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I would like to use some apps (other than terminal) with tabs, like in MacOS, allowing easy navigation, instead of the need to click a ton of buttons to go from window to window. Not alt+tab, just damn tabs like the internet browser tabs.

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EDIT: My main wanted scenario is to use this feature with IntelliJ. There's a post where author was told how to enable it on macos https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65397429/how-to-open-projects-as-tabs-in-intellij

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    If "some apps" have this capabilities, then use them.
    – Pilot6
    Feb 1 at 12:18
  • Can you give some examples of apps that you'd like to do this? I think it's probably app specific rather than an Ubuntu thing. Nautilus (the file explorer) can do this (right-click on a folder and select 'open in new tab'); similarly, the default text editor opens new documents in a new tab. As you know, Firefox and other browsers do it. What apps are you wanting to use that don't emulate this behaviour?
    – Will
    Feb 1 at 12:35
  • I'm looking to use it with intelliJIdea primarily/
    – Max Simbiot
    Feb 2 at 13:59

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The simple answer to this is it is an app-specific feature. Many of the native and installable apps in Ubuntu support it, but some don't.

Nautilus (the file explorer) supports: right-click on the folder you want in a tab and select 'Open in new tab' (or you can hit Ctrl - Enter

The default text editor in Ubuntu automatically opens new files in a new tab.

All internet browsers that I've used, including the default Firefox, allow tabs in the usual way.

Gimp (graphical editor) opens new images in a sort of tab - there's a thumbnail image at the top to toggle between the selected file.

The major omission is LibreOffice which does not support tabs (for any of its features - ie Writer, Calc, Impress and Draw. It looks from this 2-year-old forum answer https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/opening-multiple-files-in-tabs-optional-function-or-extension/61520 that it's been requested several times previously but not implemented - so that's probably the main one that will cause annoyance, and I doubt it'll be introduced if it hasn't already. I don't know if other open source / free office suites offer this option but please post back here if you find out.

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  • I think the OP meant to have different applications in different tabs of a single window, rather than tabs with different documents within a particular application. That would have to be a WM feature, I don't know if there is any WM supporting this.
    – raj
    Feb 1 at 13:53
  • @raj - good observation, thank you ... I think you're probably right - I don't think that's an option. Let's see if he / she clarifies. Thanks again.
    – Will
    Feb 1 at 18:20
  • Thanks for these examples guys. My search started because of intelliJ Idea in the first place, when I saw how easy one of my colleagues could navigate back and forward through a couple of projects. I can't remember more examples, but I'm sure I'll run in some apps that would benefit from that sooner or later.
    – Max Simbiot
    Feb 2 at 14:02

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