How to Open Bookmarks in a New Tab in Chrome

Web bookmarks are part of our tech life since 1993, sort-of. They usually come in a couple of shapes: they live in a menu, or they live in a bar.

I’m mostly for the bookmark bar arrangement. Something like this:

The usage is simple as a click: you click it, the website opens in the current tab and that’s the main issue for me. I like the bookmark to open in a new tab.

Press and click

If you are the kind of person that is fine with pressing a key and then click, you are good to go. You can press Cmd (or Ctrl) and click on the bookmark: it will open in a new tab.

Only one click

If you are like me, you can’t remember the whole Cmd or Ctrl or whatever thing and, systematically, 9 out of 10 times, you are just gonna

• click the thing
• realize it’s opening in the same tab
• yell at clouds
• go back
• press Cmd or Ctrl or whatever it is and click to open the bookmark in a new tab.

Some time ago, I looked for a solution that would allow me to just click the damn thing and have it open in a new tab.

Let’s do this!

Navigate to you website and press Cmd + D to bookmark it.

Click “More” and you will get a dialog like this:

Before saving it, focus on the URL field and wrap the content in

javascript:window.open("WEBSITE_URL");

The example with Google would look like this:

Save and enjoy your single-click-open-in-a-new-tab bookmark 😃

Open a bookmark in a new tab with the mouse only

If you would rather not touch the keyboard at all, middle-click the bookmark — press the scroll wheel straight down on it. Chrome opens it in a new background tab and leaves your current page where it is. This works on the bookmark bar, inside the bookmark menu, and on any link on a page.

FAQ

How do I make Chrome always open a bookmark in a new tab?

Chrome has no built-in option to force every bookmark to open in a new tab. The workaround is to turn the bookmark into a small javascript:window.open("URL"); snippet, as shown above, so a single left click opens it in a new tab every time.

What is the keyboard shortcut to open a bookmark in a new tab?

Hold Ctrl on Windows or Linux, or Cmd on macOS, and click the bookmark. It opens in a new background tab without leaving the page you are on.

Does middle-click open bookmarks in a new tab?

Yes. Middle-clicking a bookmark (or any link) opens it in a new tab in Chrome, with no keyboard shortcut needed.