"Prefer tabs when opening documents" on Mac: what it means, and tabs vs windows
Somewhere in System Settings there's a pop-up menu that decides whether your Mac opens new documents as tabs or as windows, and most people have never touched it. "Prefer tabs when opening documents" sounds like a minor preference. It's actually the lever for a bigger question every Mac user answers by accident: should this thing be a tab or a window? Here's what the setting does, what it doesn't, and a simple rule for choosing.
Where "Prefer tabs when opening documents" lives
System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Windows → Prefer tabs when opening documents. (Older macOS versions keep it in System Preferences instead.) It has three options:
| Option | What happens when an app opens a new document |
|---|---|
| Never | It opens in a new window, every time. |
| In Full Screen | A new tab if the app is in full screen, a new window otherwise. This is the default. |
| Always | A new tab in the app's existing window, full screen or not. |
The setting applies to any app that supports Apple's system document tabs: Finder, TextEdit, Preview, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Terminal, Maps and plenty of third-party apps. In an app with no tab support it does nothing at all, which is why flipping it can seem to have no effect.
What the setting doesn't control
Two things catch people out:
- Browsers have their own rules. Safari's lives in Safari → Settings → Tabs → "Open pages in tabs instead of windows" (Never, Automatically, Always), and that's about links that ask for a new window, not documents. Chrome, Firefox and the rest manage their own tabs and ignore the system preference.
- It's a default, not a lock. Apple documents
⌥⌘Nas the way to open a new window even when the setting is Always. You can also break a tab out with Window → Move Tab to New Window (or just drag the tab out), and pull loose windows back together with Window → Merge All Windows. We cover that last one in full in how to merge all windows on Mac.
So the setting is cheap to change and easy to override. The real question is which default fits how you work.
Tabs vs windows on Mac: the one rule that settles it
Use a tab for things you visit one at a time. Use a window for things you need to see at the same time.
A tab is a stack: one context, one frame, and you flip through it. That suits five Finder folders in the same project, three Preview PDFs you read in turn, or a set of Terminal sessions on one server. You only ever look at one, so giving each its own window just adds clutter to find your way through.
A window is a pane of glass. The moment you need to compare two things, copy from one into the other, drag a file across, or put something on a second display, tabs work against you: you end up flipping back and forth to hold both in your head. That's the job windows exist for.
| You're doing this | Use |
|---|---|
| Browsing folders inside one project | Tabs |
| Reading several documents in sequence | Tabs |
| Comparing two versions of a file | Windows, side by side |
| Writing with a reference open | Windows, side by side |
| Dragging files between two folders | Windows |
| Spreading work across two monitors | Windows |
| Running a handful of shells you check occasionally | Tabs |
Which setting to pick
- Always if most of what you open is "visit one at a time" material,
especially in Finder. One Finder window with tabs beats six stray ones,
and
⌥⌘Nor dragging a tab out covers the times you need a second window. - In Full Screen (the default) if you live in full-screen apps on a laptop and use normal windows on a desk. It keeps tabs where windows are hardest to manage and stays out of the way otherwise.
- Never if you mostly work side by side, or if a tab you can't see is a tab you forget. Windows suit people who arrange their screen.
There's no wrong answer, just the wrong default for you. If you're constantly dragging tabs out, switch towards Never; if you're constantly merging windows, switch towards Always.
Too many tabs and too many windows are different problems
Choosing well doesn't stop either from piling up, but it helps to know which pile you have, because the fixes differ.
Tab hoarding is a search problem. Forty tabs in one window are all
in one place; you just can't see their names. The fix is searching or
pruning: ⌃⇥ to step through them, a browser's tab search, or closing
the lot. Our guide to switching between tabs on Mac
covers the shortcuts.
Window sprawl is a switching problem. Twelve windows across six apps
means the one you want is behind something, and macOS is thin here.
⌘⇥ switches apps, not windows, so it gets you to Finder and leaves
you to work out which Finder. That gap is why we built
Let's Switch: hold ⌥ and tap ⇥ for a live preview of every
open window, most recent first, across every app and monitor, and ⌥`
cycles just the current app's windows. That part is free, permanently.
Pro ($9.99, paid once, no account, up to 20 devices per key) adds an
⌥Space palette to fuzzy-find a window by name. One caveat: it works
within your current Space.
And once you've decided something deserves its own window because you
need it next to something else, putting it there shouldn't take a
mouse. Let's Tile drops a grid over the window with ⌘↵; steer
with the arrow keys and press ↵. The free 3 × 2 grid covers halves,
thirds, two-thirds and quarters, which is every side-by-side layout the
table above calls for.
The two together are the reason Never is a reasonable choice at all. Windows are only a burden when arranging and finding them is slow.
Frequently asked questions
What does "Prefer tabs when opening documents" mean? It decides whether apps that support tabs open new documents in a new tab of the existing window or in a separate window. Always means tabs, Never means windows, and In Full Screen means tabs only when the app is in full screen.
Why does Finder keep opening folders in tabs?
Because the setting is on Always. Set it to Never or In Full Screen
in System Settings → Desktop & Dock, or press ⌥⌘N for a one-off new
window.
Does it affect Safari or Chrome? Not really. Safari has its own setting in Safari → Settings → Tabs, and Chrome and Firefox handle tabs themselves.
How do I turn a tab back into a window? Drag the tab out of the tab bar, or choose Window → Move Tab to New Window.
I changed the setting and nothing happened. Why? Either the app doesn't support system tabs, or it's in a state the option doesn't cover, for example In Full Screen with the app in a normal window. Try it in Finder or TextEdit to confirm it took.