When we surf the internet in search of different types of information, we come across a vast variety of web pages with all the information we need. It would be difficult to come back and search for a piece of particular information, from a particular website, if in case you lose the information. Having the web page bookmarked is a good way to find your way back to the desired web page with the particular information. To make this easier, adding a bookmark sidebar to Chrome can be of additional support.

Most Google Chrome users bookmark the websites they use so that it would be easy to find the web pages when the need arises. To make it easier, you can try out the new feature: Adding a Bookmark Sidebar to Chrome.

This allows you to access your preferred sites all the time without having to keep opening the Bookmarks tab every time you need to access your bookmarks.

There are two methods in which you can add a bookmarks sidebar to Chrome. This post will walk you through these two methods in simple steps.

Adding a Bookmark Sidebar to Chrome by Enabling a Flag Setting

In this method, you can add a bookmarks sidebar by going to the Experimental tab in Google Chrome. Many features offered by Chrome are hidden in this Experimental tab which gives you many experimental features of the browser.

You can go to the Experimental tab where you can find the flag settings which give you access to these features. Among the various options in flag settings, you can find the Side Panel option. This option, when enabled, gives you access to a bookmark and reading list sidebar, which is, if not hidden from the window.

You can follow these steps for adding a bookmarks sidebar to Chrome by enabling the flag:

1. After opening Google Chrome, type chrome://flags/ in the URL bar.
2. Press the Return key on the keyboard.
3. Enter the words Side Panel in the search box of the Experiments page.
4. Select the drop-down menu of the Side Panel flag and click Enabled.

5. If you need to give the bookmarks sidebar an additional drag-and-drop functionality, you can select Enabled from the drop-down menu of the Side panel drag and drop flag setting.

6. After you have selected your preferences, press the Relaunch button to restart the browser.

After restarting the browser, you will see the URL toolbar includes a Show side panel button. When you click this button, the sidebar which includes a Reading list and Bookmarks tabs will appear as show below. You can select the Bookmarks tab in order to view the webpages you have saved.

When you click any bookmarked page, it will open in the active tab. If you want to open the webpage in a new tab, you can right-click the bookmark in the sidebar and select Open in a new tab.

Adding a Bookmark Sidebar to Chrome by Using Bookmark Sidebar Extension

In addition to the above method, you can also add a Bookmarks Sidebar to your browser by adding the Bookmarks Sidebar extension available in Google Chrome. You can add this extension by clicking Add to Chrome which can be found on the Bookmarks Sidebar page.

After adding the extension, you can access it from the jigsaw-puzzle-shaped icon which is the Extension button located on the URL toolbar. Then you can add the button of the extension to the URL toolbar just by selecting the Pin option of the Bookmarks Sidebar.

After following the above step, click the Bookmarks Sidebar extension button which opens the new sidebar. Right-clicking on a bookmarked page will give you the choice of preference. You can choose whether to open the bookmarked webpage in a new tab, new window, or even incognito. You can also select URL options like delete, edit and copy for bookmarks from this sidebar.

Drag-and-Drop in the Bookmarks Sidebar

This is another favorable feature found in the Bookmarks Sidebar. When this feature is enabled, webpages that you want to bookmark can be dropped onto the sidebar to bookmark them.

Click the small padlock icon which is found in the left corner of the URL search bar and hold the mouse button for some time. Then, drag the padlock to the Bookmarks tab.

Customizing and Configuring the Bookmarks Sidebar

1. Position

You can decide on which side the sidebar appears in your browser window based on your convenience. Right-click the Bookmarks extension button on the URL toolbar and select Options. Then, the Settings tab will pop open. In this tab, click Sidebar > General >Position option.

In this option, you can select either Left or Right from the Position drop-down menu. This will decide on which side the sidebar appears in the browser.

2. Appearance

You can also change the appearance and design of the bookmarks sidebar. For this, select the Appearance option in the Settings tab. Click General and select your preferred Color Scheme and Text Color options. If you want to change the font, you can select a different font from the Typeface drop-down menu in the side panel.

3. Size Settings

The sidebar’s size also can be changed based on your preferences. To change the size, click Appearance > Sidebar. Here, you can select between large, medium, or small. You can manually adjust the settings for font, width, icon, scrollbar, and tooltip sizes by dragging their scrollbars left and right.

After setting all your preferences, make sure you click the Save Changes button.

You can download the Bookmarks Sidebar for Google Chrome from here.

Using Bookmarks Sidebar to Access Your Favorite Websites

A bookmarks sidebar is a cool new feature added to Google Chrome. This makes it easier to access all your favorite websites through the side panel without even opening the Bookmarks tab. Adding a Bookmark Sidebar to Chrome will enable you to have direct access to your favorite websites even when you are browsing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Benefit of Bookmarking?

Bookmarking helps you to find back the exact place in a book, magazine, or website where you left off. This will not only make it easier for you to carry on with your work but also saves a lot of time.

What is Social Bookmarking?

Social Bookmarking is the method used to search, manage, organize and store web content which users think that they will need to revisit. The sites that have been bookmarked can be visited back anytime easily.

Where to find my Bookmarks in Chrome?

Open the Google Chrome Browser, click the Menu bar and then click Bookmarks and then Show Bookmarks Bar. You can also use the shortcut keys Ctrl+Shift+B in Windows or Chrome OS and Command+Shift+B in MacOS.

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