This add-on is designed to unload inactive tabs to free up browser memory. It is the full-featured successor of the BarTab / BarTab Heavy (Tycho) / BarTab Lite (X) extensions family, which uses modern APIs to ensure maximum performance and no conflicts with built-in browser functions and other extensions.
Here is a small comparison table:
| BarTab Heavy | BarTab Lite X | Lull The Tabs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook into Progress Listeners | on every tab | on every tab | no |
| Hook into Web Navigation | on every tab | no | no |
| Hook into Session Manager | yes | yes | no |
| Conflict with "Find in page" | yes | no | no |
| Prevent background tab loading | broken | no | yes |
| Auto unload inactive tabs | yes | no | yes |
| Manual unload whitelisted tabs | no | - | yes |
| Compatible with full-screen video | no | - | yes |
| Support wildcard whitelisting | no | - | yes |
| Support IDN in the whitelist | no | - | yes |
| Custom protocols whitelisting | no | - | yes |
| Provide the unload button | no | no | yes |
| Support for syncing settings | no | no | yes |
| Restartless | no | yes | yes |
If you used BarTab Heavy (Tycho), then its settings will be automatically imported at the first start. To add a wildcard domain to the exception list, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the corresponding context menu. Whitelisted tabs can be forced to unload using Ctrl+click on the unload button in the address bar. Any tab can be recreated ("full reload") using Ctrl+Shift+click on this button, and Ctrl+Alt+click on it - opens extension preferences.