Google Chrome is hard at work on a new way to speed-up the re-opening of closed tabs, but it’s probably not worth switching on anytime soon. That’s because the new feature, which is being trialled by Chrome users across the planet, is currently classed as “highly experimental”. According to Google, that means it’s in the very early stages of development and will invariably lead to breakages on your PC.
As it stands, Chrome users who accidentally close a tab they need to revisit can click the Reopen Closed Tab item in the menu, or hit Ctrl + Shift + T (or Cmd + Shift + T, if you’re using a Mac). This returns the last tab to its rightful place, and reloads the website. In some instances, like when filling out an online form, you might not find all of the same details return with the tab… but nonetheless, it’s a good start.
With its experimental new feature, Google is looking to make reloading closed tabs faster than ever before. To do this, the Mountain View-based company is leveraging the same technology that allows you to jump almost instantly between pages using the Back and Forward buttons on the browser.
Dubbed Back Forward Cache feature, this would return a closed tab at the same speed as jumping back one page in Chrome.
Of course, keeping details about all of the tabs currently open – just in case you accidentally close one – will surely take up more memory than the current approach, which reloads the page as if you were navigating there for the first time.
Despite the warnings that breakages will ensue for anyone who beta tests the new feature, it’s available in Chrome Canary right now. This web browser includes experimental and work-in-progress features for those who want to test them. The new feature is called Closed Tab Cache.