Ever since it was launched, Opera One has received update after update. One such update included the introduction of Tab Islands. The tab management feature helps you to navigate between your open tabs. But how exactly do you use it?

What Are Opera One’s Tab Islands?

During a typical browsing experience, you’ll usually open several different tabs, some of which are more or less related. However, when dealing with over a dozen different tabs, navigating between them can get confusing.

Tab Islands fix this problem by organizing your opened tabs into small groups (called Islands). This is just one of the many Opera features that make browsing more efficient.

How to Enable and Use Tab Islands in Opera One

Normally, the Tab Islands feature should be enabled by default. However, here’s how you can double-check and enable it, just in case it isn’t:

1. Launch Opera One.
2. Press Alt + P to open the Settings menu.
3. In the Basic sub-menu, scroll down until you reach the end of the list, and press Advanced.

4. Scroll down until you find the User interface menu.
5. Check the slider next to Automatically create tab islands. If it’s not enabled, click it.

Once you’ve enabled Tab Islands, there are three ways to use them:

1. Let Opera One Open Tab Islands Automatically

Once you enable the Tab Islands feature, clicking any link will make Opera One automatically group that new tab together with the parent tab in a new island. This feature is perfect when you’re studying a particular topic and want to have all the related research material grouped together.

For example, we visited the MUO homepage, and from there we opened two two different articles. Opera One proceeded to group the three tabs together in a single Island.

2. Create Tab Islands By Dragging and Dropping

Alternatively, you can create tab islands yourself by merging tabs together. Here’s how:

1. Launch Opera One.
2. Open two different tabs.
3. Click on a tab head, drag it, and drop it on another tab head.

This will form a new custom Tab Island. You can also use this method to separate a Tab from its Tab Island.

This method can be particularly useful when you’re doing your online shopping from different websites. Simply open tabs towards all the products that you’re planning to buy, and group them together into a custom shopping list.

3. Open Tab Islands by Right-Clicking Tabs

In terms of speed and efficiency, this method is almost as good as dragging and dropping but allows for better customization. Here’s how to do it:

• Using Ctrl (Command on macOS): Hold down the Ctrl/Command key, and right-click all the tabs that you want to group into a single Island.
• Using Shift: Hold down the Shift key, and Right-click the first and last tabs in a much larger row of tabs. The two tabs, as well as all the other tabs that are in between, will now be added to the same Island.

This method is useful when grouping together dozens of opened tabs at once, regardless of whether they’re related in any way or not.

How to Control Tab Islands

All the basic tab control actions that a user can perform, they can also perform on Tab Islands. Here are some examples:

• You can refresh all the tabs inside an Island.
• You can close all the Tabs inside an Island.
• You can mute all the tabs inside an Island. This is particularly useful when you have a YouTube videos Island.
• You can copy the page addresses of all the tabs inside an Island.
• You can move the tabs inside an Island to a Start Page folder, or the Opera One Pinboard.
• You can move the Tab Island to a different Opera One workspace.

All you need to do is right-click on a Tab Island to open the context menu, and select what action you want to take.

How Can Opera One’s Tab Islands Improve Productivity?

One of the biggest time sinks that most of us face when browsing through several different tabs is going back and forth between our tabs; maybe we accidentally opened the wrong one, or maybe we closed the right one by mistake.

However, with Tab Islands, your browsing experience is completely streamlined, and it takes tab management in Opera to the next level. Here are some key ways the feature can improve your productivity:

1. Tab Islands Ensure Better Tab Organization

Instantly knowing where everything is or where you can expect to find a tab you opened previously will certainly improve your browsing efficiency.

Besides, since Tab Islands are created automatically, there’s no need to waste extra time trying to organize everything (like you would with tab groups).

2. Tab Islands Prevent Browser Cluttering

Another browsing habit we all share is keeping several tabs opened, just to remind us that there’s a related task that we need to do at some point. Unfortunately, these opened and unused tabs eventually pile up and fill up your tab bar.

This will no longer be an issue with Tab Islands since each individual Island is collapsible. However, the Island doesn’t disappear entirely, it just becomes smaller, so it’ll take up less screen space.

3. Switch Between Work and Home Use Easily with Tab Islands

Those of you who work remotely will find Tab Islands particularly useful, especially if you happen to use Opera One for both work and personal use. Simply group all of your work-related tabs into one Island, while keeping your personal tabs in another.

This way, once you’re finished with work for the day, you can go back to learning new cooking recipes with just a few clicks.

Tab Islands Streamline Tab Management in Opera One

Opera One introduces the concept of Tab Islands at a time when everyone is trying to streamline their workflow and get as much done in as little time as possible.

This feature really helps you save time, especially if you’re the type of person that likes having multiple tabs open at one time. There are plenty of other ways you can organise your browser’s tabs as well.