Chrome will let you pin Side Panel tools like Bookmarks, Notes, and more for quick access

Chrome’s Side Panel feature has become instrumental in making the browsing experience better and more personal for me and many others since it initially launched. For anyone unfamiliar, it’s a nifty little tool that houses your Bookmarks, sticky notes (coming soon), History Journeys, Read Later articles, and more. It truly is a one-stop shop for all your saved browsing session data.

However, with so many things crammed into one panel, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to navigate, as I’ve been anything but shy to point out in the past. It looks like Google is going the extra step to mitigate this issue though. First spotted by Leopeva64 on Twitter, the area at the top-right of the browser where your Chrome extensions can be pinned may soon feature a pinned Side Panel tool (or tools) of your choosing.

It seems that it will be possible to pin the different Side panel entries (Journeys, Bookmarks, Notes, etc.) to the Chrome toolbar, for now the only pinned entry is 'Companion', but according to the commit, other entries could be pinned in the future:https://t.co/ye1jZzglwx
. pic.twitter.com/1Gsc2l3tK0

— Leopeva64 (@Leopeva64) March 18, 2023

Create toolbar container for side panel.

This cl creates the toolbar container for the side panel button and
pinned CSC button. Followup work will include the ability to
unpin/repin, storing this as a profile pref, and updating button
highlighting when CSC is visible.

Bug: b:272116476

According to a Chromium Commit, whatever you pin (be it your Journeys, Notes, etc.) can be launched with just one click, and your preferences will be synced with the Chrome browser in a future update. Right now, in order to access any of these tools, you have to first launch the side panel, but the pinned option will reduce your workflow by one click, allowing instantaneous access. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether or not this is cool, but for shortcut geeks like me, the fewer clicks I have to perform the better!

I have to admit, when the Side Panel first came out, I was a bit skeptical. I was worried that it would quickly devolve into a hot mess or jumble of everything Google could fit into it for the sake of doing so, but so far, nearly everything done to it has been thoughtful and considerate of the user experience. We’ll keep you up-to-date on this, but for now, there’s no official timeline for when you can access it.