​On January 13th 2026 Google quietly got rid of the built-in tab scrolling feature when it released Chrome 144. However, one finding by an X user suggests that this useful feature might be coming back!

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So what does it mean for ordinary users?

I know I’m not the only one who used this feature every day

I often end up surrounded by a huge number of open tabs, keeping my browser much like a disordered digital desk on which research articles, work portals, and reference pages accumulate without being checked.

I’m not the only one – on Reddit various threads became filled with frustrated power users who complained that their carefully selected rows of dozens of tabs had suddenly been reduced to unreadable and tiny tabs. Perhaps I ought to close a few tabs, but my brain always seems to think that I have a million tabs open. This is likely since, at the time of writing, I have 63 tabs open. I really hope this feature comes back soon!

An early indication of a possible reversal was reportedly seen in Chrome Canary — X user @Leopeva64 posted that a new ‘Unpin scroll buttons’ option appeared in the window frame context menu.

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Rather than having the tabs fit into a small and messy bar when you open a lot of pages, Google’s forthcoming update will once again allow you to scroll left and right smoothly using your mouse wheel or the dedicated scroll buttons.

Bear in mind, Google has no official word on ETA just yet, so there’s no guarantee this feature will be restored, or when. The new menu item currently showing as grayed out, and the real buttons needed to activate the function are not yet fully operational.

Nevertheless, the fact that there is a toggle indicates that users will soon be able to have custom control, enabling them to pin or unpin the scroll buttons as they prefer. For those people who have to manage dozens of web pages that are all open at the same time, the return of intuitive tab scrolling will finally save our browsers from being in a state of complete disorder.