What is the Side Panel?
I want you to look up, way up here, in the top right hand corner of your screen.
And you're going to notice something that looks, well, a little bit like a square. It's called the Google Side panel. And this has quickly become one of my favorite features of Google Chrome.
So in this video, I'm going to show you everything you need to know about the side panel, along with tips and tricks, so you can get the most out of this feature. This video is sponsored by SaneBox.
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Now the Google Chrome side panel is not exactly new but it has been getting some additional attention, along with some new features, year by year. Essentially, by toggling the side panel on or off, you will get this side panel on the side of your screen but have options to a number of different things, including a reading list, your complete bookmarks bar and I'm going to show you why this is actually a lot more valuable than the bookmarks bar at the top of your browser.
Journeys, which you may be seeing more frequently these days
but also some additional features so you can customize your Chrome experience.
Now just before we go into each area of the sidebar,
Settings
let's get comfortable with the basic settings. First off, you can increase the size of the sidebar to essentially, as large as you want. So this makes reading and navigating that sidebar that much easier.
So for example here, if I go into something like my bookmarks bar and I expand a folder or collapse a folder, I've got everything at my fingertips. So it's nice and large, so you can keep it as small or as big as you like.
However, if we come into our Google Chrome settings and then if we come over here and click on appearance, you can also choose which side the side panel will be displayed on. So maybe I prefer it here on the left hand side and have my browser window here on the right hand side. Again, we can still expand it here if we need to.
But you can decide what your preference is, as to where it is located. And just as a bonus tip, if you ever find it difficult to read the font within Google Chrome, under appearance, this is where you would make that change as well.
Alright, so getting back to the actual options that we have here within the side panel. You'll see that there are three.
Reading List
A Reading list, Bookmarks and Journeys. Let's get started with our reading list.
So what this is used for, is when you come across a website, let's go to one of my favorite websites that I like to browse once in a while, lifehacker.com. And let's see here if there's something, "10 Security Settings that Protect Your iPhone from Thieves."
Now, I don't necessarily have time to read this right now but I would like to review it later. Since I'm already on this screen, all I need to do, is select, Add Current Tab.
And you'll see that it's brought in a link right over here. Let's just stay within this site, for an easy example. I'm going to grab something else here. How to financially prepare for your parents or in-laws to move in.
And again, I'm going to select, Add Current Tab. Now if you don't want to use this function here, you can also go to the tab itself and if we right click, you can see here is, Add tab to reading list.
So a few different ways in which you can add it here. But remember, I don't have time to read this right now, so I'm going to close this and get on with the rest of my day. But whenever I want to, I can come back here, open up that reading list and now I'm just one click away from those things that I would like to review.
And better yet, when I'm done with them, I can come over here and cross them off, so I can keep track, if I want to, of a history of the pages or the articles which I've read. I can still go back to them in a single click.
But I can easily separate between the things I have already read and things that I have yet to review. So why is this Reading list valuable?
Well, for many years people have recommended that I use Pocket or Flipboard
or a variety of other tools to capture articles and to capture things and categorize them and use them for later. And while it is true that both of these apps, especially Pocket, have a lot more features available to you, it is another app. It's something else I have to go to. It's another tab or another extension that I have to install.
Meanwhile, this reading list is built right into my browser. So I can access it here.
And I can also access it on my mobile devices as well. So if you're looking for something that is simple and straightforward so you can pin or save articles
and pages for later, do so right here with the Reading list.
Bookmarks
Now next up is, Bookmarks. And you're probably thinking, well, how is this that much more helpful than the Bookmarks bar here on the top of your screen? For many years I thought this was the easiest and the best way to get to places that I wanted to go,
especially with the addition of folders. So I can group a collection of webpages together and go exactly to where I need to. However, you'll notice that you are somewhat limited with the amount of space up here.
And depending on the size of the screen that you're using, your eyes need to shift quite drastically from the left and right hand side. But more than just the real estate, either the lack thereof or too much to scan, there's a bunch of additional features that we can use here with the Bookmarks side panel.
Let me give you a quick example. There are many times where I wish to hide the bookmarks bar up here, for convenience. And I've often found myself coming up here to my settings, coming up here to Bookmarks and unchecking, Show bookmarks bar.
Yes, there is a shortcut key but because it involves three strokes, I have typically forgotten it, so I have to come this way to turn it off.
I'd love to toggle it on or off in a quicker manner. Well, we can do just that with the side panel here. So here you can see, I can enjoy more real estate of the website that I'm on or wherever I am reading.
And I can also include a fuller description of each and every one of those bookmarked pages. In the past, what I have often done with the bookmarks bar, is abbreviated a number of these titles, just so I could fit more on the screen up above.
But I don't need to do that here. In fact, I've got an awful lot of real estate. And if I want to expand that, I can do that here as well. This can also make things easier when you are managing and rearranging your bookmarks,
especially when you're moving things in between folders. So for example, I think I should put Walling under reference but first I need to open up reference, just to double check, okay that is where I want it to be. But here with the side panel,
I can expand or collapse anything I want. So I didn't have to make that extra click.
I can say, yes, I do want to move Walling down there. Perfect. I can group that together. So it's just an easier way to access and manage those bookmarks but also hide them at a click of a button, whenever I want to.
Journeys
Now the third option you will see within the Google side panel, is something called, Journeys. And recently I have been seeing this come up more and more frequently,
including when I am searching for something, especially something that I've perhaps searched for in the past. What Journeys is doing, is creating a bit of a history but it's more than just a history, it's grouping like-minded things together and it's also giving us some suggestions.
So here you can see, this is a much easier way to read my history and see where I have been and what I have been doing. But you'll also notice that down below, it's giving me some search suggestions.
These are not things that I typed in as a part of this history. But these are things that it believes I might find helpful. So under Pocket, maybe I want to search for Pocket App, Pocket Firefox or a Pocket game, whatever the case may be.
But it's grouping things together, as you can see, by the pages or the searches that I have done recently. So I can quickly and easily go back in time. If I want to come up here and use the search bar, I can do that as well. I'm going to type in todoist, for example.
And now everything will come back very, very quickly and easily. So if I want to jump back into something that I had forgotten about or if I want to review something from the past, this Journeys can make it that much easier. What I especially appreciate, is that even if you've gone
down a bit of a rabbit hole, maybe you've been searching on a page such as this, you can see that everything I did within Life Hacker, it's easy to read. I can see the full title and I'm just one click away from those pages that I visited in the past. So this Journeys continues to be developed and built out. Stay tuned for more features in the future.
Bonus Tip
Now one additional feature of the Google Side panel, is that when you open up any new tab, you may be familiar with this Google screen, which will show you either your most recent websites or a selection of shortcuts, which you have already added.
In the bottom right hand corner is this customized Chrome option. But if you happen to be on this page, you'll also see it here within the side panel. Now it doesn't matter which one you select, in fact, I'll just show you, if I collapse the side panel and I select customized Chrome, it's automatically going to expand that side panel and give me some options here.
So if I want to change the theme and if I want to be a little more creative here, I can do so. If I want to go back to a more traditional white background
or maybe I like something like this, that is really going to stand out, I can change my theme or customize it to my own color here. I also have a few other choices as well.
If I don't want to show those shortcuts, I can turn them off, perhaps if I think they are a little too distracting. And I can also toggle between my shortcuts, which you see here or most visited websites.
So depending on what you would like to appear here when you are opening up a new tab within Google Chrome. So whether you want an easier way to pin things to read later. If you want a better way to manage and also access
all of your bookmarks. Or quickly see where you have been and jump back into the action, the Google Side panel is worth checking out and is especially a better solution
for the Bookmarks bar up on top. Now I would love to hear from you next. What questions do you have about the Google Side panel or anything related to the Google Chrome browser? Be sure to let me know in the comments down below.
Thank you so much for watching. And remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.
