How Do Pinned Tabs Work in Arc Browser

Arc Browser is all about managing the chaos and clutter that our browsers tend to become over time. To implement this philosophy, they have a very interesting approach to open tabs – any open tabs that are not pinned or favorited are auto-archived after a certain amount of time.

So, what are these pinned tabs that are not auto-archived, and how do they work? That's what we're here to find out. Ready to tag along on this journey? Let's go.

How Do Pinned Tabs Work?

Pinned Tabs in Arc Browser are tabs that are saved for a particular Space. They are different from Favorites as they are Space-dependent. You can access them from the sidebar whenever you want, as Arc doesn't auto-archive them when the archiving period elapses (which can be from 12 hours to 30 days, depending on your configuration).

They are a cross between apps and bookmarks.

When you pin a tab, you are contained to that specific website, just like an app. You can navigate anywhere in that domain, but if you click a link that redirects outside of that website, it'll open in a Peek instead of replacing your pinned tab.

For example, if you pin Allthings.how (ATH) to your sidebar, you can navigate to any internal link on the website. But if you click on a link that redirects anywhere else, it'll open in a Peek, and your pinned tab will still be on ATH.

Peek is a detached window that appears on top of your main browser window where you can quickly preview the contents of the website and even take any actions. If you want, you can expand the peek, which will open it in a separate tab, or close it and return it to your pinned tab.

Now, talking about the bookmark behavior of a pinned tab, you can pin a specific subpage of a website and get back to it whenever you want. For example, if you had pinned a specific article from ATH and navigated elsewhere on the website, you can always return to your pinned article by "resetting" the pinned tab.

Pin a Tab

It's extremely easy to pin a tab. To pin a tab in the Arc Browser, simply use either of the methods below.

1. Drag and drop the tab above the horizontal line to the pinned section of the active space.

2. You can also invoke the command bar using Command + T keyboard shortcut, type 'Pin tab' and press Enter to pin a tab.

3. Alternatively, you can use the Command + D keyboard shortcut.

Resetting a Pinned Tab

Whenever you navigate to any other page of the website than the one you pinned, you can get back to it by resetting it using one of the methods below.

1. Click on the site icon before the / to reset it.

2. Use the Cmd + T keyboard shortcut to open the Command Bar, type 'Reset' and press Enter.

Creating a Folder

You can also group certain pinned tabs together in a folder to better organize your pinned section.

1. To create a folder, click the '+' button in the bottom-right corner of the sidebar.

2. Select 'New Folder' from the menu.

3. A new folder will be created. Right-click on it and select 'Rename' to enter a new name for the folder; the default name is 'Untitled'.

4. You can also Cmd + T, type 'New Folder' and press Enter to create a folder.

5. A dialog box will appear when using this approach. Enter the name of the folder and press Enter or click the 'Create' button. A folder will be created in the Pinned section.

6. Now, you can drag and drop the tabs (from the pinned as well as unpinned section) onto the folder to make them a part of it.

7. Pinned tabs in the folder can be collapsed to keep your sidebar tidy. When you want to access a tab from the folder, you don't have to expand it completely. Simply hover over the folder and you can either scroll through the tabs in it or use the search bar to find a tab.

8. Then, click only the tab you want to access, and only that will appear under the Folder.

Unpin a Tab

Unpinning a tab works exactly the opposite of how you pin a tab.

1. You can drag and drop the pinned tab below the horizontal line in the sidebar.

2. Press Cmd + T, then type 'Unpin' and press Enter.

3. Press Cmd + D keyboard shortcut.

Pinning tabs in Arc Browser is a straightforward yet powerful feature for ensuring that critical tabs remain readily accessible. Pinned tabs make it possible for users to efficiently manage their tabs, enhancing the browsing experience by keeping essential resources just a click away.