OnLoad Unload Tabs

When you open chrome, and it restores all your tabs, this extension unloads all tabs except the active tab

As of May 2026, OnLoad Unload Tabs has 452 users and a 5.00/5 rating from 4 reviews in the Workflow & Planning category.

Usersdown 54.8 percent54.8%
452
452
Ratingno change0%
5.00
4 reviews
Reviewsno change0%
4
Version
0.0.3
Manifest V3

History

2 snapshots

Tracking since May 1, 2026.

1.0K726408.15999999999997May 1, 2026May 29, 2026
View as table
DateUsersRatingReviewsVersion
May 1, 20261.0K5.0040.0.3
May 29, 20265025.0040.0.3
Now4525.0040.0.3

Permissions & access

Permissions
contextMenustabsstorage
Host access
None declared

Screenshots

OnLoad Unload Tabs screenshot 1OnLoad Unload Tabs screenshot 2OnLoad Unload Tabs screenshot 3

About

When you open Chrome, start up Chrome... Chrome might restore all your tabs from your last session. This extension will unload all those tabs, so you aren't wasting computer resources loading those webpages.

As soon as you click on an unloaded tab, it will load the webpage as normal.

Firefox browser does this by default, and now, with this extension, you can have this feature in Chrome too.

It was also pointed out to me, that you might want certain websites to never be unloaded. For example, your email. So, there is a settings page where you can add websites that you NEVER want this extension to unload.

Why did I make this?

I didn't like that I would open Chrome and all my tabs would start loading. I don't need all of them to load, I might not even click on most of them. I liked that in Firefox, I didn't need to worry about how many tabs I had open, since I knew when I restarted the browser, none of those tabs would load until I clicked on them (but the tabs were still there, ready to be clicked if I wanted them).

After some research, I found that Chrome does have this feature, but it's only available to extensions. So, I created this extension for myself, so I can once again use Chrome with tonnes of tabs open, and not worry about wasting my computer's resources on those tabs.

Additional Features

Besides unloading all tabs when you open Chrome...
1) Added a right click menu option: you can click this option and it will unload all your inactive tabs immediately.
2) There is a settings page where you can add websites to never be unloaded. For instance, you might want your email to stay loaded.

That's it. This is a very lightweight extension. Enjoy :)

Note:
This extension only unloads tabs:
a) when you open Chrome, or 
b) when you click the menu item.
It doesn't unload tabs at any other time.

Permissions Explained:
"Read your browsing history" - this is used for the exceptions list, the extension checks if the tab's web url matches the url you want to be ignored. This extension doesn't look at or use your browsing history.

Credits:
The extension icon, the computer with 3 gears, was created by phatplus on freeicons.io (https://freeicons.io/profile/51091).

Technical

Version
0.0.3
Manifest
V3
Size
24.8KiB
Min Chrome
89
Languages
1
Featured
No

Metadata

ID
gnnecemmbmmndkehiaakohldifipncah
Developer ID
u98e73a1190aa43d81fc10386ddc77099
Developer Email
[email protected]
Created
Jan 26, 2023
Last Updated (Store)
Feb 7, 2025
Last Scraped
May 29, 2026
Website
garyc.dev
Support URL
Privacy Policy

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Data sourced from the Chrome Web Store · last verified May 29, 2026.