Document tabs

The desktop Local view can keep several files in tabs above the document. Only the active file is loaded in the editor. Switching tabs loads that file from disk and saves the file you leave through the same path as switching files in the sidebar. Opening a large file still takes the normal load.

Open and switch

Click a file in the sidebar to replace the current tab. ⌘+click or middle-click opens it in a new tab. Where a tree or Last changed row already has a file menu, Open in New Tab appears directly below Open. The flat name/content search groups keep no row menu; use Cmd/Ctrl-click or middle-click there. A file already in a tab activates that tab instead of opening a duplicate. Opening a file from Finder also uses a new tab.

Click +, or choose File → New Tab, to open an empty tab with the file launcher. Click a tab to switch to it. If a save fails, the current document and all tabs stay open. When the row fills up, use the mouse wheel, swipe horizontally on a trackpad, or click the small ‹ / › buttons. A faded edge and its arrow mean more tabs are hidden on that side. Each click brings the next partly hidden tab into view. With Reduce Motion enabled, it moves instantly. The arrows hide while dragging a tab. They are outside the keyboard Tab order; use the tab shortcuts below instead. A wheel over a row that fits passes through to the page or editor. Hover + for “New tab (⌘T)” and × for “Close tab”. Focus mode hides the tab row.

Reorder

Drag a tab left or right in the row with a mouse. The other tabs shift to preview its position; releasing it applies the order. Press Esc while dragging to cancel. A click without dragging still opens the tab. The active document stays open when you reorder, and each tab keeps its own history, scroll position and selection. The new order is remembered across a restart.

With a tab focused, ⌘⇧← / ⌘⇧→ moves it one position left or right and keeps focus on it. At either end it stays in place. Position commands select tabs in their new order. On a touchscreen, swipe to scroll the row and use the keyboard shortcut to reorder tabs. Dragging a tab does not open a separate window.

Back and Forward

Each tab has its own history. ⌘[ / ⌘] and the breadcrumb arrows move within the active tab; they never select a different tab. Clicking a file already open in another tab only switches tabs and adds no history entry.

History stays in memory for this session, up to 50 file visits per tab. A new tab starts empty; closing it discards its history. Restart restores tab identities and positions, but starts fresh histories. Back/Forward skips files removed from the local list. A file currently open in another tab is also skipped for that step and stays in history. After that tab closes, the file is reachable again. Arrows are enabled only when a reachable target exists.

Use the arrows or shortcuts to go back. Mouse Back/Forward buttons and trackpad back swipes on macOS do not navigate documents. Mouse Back/Forward and Alt+Left/Right in Windows WebView2 also do nothing in Local view.

Close

Click a tab's ×, or middle-click its label, to close it. Closing the active tab selects its right neighbour, or its left neighbour at the end of the row. Closing the last tab with × leaves an empty launcher.

⌘W closes the active tab when several are open. With one tab left it closes the window through the existing save guard. Close Note (⇧⌘W) keeps its separate behaviour: with several tabs it closes that note’s tab; with one it opens the next most recently changed Markdown file, or the launcher if none remains.

Keyboard and restart

⌘T creates a tab, ⌃Tab and ⌃⇧Tab cycle through them, ⌘1–⌘8 select a position, and ⌘9 selects the last tab.

Arrow keys move focus between tabs without switching the document. Enter or Space activates the focused tab. Delete or Backspace closes it.

Tab order, the active tab, scroll position and editor selection are remembered across a restart. Only Markdown opens automatically at startup. If the active tab contains HTML or YAML, or is empty, its tab stays in the row and startup uses the most recently opened Markdown file instead. Only the selected document loads into the editor; startup search indexing runs independently. Files removed from the local list disappear from their tabs, and a renamed file's tab follows its current name. Tabs are a desktop feature: the cloud workspace runs inside a browser with its own tabs.