Tab groups do not work as intended, they "break" or "shuffle" the tabs within them or combine them with other groups.

[LanCeeXD]

Description

whenever I put a few tabs in a group (not an excessive amount, both open in total and in any given group), later on these tabs get "thrown out" of the group or even get combined to another group, ruining any organisation efforts made.

a concrete method for reproducing this issue is quite hard to figure out, as I don't really notice when it happens, so to me it seems like it happens randomly, but it happens often when i reopen a closed tab, for example.

Before:

After reopening a closed tab:

Steps to reproduce

Here's the easiest method I've found that can reproduce it:

1. Open Brave
2. Create a tab group
3. Drag a few tabs into said group, or use the right-click menu to do so.
4. Make a new tab, go to any page, then close it.
5. Reopen the tab with Ctrl+Shift+T, or right-click > Reopen closed tab
6. Tabs will get moved around

Another method:

1. Open Brave
2. Create a tab group
3. Drag a few tabs into said group, or use the right-click menu to do so.
4. Close Brave
5. Open Brave again

Note: Opening, closing, reopening, then right away closing and reopening again after adding the moved tabs back into the groups, will not reproduce this issue. Not sure if it is to do with it being the same tab, or how much time passes since closing it.

Actual result

My tab groups broke and were shuffled, often out of their groups.

Expected result

The tabs should've stayed where they are

Reproduces how often

Intermittent issue

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave | 1.73.104 Chromium: 131.0.6778.204 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision | 215b794a7c1f3e28151d0f7712e32c71be48775c
OS | Windows 10 Version 22H2 (Build 19045.5247)

Channel information

• release (stable)
• beta
• nightly

Reproducibility

• with Brave Shields disabled
• with Brave Rewards disabled
• in the latest version of Chrome

Miscellaneous information

note: this also, sometimes and to an extent, goes for normal tabs that aren't even in groups, they do not stay in the same place and move around as they please in any window, and sometimes get added to groups that they were never in to begin with.

some tabs also get moved around when making a new tab; i pressed ctrl+T whilst writing this to see what happens, and the exact same tab i just made was moved to the middle of the bar, rather than the end as it should've. opening from different tabs moves it to the same spot it was automatically moved to.

[rebron]

@LanCeeXD I don't think it's the cause but I did want to rule it out. You're not using Sync correct? You're using Brave on one device?

[MadhaviSeelam]

Couldn't reproduce the issue using STR from the description in 1.73.104 Chromium: 131.0.6778.204 in Win 11 x64

before	after

[LanCeeXD]

@LanCeeXD I don't think it's the cause but I did want to rule it out. You're not using Sync correct? You're using Brave on one device?

I am using sync but only for history, not for the tabs. The tabs that are open on my other device are completely different in terms of amount and content than the ones on the device I'm seeing this issue with. Also now that you mention it, I haven't noticed this issue on the other device.

Couldn't reproduce the issue using STR from the description in 1.73.104 Chromium: 131.0.6778.204 in Win 11 x64

before after

I deleted this before I posted it, but finding the STR was quite difficult as often I would just do what I usually do and not notice what I did by the time it would happen. Though with the STR that I provided, I tested it several times on my end that day and that worked for me the most consistently (about 100% from the amount of times I've tried). I'm not sure what else I can suggest, maybe its some certain extensions?

[bsclifton]

Thanks for sharing in detail the issue you're experiencing @LanCeeXD

I'm having a little trouble seeing the exact issue looking at the before/after. In both cases, you have the tab groups collapsed and they don't seem to have a name. I do see that in the AFTER pic it looks like the gray tab group is moved 4 places to the right (next to the brown tab group).

Sync shouldn't have an impact- even if you are synching your tabs, you'd have to go to brave://history/syncedTabs to see them

The extensions could be having an impact. I would be extremely wary of anything that is trying to change the loading/unloading behavior of tabs.

There are two things you can try @LanCeeXD:

1. First I would recommend disabling all of the extensions which are altering tab behavior in general. From the list you've shown, I think there's a few suspect ones which we can try disabling:

• Divider Tabs
• Forest: Tree Style Tab Manager
• OneTab
• Tab Modifier
• Tab Retitle
• Unload Tab

If all of these are disabled and the issue still happens, that is a bit troubling. You might try with no extensions in that case. We ultimately want to reduce the problem down to a minimal set of steps so we can find a bug 😄

If you're able to get into a good state, then you can gradually add back extensions one at a time - and we can try to narrow down a specific extension.

2. You can try vertical tabs to see if the symptoms present themselves differently there. Maybe something will be more obvious or easier to reproduce there.

[LanCeeXD]

I see your point about it being unclear since the groups are unnamed. Sorry about that, but since you've given me some tips to try, I'll try those out first before sending any more screenshots and get back to you if I find anything else.

[LanCeeXD]

Update: it seems to be an issue with the Forest extension, as I re-enabled every extension apart from that one, and so far as of now, tabs don't shoot across the bar on top, break any groups or go into different ones. Extensions should've been the first thing to check, but at least we have a solution now lol. I didn't really end up using it since I installed it, so I just removed it. Thanks for your help 👍