niri/docs/wiki/Tabs.md

### Overview

<sup>Since: 25.02</sup>

You can switch a column to present windows as tabs, rather than as vertical tiles.
All tabs in a column have the same window size, so this is useful to get more vertical space.

![Terminal with a tab indicator on the left.](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0e94ac0d-796d-4f85-a264-c105ef41c13f)

Use this bind to toggle a column between normal and tabbed display:

```kdl
binds {
   Mod+W { toggle-column-tabbed-display; }
}
```

All other binds remain the same: switch tabs with `focus-window-down/up`, add or remove windows with `consume-window-into-column`/`expel-window-from-column`, and so on.

Unlike regular columns, tabbed columns can go full-screen with multiple windows.

### Tab indicator

Tabbed columns show a tab indicator on the side.
You can click on the indicator to switch tabs.

See the [`tab-indicator` section in the layout section](./Configuration:-Layout.md#tab-indicator) to configure it.

By default, the indicator draws "outside" the column, so it can overlay other windows or go off-screen.
The `place-within-column` flag puts the indicator "inside" the column, adjusting the window size to make space for it.
This is especially useful for thicker tab indicators, or when you have very small gaps.

| Default | `place-within-column` |
| --- | --- |
| ![A screenshot showing 4 windows, with the middle column being focused. The tab indicator overflows onto the left column](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c2f51f50-3d87-403a-8beb-cbbe5ec5c880) | ![A screenshot showing 4 windows, with the middle column being focused. The tab indicator is contained within its respective column](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f1797cd0-d518-4be6-95b4-3540523c4370) |