Everyday browsing 3 min read
Organise your tabs and keep work and personal accounts apart
One window holds work email, weekend travel plans, documentation and several pages for later. The problem is not simply the number of tabs: they all compete for attention. Spaces separate tasks, while protected spaces can also separate accounts.
Group by task rather than by website
Choose a few clear contexts, such as “Project”, “Study” and “Personal”. Keep the pages needed for one action together. An email and document about the same project are often more useful side by side than all documents in one place and all mail tabs in another.
In Sverk, an ordinary space is a set of tabs with a name and colour. The window shows the selected space while the other tabs stay open. All tabs gives you a combined list, and pinned tabs appear in every space.
Begin with two spaces
- Open the switcher at the start of the tab strip and choose “New space”. Give it a short name and a colour.
- Move a few tabs through their menu using “Move tab to space”. You do not need to sort everything at once.
- Create a second space for another task. Select the right space before opening new links.
A useful check is whether the name reminds you what you intended to do. If a space becomes a pile of unrelated links, reduce it to the current task and bookmark the material you may need later.
Different accounts need a protected space
Ordinary spaces visually separate tabs but share website sign-ins. A second ordinary space therefore does not give you a second independent login to the same service. Use “New protected space” for that.
A protected space opens in its own window with separate cookies, history, passwords and permissions. These remain after a restart. Work and personal email can each stay signed in within their own context, without repeatedly switching accounts.
Here, “protected” describes separation of browser data. It does not hide you from websites or protect against malware on the computer. Ordinary extensions do not automatically carry over; the help pages explain the exceptions.
Closing a window is different from deleting a space
Closing a protected space’s window does not erase its data. To finish for the day, close the window. Removing the space along with sign-ins, history and passwords requires an explicit deletion and confirmation.
Before deleting one, save the addresses you need and make sure you can sign into the accounts again. Do not use deletion merely to hide an unwanted window: it is a permanent action, rather than a way to tidy the taskbar.