Computer Basics · The Internet & Email · Lesson 3 of 5

Tabs, Back & Bookmarks

Keep several pages open, go back a step, and save the sites you love.

Tabs and the Back button

A tab is a page open inside your browser. Tabs sit in a row along the top, like the tabs on paper folders. With tabs, you can keep several pages open in one window.

Here's how to use them:

• Open a new tab: click the + next to your last tab, or press Ctrl+T.
• Switch tabs: click the tab you want. Its page comes to the front.
• Close a tab: click the small X on that tab, or press Ctrl+W.

Closing a tab only closes that one page. Your other tabs stay open.

To open a link in a new tab, right-click the link. Then choose the option to open it in a new tab. The page you were on stays open too.

The Back button is the arrow pointing left, at the top left of the browser. It takes you to the page you were on before. The Forward arrow next to it undoes a Back.

On a Mac, use Command instead of Ctrl.

On the practice computer, open a link in a new tab and switch between the tabs. Then close one, and use the Back button.

Refresh and bookmarks

Sometimes a page stops loading or looks wrong. Refresh loads the page again from the start. The Refresh button is a circle-shaped arrow near Back and Forward. You can also press F5.

A bookmark saves a page so you can find it again later. In Edge, bookmarks are called favorites. They're the same thing.

To bookmark a page:

1. Go to the page you want to save.
2. Click the star at the right end of the address bar, or press Ctrl+D.
3. Click Done.

To open it later, look at the bookmarks bar. That's the row of saved pages just under the address bar. Click one, and you go straight there. No typing needed.

In Edge, it's called the favorites bar. If you don't see it, press Ctrl+Shift+B to show it.

Bookmarks are great for sites you visit often, like your email or your bank. You land on the real site every time.

On a Mac, use Command instead of Ctrl. For example, Command+D adds a bookmark in Safari, and Command+R refreshes.