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New Tab Widgets v1.2 – Search Widget and Link Group

New Tab Widgets v1.2 launches the Search widget with multi-provider support and history, and the Link Group widget for organising collections of bookmarks — both now available in production.

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New Tab Widgets v1.2 adds two productivity-focused widgets that have been in development for several releases and are now fully production-ready: a powerful Search widget and an improved Link Group widget.

🔍 Search Widget

A versatile search bar that lives right on your dashboard. The Search widget lets you search the web from your new tab page without navigating away — just type and press Enter.

Features

  • Multiple search providers — choose from Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or any custom search URL
  • Keyboard shortcuts — assign a key combination to jump instantly to the search bar
  • Search history — the widget records past searches so you can quickly revisit recent queries
  • Custom providers — add any search engine or internal tool by entering its search URL pattern
  • Drag-and-drop reordering — rearrange your search providers to put your most-used one first

🔗 Link Group Widget — Production Release

The Link Group widget, introduced in an earlier release, is now fully production-ready with significant improvements:

  • Drag-and-drop reordering — drag links within the group to rearrange them
  • Improved form validation — clearer error messages when a link URL or label is missing
  • Accessible layout — improved keyboard navigation and ARIA labels throughout the settings panel
  • Fuse.js powered widget search — the Add Widget modal now uses fuzzy search so finding "Link Group" is forgiving of typos

Other improvements in v1.2

  • Edit mode button — repositioned to the top-left corner for easier access without covering widget content
  • Widget preview — minor improvements to the widget preview shown before adding a widget to the dashboard
  • Link Group free tier cap — the free tier allows up to 10 link group items with a clear upgrade prompt for more

Upgrade now

Both the Search widget and the improved Link Group are available to all users. Update New Tab Widgets from the Chrome Web Store.

🔗 Install New Tab Widgets from the Chrome Web Store

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