Command center layouts
Change how the command center draws your tabs, what order they come in, and what's behind it.
Settings → Tab dialog changes how the command center looks. Most changes apply the next time it opens.
Layouts
Settings → Tab dialog → Layout → How tabs are drawn picks one of these:
| Layout | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Classic (default) | Pages as cards, with each title over its page |
| Caption | Pages as cards, with each title underneath, so nothing covers the page |
| Mini window | Each tab is a small browser window in its site's color |
| Bento | Tiles of different sizes, with your current tab the biggest and sleeping tabs last |
| Ledger | A list of rows with a small page, title, and address. Fits the most tabs. |
| Spotlight | The tab you hover shows large beside a compact grid |
| Bookshelf | Tabs are book spines on shelves in their site's color. Hover one to pull it out. |
| Inbox | A list of tabs beside a preview, narrowed by folder, site, or what's asleep or playing |
| Time zoom | Columns by when you last used a tab. The older it is, the smaller it's drawn. |
To switch while the command center is open, right-click its empty space and pick Layout. That changes it at once.
Search, folders, drag and drop, and right-click menus work the same in every layout. The tabs on the home page always use Classic.
Inbox
The list down the side has All tabs, Asleep, and Playing (each only when there's something to show), your top-level folders, and up to five sites you have two or more tabs open on. Picking one narrows the list, and typing narrows it further. ⌥Alt↑ and ⌥Alt↓ step through the side list.
Time zoom
The columns are Now (the last 5 minutes), Minutes ago (the last hour), Earlier (the last day), and Older. A folder or split counts as used when its newest tab was.
Order
Settings → Tab dialog → Layout → Order sorts the cards in any layout. It's also under Order when you right-click the command center's empty space.
| Order | Cards |
|---|---|
| Recently used (default) | The ones you used last come first |
| Your order | Tabs and folders stay where you put them |
| Folders first | Folders before tabs. Drag to rearrange within each. |
| Tabs first | Tabs before folders. Drag to rearrange within each. |
| A to Z | Tabs and folders by name |
Your own order is kept while you use another, so switching back to Your order puts everything where it was. In Recently used and A to Z you can't drag cards to a new place, but dropping one on another still makes a folder or a split. A search always shows the best matches first.
Sleeping tabs
Settings → Tab dialog → Layout → Sleeping tabs sets how a sleeping tab's card looks, here and on the home page:
| Style | Looks like |
|---|---|
| Striped (default) | Stripes over the faded page |
| Dimmed | The page, faded |
| None | The page as it was, the same as an awake tab |
| Halftone | The page redrawn in dots |
| Frosted | The page behind frosted glass |
| Grayscale | The page without its color |
It's also under Sleeping tabs in the command center's right-click menu.
Size
Drag the command center's sides or bottom edge to resize it, in any layout. ⌃Ctrl⌥Alt with an arrow key changes the size step by step, and ⌃Ctrl⌥Alt0 resets it. Double-click an edge to reset that side. Reset is also in an edge's right-click menu and in Settings → Tab dialog → Layout → Size.
The smallest it goes is 640 by 420 pixels, and it never covers the whole window.
Behind the dialog
Settings → Tab dialog → Backdrop sets what covers the window while the command center is open:
- Blur blurs the page behind it. Blur below sets how soft.
- Tint washes it with a color. Shade darkens, while Theme and Accent follow your palette. Strength sets how much.
- None leaves the page as it is.
Glow and Current tab glow set the light around the dialog and around the current tab's card.
Previews
Settings → Tab dialog → Previews picks which cards show a snapshot of their page: Tab cards, Split view cards, Folder cards, and Asleep tabs. A card without one shows the site's icon instead. Folder deck sets how many of a folder's tabs fan out on its card. Blur previews blurs the snapshots, which helps if people can see your screen.
To hide previews for one folder only, right-click it and pick Previews.
Cards
- Glass tilt on hover tilts the hovered card toward the pointer like a pane of glass.
- Moving cards: Glide slides cards to their new place as tabs open, close, or match a search. Fade fades them out and back in where they land, which is lighter with many tabs.
- The three live preview switches are here too. See Live previews.
Bottom bar
The buttons under the cards are yours to arrange. Bottom bar: left and Bottom bar: right list them: drag to reorder, and set each end to show always, when the pointer is near, or never. Reset to defaults puts them back.