12 Days of Hanutech, Day 2

Toby Chrome Extension

Now more than ever, keeping your digital life organized is critical. We have a far greater number and complexity of Google docs, apps, websites, and videos to manage than did the pioneers exploring the American west or pilgrims settling in Plymouth Plantation.


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“Great party but your wifi is terrible.”

One way that many of us survive is by keeping a lot of open browser tabs. Yes, I went there. I may be new to Walpole, I might not have met you in person yet, but I am 95% certain that you have too many browser tabs open, and that you know it. I'm sure you are aware of how too many tabs can slow down your computer, can get lost by mistake, can possibly cause hair loss, blah, blah, blah.


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“Whatever. I read the 12 Days tips for the gifs, not the life lessons.”

To help save my sanity and my computer memory, I tried a Chrome extension called Toby, and it quickly became one of my new favorite tools. It helps me manage the tabs without losing the quick access to the stuff I need.


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Note: I have no affiliation or agreement, commercial or otherwise, with the makers of Toby in any way, but would not be opposed to them sending me a big check with lots of zeros on it.
When you install Toby, it takes over your “New Tab” page. That is, when you click the little + button for a new tab, you get the Toby screen instead of the blank Google page.
What’s great about Toby is it lets you save and arrange any open tabs on that page. They’re all saved, stored, and (best of all) organized on my Toby screen, so I don't have to keep them all open. When I want to return to the tab I need, I click the New Tab button, up pops Toby, and I can choose the tab I need.
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My organized tabs on my Toby screen. I didn’t look before I screenshotted, so I hope I’m not showing something embarrassing.
You organize the tabs into “collections” by dragging and dropping your open tabs (on the right) into places in the main section. Each collection has multiple saved tabs. I don’t need to keep those tabs open in my browser window, wasting computer memory. They’re right there when I need them even if I sign into Chrome on another computer.
Right now I have collections called "Budget," "EdCamp," and a miscellaneous group cleverly named "Priority Stuff." Teachers can use it to store docs, websites, videos, etc for their classes. Save those tabs into collections like "Period A" and "Period B," or "Math" and "ELA," or "For Monday" and "For Tuesday." However you like!

An additional cool feature is the “Save Session” feature which I think of as the “I don’t have time to organize right now, just save all of my open tabs with one click” button. This is great if you’re in a hurry. It’s also a great way to get started if you currently have 25 (40? 75?) open tabs. Just click the button, save them all now, and organize later!

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"Oops, class is starting, better save my cheesecake research!"
I admit that I’ve tried extensions like this before, thought “huh, cute” and then abandoned them almost immediately. But I’ve been using Toby for years now and can’t imagine living without it. And I don't have to be afraid to restart my computer occasionally, for fear of losing my tabs.
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“All your tabs are belong to us!”
I won’t bore you with all the how-to-use-it details (this time) because Toby is easy to install and its on-boarding tutorials are easy and friendly. Just go to Toby in the Chrome store, install it, and go!

Cheers!😁 Tom