How to Make Links Always Open in a New Tab in Chrome

Chrome doesn't have a single setting labeled "always open links in a new tab." Whether a click opens in place or spawns a new tab is normally up to the website, not your browser — but there are a few reliable ways to force it yourself, on any link, on any site.

The three ways to force a link into a new tab

Method	How	Switches to it immediately?
Ctrl+Click / Cmd+Click	Hold Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or Cmd (Mac) and click the link	No — opens in the background
Ctrl+Shift+Click / Cmd+Shift+Click	Same, plus Shift	Yes
Middle-click	Click with the scroll wheel / middle mouse button	No — opens in the background
Right-click	Right-click the link → "Open link in new tab"	No — opens in the background

Ctrl/Cmd+click and middle-click are the fastest once they're muscle memory — no menu, no waiting. Right-click works everywhere, including trackpads that don't have a reliable middle-click, and it's the only one of the four that's discoverable without already knowing the shortcut.

Why there's no "always open in new tab" setting

This is a deliberate gap, not a missing feature. Whether a link opens in the same tab or a new one is normally controlled by the site's own HTML — a link with target="_blank" opens in a new tab no matter how you click it; a plain link opens wherever you tell it to. Chrome leaves that choice to the page by default, because forcing every single link on the web into a new tab would break plenty of everyday flows — single-page apps that update in place, "back button" navigation, login redirects — that depend on staying in the same tab.

So the per-click gestures above are the closest thing to a blanket override you get natively: fast enough to use constantly, without changing how every other site on the internet behaves.

Extensions that force every link into a new tab

A handful of extensions exist that intercept every click on a page and redirect it into a new tab automatically, no modifier key required. They work, but they ask for permission to read and modify every page you visit — a broad grant for a small convenience — and they can break sites that intentionally rely on same-tab navigation (checkout flows, in-page search results, some SPAs). Worth trying only if Ctrl/Cmd+click genuinely isn't fast enough for how you browse; most people are better served by the manual shortcut once it's a reflex.

Where "everything opens in a new tab" backfires

The habit that makes new tabs feel free — Ctrl+click everything, keep reading, come back later — is also the habit that produces 40, 60, 100+ tabs by the end of the week. Every new tab adds to the strip; nothing removes one unless you close it yourself. See How Many Tabs Can Chrome Handle? for what actually degrades as that number climbs, and How to Manage 100+ Open Tabs Without Losing Your Mind for a workflow that doesn't depend on never opening a new one.

Amazing Tabs is built for exactly this habit: instead of leaving a link open in a tab so you don't lose it, save it in one click and close the tab. Search finds it again in under a second — by title or content — so "open it in a new tab to deal with later" stops being the only way to keep track of something.

Add Amazing Tabs to Chrome — free → Install from the Chrome Web Store. 100 saved links free, then $2.90/mo billed annually (or $4.90/mo) for unlimited and cross-device sync, $99 lifetime capped at 200 founder spots. See pricing for the full breakdown.

Quick recap

• Ctrl+click / Cmd+click opens a link in a background tab; add Shift to switch to it immediately.
• Middle-click does the same as Ctrl/Cmd+click, no modifier key needed.
• Right-click → "Open link in new tab" works everywhere, including trackpads.
• Chrome has no native "always open in new tab" setting — that choice normally belongs to the site (target="_blank"), and forcing it everywhere would break same-tab flows like checkouts and SPAs.
• The manual shortcuts are fast enough to use constantly, but they'll fill your tab bar just as fast — see How to Manage 100+ Open Tabs Without Losing Your Mind for what to do once they do.