73
32
I have over 20 tabs opened in Chrome and need to restart browser from time to time. This browser does not have option similar to Firefox's "Do not load tabs until selected" loading tabs only after selecting them. I have tried a few Chrome extensions but none do what I am looking for.
Boris_yo
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 5 238
28
At the time of this writing, Chrome does not support this functionality natively. I've been using The Great Suspender, an extension that adds similar functionality to Chrome.
You can verify the memory and CPU savings you gain while using this extension by opening the Chrome Task Manager: Menu 
> More tools > Task manager
2Toad
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 395
I like that it does not just close tab and puts it on 1 list with other closed tabs but actually keeps the tab with favicon so you don't have to look much for one you want to unsuspend. – Boris_yo – 2015-01-17T08:46:06.207
3FYI: Chrome appears to do this now. I'm here searching for how to disable it. – jp2code – 2015-12-07T17:07:40.760
3@jp2code I just tested the latest version of Chrome 47.0.2526.73 (64-bit) on OS X El Capitan and Windows 10, and I see no change in functionality and no new setting that would affect this. Unfortunately, tabs still load when Chrome starts up, before selecting them. I performed a clean install, and disabled all extensions prior to testing. – 2Toad – 2015-12-07T18:08:51.123
Interesting. Hopefully, my browser will fix itself. I'm a big fan of middle clicking 2 or 3 links in a search result and reading the first one while the others continue to load. – jp2code – 2015-12-07T21:36:59.740
The Great Suspender does not work properly anymore. I have 2 windows open and when I try to suspend tab in 1st it instead suspends in 2nd and vise versa. – Boris_yo – 2016-02-22T19:24:43.717
1
@jp2code to disable it see http://superuser.com/q/1048029/39364 (oddly, for me, on a low resource box, it currently does not load tabs at start time by default, FWIW).
– rogerdpack – 2016-03-24T03:46:10.473Check this out https://github.com/ekonoval/TabsLazyLoad_thegreatsuspender it’s done on the basis of TheGreatSuspender extension but suspends all the tabs on browser startup
– Ekonoval – 2018-03-13T12:46:16.857@Ekonoval I took that because of the super simple and light code it has. But unfortunately it doesn't keep the same behaviour when restoring sessions of tabs (restoring a crashed session, or when restoring a session with SessionBuddy). I modified the code of that extension, locally, months ago, and added that feature; also refactored a little bit the code (what an arrogance, uh? ); is not working perfectly yet, but enough that I coded it and forgot to complete & pull-request . I can push the code to a branch, if you are interested in giving a check or maybe merge it. Note: could be buggy. – Kamafeather – 2019-03-21T12:18:57.943
oooops... wasn't the right repo. I was talking of https://github.com/jman/lazy_tab that is another extension. I'll give a check to yours then :)
– Kamafeather – 2019-03-21T12:21:15.78718
Since Chrome 54 (Oct 2016) this feature is supported in Chrome natively, so previous bloated extensions are not that needed. A GNU GPLv3 licensed extension Native Lazy Tabs extension works and it is very small: 33 KiB.
Citing extension description:
Automatically discards all tabs at startup, before they load, reducing memory footprint and unnecessary bandwidth usage.
Native Lazy Tabs is a light extension for users that don't want to load all tabs when Chrome is started. It's native because it uses the native tab discarding method from the Google API (introduced in version 54). Also, because of that, it doesn't have the shortcomings of older implementations that could cause bugs like the pages reloading itself even after suspended.
Moreover, this extension doesn't use any memory because there's no need for a background page: it loads and unloads itself after Chrome is started.
d9k
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 401
I can't say that's the case with 61.0.3163.100 (Official Build) (64-bit). It loads every tab when I start it up. – inspirednz – 2017-10-07T01:51:23.733
inspirednz, information about native Chrome support was added to answer in edit by @soshial – d9k – 2017-10-08T03:35:33.860
Not working for me in Iron 62. – CodeLurker – 2017-12-08T08:08:54.277
1Today the extension's name is "Lazy Tabs" and it works well in Chrome Version 63.0.3239.108 (64-bit) – Marecky – 2017-12-17T15:36:45.920
@Marecky Not sure Lazy Tabs is the same extension, but it is available: "Unload all inactive tabs (except pinned) at startup or by clicking an icon. Faster start for Google Chrome. Unload all inactive tabs (except pinned) at Google Chrome startup or by clicking an icon." I needed to click the icon during startup.
– Bob Stein – 2018-01-10T15:11:52.5238
A fork of Native Lazy Tabs (which is not in the store any more) is Sloth which is available here and on the Chrome Store.
– hanjo – 2018-01-29T09:12:24.670Sloth is definitely the winner here, open source, fork of native lazy tabs, and it's 4.5 stars unlike many others that are 4. https://github.com/hrj/sloth
– Devin G Rhode – 2018-12-19T19:58:58.213Unfortunately sloth does not prevent a restored window from loading all the tabs. – Devin G Rhode – 2018-12-19T20:03:57.447
10
Without any extensions it's possible to prevent loading tabs by disconnecting the internet when you start Chrome. Chrome will eventually give up trying to load the pages, and one-by-one tabs will gray out. Reduces CPU and Memory.
After reconnecting to the internet, a page will load when you select the grayed-out tab.
StefanQ points out you may also need to change these chrome://flags
Bob Stein
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 985
9
As of version 44 (currently dev branch), after a restart Chrome only loads tabs when they are first selected. It doesn't even start a process for the tabs until they are loaded, so that means less memory/CPU usage for us.
cristis
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 207
4Unfortunately, this does not seem to work anymore (currently on 44.0.2383.0 dev-m). Is there a configurable flag or bug/issue/thread associated with this feature? I'd like to follow along but can't seem to find the right incantation of search engine keywords. – Tomalak – 2015-04-29T19:25:41.270
1
I couldn't find a configurable flag, but there are some related issues... https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=476521#c19 , https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=476619
– cristis – 2015-04-30T19:36:27.210It's working again (v44.0.2403.4 dev-m) – cristis – 2015-05-21T04:45:39.770
11Nope. Still loads all tabs for me. – Tomalak – 2015-05-21T04:57:55.820
Version 46.0.2482.0 canary (64-bit) on a Win7 machine does not load the tabs until clicked while Version 46.0.2489.0 canary (64-bit) on Win 8.1 does. – KornMuffin – 2015-08-21T15:08:58.360
2Is there a way to disable this behavior? I seem to be the only person who dislikes this. – Martin Hansen – 2015-10-24T22:30:29.977
I just tested the latest version of Chrome 47.0.2526.73 (64-bit) on OS X El Capitan and Windows 10, and I see no change in functionality and no new setting that would affect this. Unfortunately, tabs still load when Chrome starts up, before selecting them. I performed a clean install, and disabled all extensions prior to testing. – 2Toad – 2015-12-07T18:09:45.767
Still the case with v49, what a shame – SuperUberDuper – 2016-03-22T13:29:19.030
1
@MartinHansen it appears to be "mostly disable-able" see http://superuser.com/q/1048029/39364
– rogerdpack – 2016-03-24T03:45:12.703Yes, it is now with current versions of Chrome. It wasn't possible to disable when I wrote that comment. The disable flag either didn't exist or had no effect, if I remember correctly. – Martin Hansen – 2016-03-25T13:37:16.363
3I am running v 55.0.2883.95 (latest chrome for the time being) and that functionality is totally absent. Loads all tabs. – Innokenty – 2016-12-15T09:27:46.573
4
Below are the flags (chrome://flags) I have changed in Chrome 69 64-bit (September 2018) to [indicated values] to speed up the startup experience with many open tabs and windows.
Note as of February 2020: none of those flags are present in Chrome 78, so answer left only for reference.
The memory consumption is still high (1.2 GB in my case) but Chrome starts instantly and doesn't seem to be busy reloading all of the tabs.
Pages that fail to load while the browser is offline will only be auto-reloaded if their tab is visible. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android
#enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only
If enabled, tabs get automatically discarded from memory when the system memory is low. Discarded tabs are still visible on the tab strip and get reloaded when clicked on. Info about discarded tabs can be found at chrome://discards. – Mac, Windows
#automatic-tab-discarding
Reduces the number of tabs being loaded simultaneously during session restore, to improve responsiveness of the foreground tab. This requires #enable-page-almost-idle. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#infinite-session-restore
Make session restore use a definition of loading that waits for CPU and network quiescence. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#page-almost-idle
Enables proactive tab freezing and discarding. This requires #enable-page-almost-idle. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#proactive-tab-freeze-and-discard
Records usage of some features in a database while a tab is in background (title/favicon update, audio playback or usage of non-persistent notifications). – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#site-characteristics-database
user44
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 151
2
There is also Tab Suspender that has been updated lastly as of 03. January 2015.
orschiro
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 2 335
Yes I see this comment in reviews: "Very good extension. Just so new users know, the Suspension DOES NOT make the Memory of the suspended tab becomes Zero. But the saving is great still." – Boris_yo – 2015-04-19T11:10:35.317
2
The extension FooTab gives this functionality: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/footab/anbodogikfbehidmmjdokehphginagbb
Juriy Chebukin
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 21
Hi Juriy, welcome to Super User. Could you update your answer to give a bit more information? Eg a summary, how it addresses the problem as asked. It may help to read how to recommend software in an answer :)
– bertieb – 2015-08-22T22:31:23.983Check this out https://github.com/ekonoval/TabsLazyLoad_thegreatsuspender it’s done on the basis of TheGreatSuspender extension but suspends all the tabs on browser startup
– Ekonoval – 2018-03-13T12:47:26.5771
This answer mentions two options "Offline Auto-Reload Mode" and "Only Auto-Reload Visible Tabs" (browse chrome://flags) which in conjunction with going offline before browser start will effectively inhibit page loading on browser startup.
StefanQ
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 141
Unfortunately as soon as you go online it will immediately try to load every single tab at once, often freezing all of Chrome for minutes - at least in Chrome 69. – peterflynn – 2018-10-10T22:43:15.930
Indeed, this seems to me to be new behavior in a recent Chrome release. This may be fixed by disabling #offline-auto-reload-mode in chrome://flags/ (s.a. #enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only). – StefanQ – 2018-10-12T12:23:39.357
0
FooTab for Google Chrome
After about a week of use, this extension has saved me some precious cellular data, by suspending multiple tab load on start-up. Except for the favicons, it blocks the page until the tab/s are selected.
Download links and description here
2Welcome to superuser. This is written a lot in the style of an advertisement and might be seen as such. It might help a little to phrase this differently, and maybe touch on what it does better than the alternatives. It was previously blocked from Chrome extension manager, is a little concerning as well – Journeyman Geek – 2016-02-01T23:21:31.377
0
Had this same problem with Chrome mobile, where all of the tabs would cycle whenever I opened Chrome. After setting tab throttling to forced Enable in chrome://flags ...it seems to have solved the issue.
Neferius
Posted 2014-09-15T12:45:07.557
Reputation: 16
1
One workaround that I could think of is using Session Buddy. Obviously it doesn't give you specifically what you want, but it I think this gives you nearly the functionality you're after (saving and managing sessions, etc.).
– happy_soil – 2014-09-15T13:20:39.4402I am not after saving and managing because I already have Session Buddy. I am after function that won't let Chrome load all restored tabs at once but only active individual tab I click on. – Boris_yo – 2014-09-15T18:28:03.750
1
If you are open to those Chromium-derived browsers, you can try Slimjet which offers an option to not load background tabs at startup. This link will give you more information: http://www.slimjet.com/blog/save-memory-by-automatically-unloading-idle-tabs-when-the-number-of-tabs-reaches-the-limit/ . It does automatically pick up your chrome profile data if you sync it via your google account.
– Stephen Cheng – 2016-01-27T19:43:10.3672goto chrome://flags --> then enable the flag "Only Auto-Reload Visible Tabs " – Lokesh Agrawal – 2017-07-06T09:42:40.317
@LokeshAgrawal It's only when browser is offline. – Boris_yo – 2017-07-24T15:38:54.093