Split View › Guides

How to split Chrome tabs across two monitors

Updated 2026-10-16

How do I put one tab on each monitor by hand?

1. Drag the tab off the tab strip. It becomes its own window.
2. Drag that window to the other monitor, or press Win+Shift+Right or Win+Shift+Left to move it there. On macOS, drag it; on ChromeOS, press Search+Alt+M.
3. Press Win+Up to maximise it, or Win+Left to take half of that screen.

Repeat for a third tab. There is no undo: to come back, drag the tab onto the first window's tab strip.

How do I use the Split View extension on two monitors?

The Split View extension places a split on one monitor at a time, but you choose which one, and the windows fit that monitor's work area with the taskbar or dock excluded.

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+L or click the toolbar icon. When more than one display is connected, a monitor strip appears at the top of the popup, drawn to scale and labelled with resolutions. Your current monitor is highlighted.
2. Click the monitor you want.
3. Pick a layout and a tab, then press Enter. Both panes land on the monitor you chose.

The choice resets the next time you open the popup, so by default a split follows the window you are working in. Ctrl+Shift+Z undoes the whole arrangement, monitor included. Mac uses ⌃ in place of Ctrl.

Will a saved layout remember the monitor?

Yes. A saved layout in the Split View extension stores each pane's URL, the layout and the monitor it was on. Recalling it puts the windows back on that monitor, so a laptop-plus-external-screen setup gets back to the same arrangement in one click.

What happens when I unplug the second monitor?

If the saved monitor is missing, the layout is recalled on the monitor your current window is on, and the next time you open the popup it shows a notice that the layout was recalled on a different monitor. Nothing is lost. Plug the monitor back in and recall the layout again.

Why can't Chrome's built-in Split View span two monitors?

Because both tabs live in one window, and a window sits on one monitor. Its drop zones for creating a split view are the edges of the current window, not the edges of the screen. Two monitors need two windows, which you get by hand or from the Split View extension.