If you have come to a Mac from a Chromebook, there is one habit that breaks on the first day: you put three fingers on the trackpad, swipe sideways to get to the next tab, and nothing useful happens. Either your whole app slides away to another Space or the Mac does nothing at all.
It is not a setting you have missed. macOS has no tab-switching gesture. This guide explains why, what you can do without installing anything, how to get the Chromebook behaviour back properly, and where every other ChromeOS gesture lives on a Mac.
The main guide, How to Switch Browser Tabs with a Trackpad on Mac, covers Chrome, Safari, Arc and Brave in detail.
The Gesture You're Missing
On ChromeOS, when Chrome has more than one tab open, a three-finger swipe left or right moves to the neighbouring tab. Keep swiping and you keep moving. It is one of the most-used gestures on a Chromebook because tabs are where most of the work happens: ChromeOS is built around the browser, so moving between tabs is the equivalent of moving between apps.
On a Mac, the same movement means something completely different.
Why macOS Doesn't Have It
macOS reserves horizontal multi-finger swipes for the system. By default a three-finger swipe left or right switches between full-screen apps and Spaces, the Mac's version of ChromeOS desks. Inside the browser itself, the only horizontal gesture is the two-finger swipe, which goes back and forward through page history, exactly as it does on a Chromebook.
So there is no gesture left for tabs, and neither Chrome nor Safari on the Mac adds one. Tabs belong to the app, and macOS doesn't let apps claim system gestures.
What Works Without Installing Anything
None of these are a swipe, but they are worth knowing:
- Ctrl + Tab and Ctrl + Shift + Tab move to the next and previous tab, the same as on ChromeOS.
- Cmd + Option + → and ← do the same thing in Chrome and Safari.
- Cmd + 1 to 8 jump to the first eight tabs, and Cmd + 9 to the last one.
- Cmd + Shift + A in Chrome searches your open tabs by name.
The catch for a Chromebook user is that all of these move your hand off the trackpad. The whole point of the ChromeOS gesture was that you could flick through tabs while you were already scrolling and pointing.
Getting the Three-Finger Tab Swipe Back
TabSwipe is a small Mac app that does exactly this: three fingers left or right moves through your tabs, the way it did on your Chromebook. Swipe a short distance for the next tab, keep your fingers moving to travel several tabs in one go, and feel a light haptic click through the trackpad for each tab you pass.
It runs as a native Mac app rather than a browser extension, so it also works where extensions can't: on the New Tab page, settings pages and PDFs. And it isn't limited to Chrome. The same swipe works in Safari, Arc, Brave, VS Code, Finder, Terminal and more, which matters if you're also moving off Chrome now that you're on a Mac.
To free up three fingers for tabs, macOS's own three-finger swipes for Mission Control and switching Spaces move to four fingers. For a Chromebook user that is a happy accident: ChromeOS already uses four fingers to switch desks, so after setup your Mac works the way your hands expect. TabSwipe walks you through the change and checks it worked.
Every ChromeOS Gesture, Mapped to Mac
| On a Chromebook | Does | On a Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Two-finger swipe left / right | Back / forward | The same |
| Two-finger tap or click | Right-click | The same |
| Three-finger swipe left / right | Switch tabs | Nothing built in. With TabSwipe: the same |
| Three-finger swipe up | Overview of all windows | Mission Control (four fingers with TabSwipe) |
| Four-finger swipe left / right | Switch desks | Switch Spaces (three fingers by default, four with TabSwipe) |
| Tap to click | On by default | Off by default: System Settings › Trackpad › Tap to click |
ChromeOS Habits That Change on a Mac
- Ctrl becomes Cmd for almost everything: Cmd + T for a new tab, Cmd + W to close one, Cmd + Shift + T to bring it back. Ctrl + Tab is the exception and stays as it is.
- The Launcher key becomes Spotlight: Cmd + Space, then type an app, file or quick sum.
- Screenshots: Cmd + Shift + 4 for an area, Cmd + Shift + 5 for the full toolbar.
- Forward delete: Fn + Delete instead of Alt + Backspace.
- Closing a window doesn't quit the app. The app keeps running in the Dock; Cmd + Q quits it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I swipe between tabs on a Mac like on a Chromebook?
Not out of the box. On a Chromebook, a three-finger swipe left or right switches Chrome tabs. macOS has no built-in trackpad gesture for switching browser tabs: three-finger horizontal swipes are reserved for switching full-screen apps and Spaces. A utility such as TabSwipe adds the Chromebook-style three-finger tab swipe to Chrome, Safari, Arc and Brave.
What is the Mac equivalent of ChromeOS Overview?
Mission Control. On a Chromebook you swipe up with three fingers to see every open window; on a Mac the same three-finger swipe up opens Mission Control by default. If you move tab switching onto three fingers, Mission Control moves to four fingers.
What replaces ChromeOS virtual desks on a Mac?
Spaces. macOS calls virtual desktops Spaces and you add them from the top of Mission Control. ChromeOS switches desks with a four-finger swipe; macOS uses a three-finger swipe by default, which can be changed to four fingers in System Settings, Trackpad, More Gestures.
Do my Chrome keyboard shortcuts work on a Mac?
Mostly, with Command in place of Ctrl. Ctrl+T, Ctrl+W and Ctrl+Shift+T on ChromeOS become Command+T, Command+W and Command+Shift+T on a Mac. Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to cycle tabs stay the same on both.
If the tab swipe is the thing you miss most, try TabSwipe free for three days and see if your hands stop reaching for it.
Your Chromebook tab swipe, on your Mac.
No account needed to try it. 3-day free trial. $12.99 once when you are ready.
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