---|---|---|
| ⌃⌥⇥ / ⌃⌥⇧⇥ | Next or previous tab | ⌃⇥ / ⌃⇧⇥ |
| ⌃⌥1 … ⌃⌥8 | Go to tab 1–8 | ⌘1 … ⌘8 |
| ⌃⌥9 | Go to the last tab | ⌘9 |
| ⌃⌥W | Close the tab's window | ⌘W |
| ⌃⌥⇧N | Move the tab to its own window | Move Tab to New Window |
| ⌃⌥R | Rename the tab | – |
Install
- Download Tabsome and open the disk image.
- Drag Tabsome to your Applications folder, then open it from there. It lives in the menu bar, not the Dock.
- Turn on Tabsome in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility when it asks. That's what lets it move windows.
- Optionally, allow Screen & System Audio Recording for live previews and smoother animations. Everything else works without it.
Updates arrive through Tabsome itself (Settings › About), signed so it installs only real releases.
Private by design
Accessibility is a powerful permission, so Tabsome uses as little of it as possible.
- Windows onlyIt reads and moves windows (their position, size, and title) and never reads what's inside them.
- Nothing leaves your MacNo accounts, no analytics. The only network request is the update check.
- Pictures stay in memoryWith Screen Recording on, it captures only the one window it's animating or previewing, and never saves it.
- Hands off sensitive windowsPassword managers, password prompts, and Keychain dialogs are never tabbed or captured, and nothing is captured while you type a password.
- No keystrokesIt watches mouse clicks and drags, never your typing, and doesn't ask for Input Monitoring.
- Open sourceEvery line is on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license.
Questions
Why do my tabs show up as separate windows in Mission Control and ⌘Tab?
Because they really are separate windows. Tabsome keeps each app's window as it is and stacks them under one tab strip, and macOS has no way to merge them in Mission Control or the app switcher. Choosing a background tab's window there simply switches to that tab.
Does Tabsome work with Stage Manager?
Not well. Stage Manager moves and resizes windows on its own, which fights with tabs. Tabsome warns you when it's on; it works best with Stage Manager turned off in System Settings › Desktop & Dock. macOS's own window tiling works fine: tile a tabbed window and the whole group fits the tile.
Some windows won't become tabs. Why?
Password managers, password and Keychain prompts, and parts of the system are never tabbed, for your security. You can also keep any app out of tabs in Settings › Apps (System Settings is on that list to start with). And if another app or window manager keeps moving a window back, Tabsome lets go of it rather than fight.
What happens to my windows if I quit Tabsome?
Every tab goes back to being its own window, fanned out so none is hidden, and nothing closes. If Tabsome ever crashes, the next launch puts the windows back the same way. Pause it in Settings › General for the same effect without quitting.
Something isn't working. How do I report it?
Open Settings › About › Report a Problem…. It shows you everything in the report first: Tabsome's log never contains window titles or tab names. Save it and attach it to an issue on GitHub.
How do I uninstall it?
Quit Tabsome from its menu bar icon (your windows are left as they were), drag it from Applications to the Trash, and remove it from System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility.