Arc Browser Keyboard Shortcuts
Arc keeps the underlying Chromium shortcut foundation (tab opening, closing, address bar focus) largely intact, but layers a genuinely different set of concepts on top — Spaces for grouping entire sets of tabs by context (work, personal, a specific project), and 'Little Arc' windows for quickly opening a link without committing it to your main tab set. These Arc-specific concepts needed their own new shortcuts since nothing in traditional Chrome or Firefox maps onto them directly, which is part of why long-time Arc users often describe a real adjustment period even though the basics feel instantly familiar. Windows and Mac share the sidebar and Spaces concepts identically, with the standard Ctrl/Cmd modifier swap applying throughout — Arc launched Mac-first with Windows following later, so some community documentation still skews toward Mac-specific key notation. This reference assumes you're already running Arc day to day, or close to committing to it, and skips re-explaining ordinary tab and address-bar basics you'd already know from Chrome in favor of the concepts that are genuinely new here. The auto-archiving behavior and Little Arc windows are the two features that most commonly surprise new switchers, so they're worth understanding deliberately before you're caught off guard by a tab that's quietly disappeared from your sidebar.
Spaces Sidebar
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toggle sidebar visibility | Ctrl+S | Cmd+S | Shows or hides Arc's signature sidebar (which replaces the traditional top tab bar), freeing up horizontal space temporarily while browsing. |
| Switch to next Space | Ctrl+Shift+] | Cmd+Shift+] | Moves forward to the next Space in your sidebar order — Arc's way of keeping an entirely separate tab set for something like work versus personal browsing, each with its own optional color theme so you can tell them apart at a glance. |
| Switch to previous Space | Ctrl+Shift+[ | Cmd+Shift+[ | Moves to the previous Space, the reverse companion to the next-Space shortcut. |
| Create new Space | No default — click + in sidebar | Same | Creates a new Space via the sidebar's plus button, with no bound keyboard shortcut by default since Space creation happens infrequently compared to switching between existing ones. |
| Jump directly to a numbered Space | Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+9 | Cmd+1 through Cmd+9 | Jumps straight to a specific Space by its position number in the sidebar, faster than cycling sequentially through next/previous when you know exactly which Space you want and it isn't adjacent to your current one. |
Tabs Windows
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| New tab | Ctrl+T | Cmd+T | Opens a new tab within the current Space, identical in spirit to the standard Chromium shortcut. |
| Open link in Little Arc window | Automatic for external links, or Ctrl+Shift+C | Automatic, or Cmd+Shift+C | Little Arc windows are small, temporary browser windows Arc opens automatically for links clicked from outside the browser (like from an email client or Slack), keeping your main tab Space uncluttered by links you didn't deliberately choose to keep open long-term. |
| Close current tab | Ctrl+W | Cmd+W | Closes the active tab; Arc's auto-archiving feature will also eventually archive old unused tabs automatically after a configurable period even without manual closing. |
| Pin current tab | Ctrl+D (in sidebar) or drag to pinned section | Cmd+D or drag | Moves the tab into the pinned section of the sidebar, keeping it persistently accessible and exempt from Arc's automatic tab archiving. |
| Move current tab to a different Space | Drag tab to Space icon, no default key | Same | Relocates the current tab out of its original Space and into a different one, useful when a tab you opened casually turns out to belong more naturally to a different context than the Space you were in when you opened it. |
| Split tab into side-by-side view | Drag tab next to another, or Ctrl+Shift+\ | Cmd+Shift+\ | Displays two tabs side by side within the same window, useful for referencing documentation in one pane while working in a web app in the other without alt-tabbing between two entirely separate windows. |
Navigation
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Command Bar | Ctrl+T (also doubles as address bar/search) | Cmd+T | Arc merges new-tab creation with a universal command bar for searching, navigating to a URL, and running quick commands, functioning similarly to opening a new tab in traditional browsers but with expanded fuzzy search across open tabs and history. |
| Reopen last closed tab | Ctrl+Shift+T | Cmd+Shift+T | Restores the most recently closed tab, standard Chromium behavior carried over unchanged into Arc. |
| Create an Easel (live web page canvas) | No default shortcut — via New menu | Same | Opens Arc's Easel feature, a lightweight canvas for combining live web content, images, and notes into a shareable page, launched through the browser's New menu rather than a dedicated keyboard shortcut given its relatively occasional use compared to everyday tab and Space navigation. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the actual point of a Little Arc window instead of just opening a normal tab?
Little Arc windows are meant to solve the problem of 'someone else's links cluttering your carefully organized tab Space' — when you click a link from Slack, an email client, or another app, Arc opens it in a small temporary window separate from your main browsing Space rather than injecting a new tab into whatever Space you happen to be in, closing automatically without leaving lingering tabs behind unless you deliberately choose to move it into a Space.
Why do my tabs disappear after a while without me closing them?
Arc automatically archives tabs that haven't been used for a configurable period (12 hours, a day, or longer depending on your settings), removing them from the visible sidebar as a deliberate anti-clutter feature. Archived tabs aren't deleted — they're recoverable from Arc's history/archive rather than gone permanently, but the automatic disappearance surprises users coming from browsers where tabs stay open indefinitely until manually closed.
Do Spaces sync tabs between the Mac and Windows versions?
Yes, if you're signed into the same Arc account — Spaces, their tabs, and pinned items sync across devices and both supported platforms, which is part of Arc's broader account-based approach rather than treating each installation as an entirely separate local browser profile.
Why would I move a tab to a different Space instead of just closing it and reopening the link there?
Moving preserves the tab's exact scroll position, any form data you've entered, and its place in your browsing history for that session, none of which survive closing and reopening the same URL fresh in a different Space — it's the difference between relocating something you're actively using versus starting over from a clean load.
Does jumping directly to a numbered Space work if I've reordered my Spaces?
The number corresponds to a Space's current position in the sidebar, not a fixed ID assigned when it was created, so reordering Spaces by dragging them in the sidebar changes which number takes you where — worth keeping in mind if you've built muscle memory around a specific number and then rearrange your Space order afterward.
Can I view two tabs at once without opening a second browser window?
Yes — dragging one tab to sit next to another, or triggering the split-view shortcut, puts two tabs on screen simultaneously inside one window rather than juggling a second Arc window entirely separately, which keeps both visible without the extra taskbar and window-management overhead of a fully independent second window.