Ribbon contextual tab states control the display of ribbon tabs on the ribbon when certain commands are active or when an object is selected.
Ribbon contextual tab states use the same ribbon tabs that you use to control the display of ribbon panels through a workspace. Instead of using a workspace to control the display of a ribbon tab, you assign a ribbon tab to one of the predefined contextual states.
The type of predefined contextual tab states ranges from when an object is selected to when a command is active. For example, the Hatch Selected contextual tab state controls the display of the Hatch Editor ribbon tab when a hatch object is selected, while the Block Editor Mode contextual tab state controls the display of the Block Editor and Block Editor - Close tabs are displayed only after opening a block in the Block Editor.