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title: "Navigation - Tab Strip"
---
# Navigation - Tab Strip
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The [Tab Strip](appendix\components\buttons\tab-strip\tab-strip.md) is a simple navigation strategy used for small project structures having only a few windows. It allows users to see all the navigation tabs on the first screen of the runtime. It is most commonly used in a docked window to provide automatic window navigation. The Tab Strip works by clicking on a tab to swap one main window for another. The Tab Strip has two navigation modes:
* **Swap Windows** - the tab strip automatically calls [system.nav.swapTo()](appendix\scripting-functions\system-nav\system-nav-swapTo.md) with the name of the selected tab for easy navigation from one window to another.
* **Disabled** - the tab strip doesn't do anything when a tab is pressed. Users can customize tabs using property bindings or by responding to the [propertyChange](scripting\scripting-in-ignition\component-and-window-scripting\component-events.md#property-event-handlers) scripting event.
For a simple product structure, it's common to use the Tab Strip to navigate a project in Ignition.
## To Configure the Tab Strip in the Designer
1. Go to the **Project Browser**, expand the **Navigation** window, to see the **Tabs** component inside of it.
2. Right-click on the tab component, choose **Customizers** > **Tab Strip Customizer**.
3. In the Tab Strip Customizer you can specify which window to open with each tab. Notice the **Tabs** component has a **Navigation Mode** property which is set to **Swap Windows** as shown in the screenshot below.
4. To create a new tab, click **Add Tab** (this example creates a Main Window 2 tab). If you have a tab already selected, clicking the **Add Tab** button creates a duplicate of the selected tab.
:::note Main Windows already created
This step assumes you already have your main windows created in your Project Browser.
:::
1. Under **Window Name** dropdown list, select the window you want to open. Note it is the full path from the window and not just the name (i.e., **Main Windows/Main Window 2**).
2. Enter the **Display Name** for your new tab (i.e., **Main Window 2**).
3. With the **Move Up**, **Move Down**, and **Remove Tab** buttons you can move tabs up and down on the tab strip, and remove a tab if it is no longer required.
4. When you're finished, press **OK**.
5. **Save** and **Publish** your project.
6. Open your project in the **Client**, and see that each tab navigates to a different window. You can also test your window navigation in the Designer, but only one window can be open at a time. To do so, use the **Preview Mode** to switch between windows.
7. As you can see, the **Tab Strip** works by clicking on a tab to swap one main window for another. If one of the windows happens to be a Popup Window, it will be treated as a Main Window by the **Swap Windows** mode.
