Version log — Tab Manager

0.1.3 27 September 2026

Removing the extension deletes everything it has stored — and Chrome can remove it for you, by syncing a removal from another computer. This release keeps a copy somewhere that removal cannot reach.

Added

Automatic daily backups. Switch them on with the Backup button, and the extension saves a copy of your tree once a day to a Tab Manager backups folder in your Downloads, the same kind of file as an export, so Import brings it back. The first one is saved the moment you switch them on. A day with no changes is not saved twice, and the newest 30 are kept.
Off until you choose them. Chrome asks your permission to save files when you switch backups on, and the extension gives that permission back when you switch them off. Files already saved are always kept.

Known limits in this release

If Chrome is set to ask where to save every file, it asks about backups too, and one that is not saved is reported on the Backup button with the setting to change. It will not ask more than once a day.
Each backup shows up in Chrome's downloads, like any other saved file.
Tab group structure belongs to Chrome. Moving tabs into or out of a group from the manager is refused for now.
Incognito windows, search and keyboard navigation are not supported yet.

0.1.2 20 September 2026

Three small things that add up to less work on a long tree, and two fixes: rows that never learned their own name, and counts that did not agree.

Fixed

A new tab sometimes kept a placeholder icon and its raw address instead of the page's title, for as long as the tab stayed open. A tab is created empty and told its title a moment later, and if that moment fell inside the window the tree waits before recording a batch of new tabs, the title was announced before there was a row to put it on — and never announced again. New rows now read the title straight from the browser. It showed up most when opening several links at once, or a page that loads instantly.
The footer's tab counts now match the toolbar badge. Tabs you had closed were still counted as open until the next restart, deleted saved tabs as saved, and the manager's own window as an open tab.

Added

The tree scrolls past its last row. Scrolling to the end now brings the bottom row to the middle of the window instead of pinning it to the very edge, so the rows that collect down there can be read and acted on without holding the pointer against the bottom of the screen. Nothing changes on a tree short enough to fit.
A note now costs one keystroke. Editing a row that has no note opens on a #, already selected — press Enter to mark the row, or start typing to replace it. Opening the editor and clicking away leaves the row alone, and a tab group, whose name belongs to Chrome, is not given one.
A saved window says whether you named it. One you named keeps the colour of its name; one still called "Window" steps further back. Both still read as closed, and a colour you picked yourself still shows in the row's swatch.

Known limits in this release

Tab group structure belongs to Chrome. Moving tabs into or out of a group from the manager is refused for now rather than applied and then quietly undone.
Incognito windows, search and keyboard navigation are not supported yet.

0.1.1 18 September 2026

Fixes, all three found in everyday use of 0.1.0.

Fixed

Restoring after a crash no longer duplicates every window. When Chrome reopens on a blank tab with a Restore prompt, the windows it brings back now return to their own nodes — names, notes and nesting intact — instead of arriving as a second copy beside the originals. The same applies to any window that comes back later than the extension waits for at startup, which was listed as a known limit in 0.1.0.
The tree's scrollbar follows the dark theme. On Windows it was drawn as a bright white bar on the dark window.
Pressing Enter to finish editing a note closes the editor reliably, and leaves the row's buttons hidden again afterwards.

Known limits in this release

Tab group structure belongs to Chrome. Moving tabs into or out of a group from the manager is refused for now rather than applied and then quietly undone.
Incognito windows, search and keyboard navigation are not supported yet.

0.1.0 First release

The first public version. Everything below is in it — the list is long because this is where the log starts, not because one release did all of it.

The tree

Every window and tab as an outline, kept in step with Chrome in both directions: rearrange a row here and the tab moves, move a tab there and the row follows.
Nest tabs under one another to any depth, with structure lines showing the shape.
Drop onto a row to make it that row's first child, or into the gutter to its left to choose how far back up the tree it lands.
Drop below the tree, or at the top level, to tear a tab into a window of its own.
Cut and paste for moves too long to drag, and the tree scrolls by itself when a drag is held at its edge.

Keeping tabs without keeping them open

Save & Close closes a tab and keeps its row, ready to reopen — on its own, or a whole saved window at once.
Notes, colours and dividers, so a row can say why you kept it.
Deletion asks first and tells you exactly what goes with it. Undo covers the rest.

Windows and tab groups

Window nodes can be nested inside other windows' subtrees.
A second manager window, so a node can be dragged between two scrolled positions without either end leaving the screen.
Chrome tab groups appear as nodes holding their tabs, and can be renamed, recoloured and collapsed from the manager.
A new tab opened from another is placed beside it, matching the tab strip.

Surviving a restart

Quitting Chrome or restarting the machine brings windows back to their own nodes, with names, notes and nesting intact — not as fresh windows beside the ones they came from.
The toolbar badge counts the tabs currently open.
The tree keeps working while the manager window is closed, and says so when it loses contact with the extension rather than silently ignoring clicks.

Reading a large tree

Three row densities, collapsible subtrees, and a count on a collapsed row.
Hover to read a long title, or focus a subtree to work inside it alone.
Row actions stay in the same place on every row, so repeated actions are a column of clicks.

Export and import

Export the whole tree to a timestamped JSON file that sorts chronologically by name.
Import opens the file in a separate read-only window, and items are pulled across one subtree at a time as copies — nothing is merged or overwritten behind your back.
An export that would be empty while your tree is not is refused rather than written, so a backup that holds nothing cannot be mistaken for a good one.

Known limits in this release

Tab group structure belongs to Chrome. Groups sync in, and their name, colour and collapsed state sync back out, but moving tabs into or out of a group from the manager is refused for now rather than applied and then quietly undone.
A window that arrives very late after a restart — later than the extension waits for the session to finish restoring — can appear as a duplicate beside its own node. Nothing is lost when it happens: the original keeps its notes and its tabs.
Incognito windows, search and keyboard navigation are not supported yet.