How do I open a Telescope picker result in a split or new tab instead of the current window?

Explanation

When browsing results in a Telescope picker, you are not limited to opening selections in the current window. Telescope ships with built-in action keys that let you send the selected entry to a horizontal split, a vertical split, or an entirely new tab — without leaving the picker or touching your window layout first. This is essential for workflows where you want to compare a file against the one already open.

How it works

While a Telescope picker is active (in insert mode inside the prompt):

• <C-x> — open selected entry in a horizontal split
• <C-v> — open selected entry in a vertical split
• <C-t> — open selected entry in a new tab page
• <CR> (Enter) — open in the current window (default)
• <C-u> / <C-d> — scroll the preview window up/down

These bindings apply across all standard pickers: find_files, live_grep, buffers, oldfiles, etc.

Example

With your cursor in a vertical split showing main.go, launch :Telescope find_files, search for utils.go, then press <C-v> — utils.go opens in a new vertical split alongside main.go, letting you reference both files at once.

Tips

• In normal mode inside Telescope, these actions are also available (usually without <C->)
• You can remap these in your setup:

require('telescope').setup({
  defaults = {
    mappings = {
      i = { ['<C-s>'] = require('telescope.actions').select_horizontal }
    }
  }
})

• Use ? in normal mode inside any Telescope picker to see all available mappings