How to Pin a Tab in Google Chrome

Pinning a tab in Google Chrome shrinks it down to a small icon that stays permanently at the left side of your tab bar. This keeps frequently used sites like email, calendar, or project management tools one click away and prevents you from accidentally closing them. You don’t need any special software or extensions—just the Chrome browser on Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook.

What You’ll Need

Google Chrome installed and updated to a recent version
The website you want to pin already open in a tab

Step-by-Step

Open Google Chrome on your computer.
Navigate to the website you want to pin (e.g., Gmail, Google Calendar, or any other site you use constantly).
Right-click on the tab itself. On a Mac, you can also hold the Control key and click the tab. If you’re using a touchpad with a two-finger tap, that works too.
In the context menu that appears, click or tap “Pin”. The tab will immediately shrink to just the site’s favicon (the small icon), losing its text label, and move to the far left of your tab bar.
That’s it—the tab is now pinned. It will stay in that spot even if you open many other tabs, and it will automatically reopen the next time you start Chrome (unless you’ve changed your startup settings).

Common Mistakes

Right-clicking the wrong spot: Clicking the page itself or the address bar won’t show the Pin option. You must right-click directly on the tab strip (the colored bar with the site name).
Expecting the tab to stay after closing the window: Pinned tabs persist across normal Chrome restarts, but if you close the entire browser window and then reopen it, pinned tabs return only if your startup setting is “Continue where you left off” or if the pinned tab was open when you last closed Chrome. By default, Chrome reopens pinned tabs from your last session.
Pinning a new tab (about:blank): You can pin a new tab, but it will just show a blank icon and isn’t useful. Pin an actual website.

Tips

Pin multiple tabs: You can pin as many tabs as you want—they’ll line up in a row at the left. Keep your most-used sites there for instant access.
Reorder pinned tabs: Click and drag a pinned tab left or right to change its position among the other pinned tabs. They can’t mix with regular tabs; they always stay in the pinned section.
Unpin anytime: Right-click a pinned tab and select “Unpin” to return it to a normal, full-size tab. It will keep its place in the tab bar, just with the full label.
Prevent accidental closing: Because pinned tabs are so small, it’s easy to click the X on a neighboring regular tab. If you accidentally close a pinned tab, press Ctrl+Shift+T (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+T (Mac) to reopen it.
Use pinned tabs as a mini app launcher: Pin your email, calendar, drive, and chat apps—they’ll feel like dedicated apps inside your browser.

Troubleshooting

Right-click menu doesn’t show “Pin”: Make sure you’re right-clicking on the tab itself, not the webpage content. If you’re using a touchscreen, press and hold the tab until the menu appears. If the menu still doesn’t show Pin, restart Chrome completely (close all windows and reopen).

Pinned tab disappears after restarting Chrome: This happens if Chrome isn’t set to restore your last session. Go to Chrome Settings (three-dot menu → Settings → On startup) and choose “Continue where you left off.” Even without that, pinned tabs usually reopen, but if you closed Chrome with the pinned tab open and then reopen it, it should be there. If not, check that you didn’t accidentally unpin it.

Pinned tab shows a blank icon: Some sites don’t provide a favicon, or Chrome hasn’t loaded it yet. Try refreshing the page. If it stays blank, the site simply doesn’t have a small icon—it will still work when clicked.

Can’t drag pinned tabs: Pinned tabs can only be moved among other pinned tabs. If you try to drag one to the right of a regular tab, it will either snap back or become a regular tab. To move it, drag it left or right within the pinned area.

Pinned tab opens in a new window instead of the existing one: If you have multiple Chrome windows, pinned tabs are per-window. Make sure you pin the tab in the window you plan to use. If you close that window, the pinned tab is gone from that window, but it may still exist in another.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does pinning a tab save memory or CPU?

No. Pinning only changes the visual layout—it doesn’t pause the page or reduce resource usage. The website still runs in the background just like a normal tab.

Can I pin a tab on my phone or tablet?

No, the pin feature is only available in the desktop version of Chrome (Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook). On mobile, you can add a website to your home screen for a similar one-tap experience, but it won’t be inside the Chrome tab bar.

Will pinned tabs sync across devices?

No. Pinned tabs are stored locally in your Chrome profile on that specific computer. They don’t sync to other devices, even if you’re signed in with the same Google account.

How do I pin a tab in Chrome incognito mode?

You can right-click a tab in an incognito window and select “Pin,” but it will only last for that incognito session. When you close the incognito window, all tabs, including pinned ones, are discarded.

Can I make a pinned tab open a specific URL automatically?

Yes—just pin the tab once, and Chrome will remember that it should open that site as a pinned tab on startup (provided you don’t clear your browsing data). If you want a different URL, unpin, navigate to the new site, and pin again.

Why did my pinned tab become a regular tab?

This usually happens if you accidentally right-clicked and chose “Unpin,” or if Chrome crashed and restored the session without preserving the pinned state. Simply pin it again—it takes two seconds.

General steps for current mainstream versions; menus can differ by device and version. See the disclaimer or report an error.

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