4 ms·

Ask HN: Why doesn't Chrome mobile offer to save your tabs to a Google Doc?

Chrome mobile is one of the only apps that laughs at you (via :D icon) and it also accumulates other slowdowns as your tabs accumulate. Tabs are useful though, and can represent a lot of research cost in terms of time, and also organizational energy. A lot of people use Chrome for work, and rely on the tab functionality as part of their day to day work. But it seems like large numbers of tabs are clearly an internal issue for Chrome mobile that make it a worse experience, such that this must be communicated to users via emotional cues and other unwanted side effects. The combination: "We anticipated this might happen, so we'll show a laughing icon and also not work as well" seems logically really weird, but also very preventable. So: Why doesn't the app offer to save your tabs to a Google Doc for you, before closing them and placing the doc link in the tab dialog? Or something else?

bckr 4y ago
I like the smiley. Maybe it's not optimal, but it's not a problem either, for me. I go to desktop chrome, history, tabs from other drvices, and then copy from there or bookmark all. Then I can close all on mobile. Also not ideal, but works for me.
- themodelplumber 4y ago
  Thanks for your comment. My desktop Chrome only shows "Open All" and "Hide for Now" when reviewing tabs on other devices. Are you opening all those tabs on desktop Chrome and then bookmarking them all after they've been opened? Just wanted to clarify.
  - bckr 4y ago
    That is one way to do it. If you open them all, you can then right-click an empty part of the toolbar and "Bookmark All Tabs". I understand the concern about opening that many tabs at once, of course. There is also the option to right click and copy the link. It's not as ergonomic as I'd like, just trying to give you some options.
    - themodelplumber 4y ago
      OK, thanks, it's funny that there is basically no economy of labor seemingly in either the app or on the user side in this area. But I hear you, workarounds are clever and worth using when complaints are losing traction and maybe getting complainy. So if it gets too annoying I'll see if I can arrange to open the 90+ tabs on a system that doesn't already have so many tabs open. :D

bckr 4y ago

I like the smiley. Maybe it's not optimal, but it's not a problem either, for me. I go to desktop chrome, history, tabs from other drvices, and then copy from there or bookmark all. Then I can close all on mobile. Also not ideal, but works for me.

themodelplumber 4y ago
Thanks for your comment. My desktop Chrome only shows "Open All" and "Hide for Now" when reviewing tabs on other devices. Are you opening all those tabs on desktop Chrome and then bookmarking them all after they've been opened? Just wanted to clarify.
- bckr 4y ago
  That is one way to do it. If you open them all, you can then right-click an empty part of the toolbar and "Bookmark All Tabs". I understand the concern about opening that many tabs at once, of course. There is also the option to right click and copy the link. It's not as ergonomic as I'd like, just trying to give you some options.
  - themodelplumber 4y ago
    OK, thanks, it's funny that there is basically no economy of labor seemingly in either the app or on the user side in this area. But I hear you, workarounds are clever and worth using when complaints are losing traction and maybe getting complainy. So if it gets too annoying I'll see if I can arrange to open the 90+ tabs on a system that doesn't already have so many tabs open. :D