Getting Internet Explorer to Open Different Sets of Tabs Based on the Day of the Week
- by Akemi Iwaya
If you have to use Internet Explorer for work and need to open a different set of work-specific tabs every day, is there a quick and easy way to do it instead of opening each one individually? Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader bobSmith1432 is looking for a quick and easy way to open different daily sets of tabs in Internet Explorer for his work: When I open Internet Explorer on different days of the week, I want different tabs to be opened automatically. I have to run different reports for work each day of the week and it takes a lot of time to open the 5-10 tabs I use to run the reports. It would be a lot faster if, when I open Internet Explorer, the tabs I needed would automatically load and be ready. Is there a way to open 5-10 different tabs in Internet Explorer depending on the day of the week? Example: Monday – 6 Accounting Pages Tuesday – 7 Billing Pages Wednesday – 5 HR Pages Thursday – 10 Schedule Pages Friday – 8 Work Summary/Order Pages Is there an easier way for Bob to get all those tabs to load and be ready to go each day instead of opening them individually every time? The Answer SuperUser contributor Julian Knight has a simple, non-script solution for us: Rather than trying the brute force method, how about a work around? Open up each set of tabs either in different windows, or one set at a time, and save all tabs to bookmark folders. Put the folders on the bookmark toolbar for ease of access. Each day, right-click on the appropriate folder and click on ‘Open in tab group’ to open all the tabs. You could put all the day folders into a top-level folder to save space if you want, but at the expense of an extra click to get to them. If you really must go further, you need to write a program or script to drive Internet Explorer. The easiest way is probably writing a PowerShell script. Special Note: There are various scripts shared on the discussion page as well, so the solution shown above is just one possibility out of many. If you love the idea of using scripts for a function like this, then make sure to browse on over to the discussion page to see the various ones SuperUser members have shared! Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.
