How to take advantage of Chrome's side panel

When it comes to apps that I've used for about a year, like the Chrome browser, I can get very boring. I get into the habit of using the app in a particular way, and after that, when interesting new features appear, I often put them aside to try them “another time.” After all, if the app works for me as is, why bother?

The problem is that I ought bother, because sometimes those functions can be very useful. For example, when I started using and saving tab groups in Chrome, it became much easier to find the tabs associated with a project and temporarily group them into a single tab when I didn't need them. (Not that Chrome is the only browser that groups tabs today; Safari and Edge, among other browsers, have them too.)

So when Chrome added a side panel that would give access to various features, I noticed this new option, shoved it to the back of my brain, and ignored it for several weeks. But now I've taken another look and think this is something I should try. Chrome's side panel offers immediate access to several useful apps, and it's probably a good idea to explore what they are and whether the sidebar is a good way to access them.

The sidebar is initially accessible on the right side of the screen. You open it through an icon at the top right of the screen that looks like a rectangle with a shadowed column. (If you're using Gmail or Calendar, there may already be a thin sidebar visible with icons for various Google apps; in that case, the new sidebar will open next to it.)

There are a couple of ways to adjust the sidebar. First, if you think the sidebar is too wide or narrow for your screen, click and hold the button two line drag icon on the side to change the width. And if you prefer it to open on the left side of the screen rather than the right, click three dots icon At the top right of the screen, select Settings > Appearanceand look for the Side Panel Caption. Select Show right either Show left.

At the time of writing, there were five main apps you could use with the sidebar, not including several others that could be accessed, depending on which third-party apps you used. You choose which one you want to use through a drop-down menu at the top of the sidebar.

Markers: Yes, the sidebar can be used to access your favorites. Give it a try; You may prefer it to the traditional bookmarks bar at the top of the screen. If you decide you prefer to use the new sidebar, you can get rid of the top screen bookmarks bar by left-clicking on it and unchecking Show favorites baror hit Shift-Ctrl-B (on Windows), or Shift-Command-B (on MacOS). If you want to restore the bookmarks bar, use the same key combination.

Reading list: Too often we see an article or other web page that we want to read, but we don't have time at the moment. There are several apps that let you save sites for later, but Chrome has its own reading list (as does Safari, by the way). To save a site to read later, simply choose Reading List from the sidebar drop-down menu and click +Add current tab button.

History: How often have you deleted a tab from your browser and realized moments later that you still need it? The History drop-down menu gives you the option to immediately access your recent tabs (and recent searches) and return them to active service. Scroll down to find the tabs you used several minutes, hours, or days ago.

Reading mode: What about all the ads (sometimes many and lots ads), pop-ups, and elaborate layouts that can come with a website, it can sometimes be difficult to simply read the content. Reading mode simplifies the content and offers it to you without everything except the text. To be completely honest, while I really like using reading mode on my Android phone, where the feature makes it much easier to read the text, having the content simplified in a column on the side of my laptop screen doesn't work. It seems so useful at all. Still, reading mode could be useful for an unpleasantly busy site.

Look for: Well, this is a Google app after all. You can use the search function to search. You can use the Google Lens app (its icon is to the right of the search field). Simply click the icon and then drag and drop an image from a website to the search box. You can then search for similar images, extract or translate the text from the image, or see if other sites have exact matches to the image (which can be useful if you're trying to find the original source).

Other apps: In addition to these, you may have additional options in the sidebar, depending on what other applications are on your computer. For example, I use a task app called TickTick, which also appears as an option in the dropdown menu.

In any case, I plan to try the sidebar and see if it makes navigation easier for me. Hopefully it will be as useful as it seems.