In this post, we will share the magic of Trails, the transformational feature of Horse Browser. Designed to eliminate the chaos of traditional tabs, Trails keep your browsing calm, structured, and highly productive.
This guide will introduce you to all the essential features you need and shortcuts to master Trails efficiently.
What is a Trail?
Horse Browser offers users a unique navigation system, replacing Tabs with Trails . Taking Tree Style Tabs as a design starting point, Horse Browser re-thinks this approach and introduces a totally innovative method of browsing.
Horse automatically creates a Trail as you browse—a chronological path of web pages that merges Tabs, History and Bookmarks into one easy-to-read vertical layout. Trails make it easy to track your research, revisit previous pages, and manage information without clutter.
You can also create Sub-Trails and Side-Trails to keep related browsing organised:
- Sub-Trails: Created when you open a link within a Trail, forming a hierarchical structure.
- Side-Trails: Branch off from an existing Trail, allowing parallel research without disrupting the main browsing flow.
1. Opening a New Trail
To open a new Trail, use the following shortcuts, type the search term or URL address you need and hit enter. You are now on your way!
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Cmd + T (Mac) / Ctrl + T (Windows/Linux) – Opens a new Trail and Sub-Trails under the current Trail, creating a hierarchical structure.
- Cmd + Shift + N (Mac) / Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows/Linux) – Opens a new Trail at the root level / at the top of the sidebar.
- Cmd + Alt + Shift + N (Mac) / Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N (Windows/Linux) – Opens a new Side-Trail branching off from the current Trail, allowing parallel browsing / routes of enquiry.
Mouse Actions:
- Click the + at the top of the sidebar to create a new root-level Traill.
- Right-click on an existing Trail to open a Sub-Trail or Side-Trail.
2. Expanding & Collapsing Trails
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- To collapse a Trail: ⇧ + ⌘ + ◀︎ on Mac or ⇧ + Ctrl + ◀︎ on Windows / Linux
- To expand a Trail: ⇧ + ⌘ + ▶︎ on Mac or ⇧ + Ctrl + ▶︎ on Windows / Linux
Mouse Actions:
- Click the
>icon next to a Trail to expand or collapse it.
- Double-click a collapsed Trail to expand all its Sub-Trails.
To collapse all Trails at once:
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Alt + L – Collapse all Trails.
3. Deleting Trails
To delete a single Trail:
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Cmd + Shift + W (Mac) / Ctrl + Shift + W (Windows/Linux) – Deletes the current Trail and all its Sub-Trails at once.
Mouse Actions:
- Click
Xnext to the Trail.
To delete multiple Trails in one go:
- Select multiple Trails with Cmd + Click on Mac or Ctrl + Click on Windows/Linux and then right-click to see an option to delete the selected Trails.
4. Restoring a Closed Trail
Restoring a closed Trail, will automatically restore its children.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Shift + Cmd + T (Mac) / Shift + Ctrl + T (Windows/Linux) – Reopens the last closed Trail.
Mouse Actions:
- Menu > File > Undo Delete Trail
5. Selecting and Moving Multiple Trails
Organise, export or delete multiple Trails at once.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Cmd + Click (Mac) / Ctrl + Click (Windows/Linux) – Select multiple Trails.
Mouse Actions:
- Drag-and-drop selected Trails to move them.
- Right-click for bulk actions (copy to Markdown, delete and add to a new folder).
6. Muting Audio in a Trail
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Cmd + Shift + M (Mac) / Ctrl + Shift + M (Windows/Linux) – Mute a Trail’s audio.
Mouse Actions:
- Click the sound icon on a Trail to mute its audio.
7. How to View the URL
You can double-click on a page anytime to reveal and edit the URL. Or click ••• at the side of each page and choose Edit Link.
8. How to Change Your Default Search Engine in Trails
Horse Browser’s default search engine is Google. You can choose alternatives, such as Bing, Kagi, DuckDuckGo, Perplexity, Startpage, Swisscows, MetaGer, Searx, and Gigablast. To change your search engine, simply go to Settings:
- Mouse users: Menu > Horse > Settings
- Keyboard users: ⌘ + , (Mac) / Ctrl + , (Windows/Linux)
Scroll to find a drop-down menu where you can select the default search engine you want.
9. All the Keyboard Shortcuts You Need
If you need a recap on these shortcuts, visit the Menu to see the relevant shortcuts. You can also customise them to your own alternatives by visiting Settings:
- Mouse users: Menu > Horse > Settings
- Keyboard users: ⌘ + , (Mac) / Ctrl + , (Windows/Linux)
Scroll to find the Shortcuts menu where you can view and customise them.
Conclusion
Horse Browser’s Trails revolutionise browsing by eliminating tab clutter. With these tips, you can start using Trails to maximise your workflow efficiency and organise web research effortlessly. In the next part of our five-post series, we’ll be sharing how to turn Trails into your ultimate productivity system.
All posts in this series:
