Summary
- Google has announced three new features for Chrome: split view, PDF annotation, and “Save to Google Drive.”
- Split view opens two tabs side-by-side in one Chrome window, while the other two tools let you work with PDFs directly in the browser.
- All three features are rolling out now.
Today, Google announced that it’s adding some useful new productivity features to Chrome: split view, PDF annotations, and “Save to Google Drive.” Google says these tools are “built to help you focus, collaborate and get things done more quickly.”
Split view
Double the fun
The first new feature is split view. Technically, this has been available to some users since late last year, but it’s officially rolling out to all users today.
As the name suggests, split view lets you open two tabs side-by-side in the same window. Google provides some examples of how people are using the feature: “One teacher told us they use split view to more easily grade papers in the classroom, others love using it to take notes on YouTube videos, and developers are even using it to reference documentation while they code.”
Chrome isn’t the first browser to offer built-in split view — Edge, Arc (also a great browser for productivity), and Vivaldi all have it natively, while Firefox can do it with extensions. Chrome’s implementation is very simple, with none of the tiling shenanigans that Vivaldi can pull. However, it’ll be a nice addition to users who either prefer Chrome or are forced to use it for work (if that’s you, you should also consider replacing the new tab page).
Now, you might be thinking that you can already do this by just opening two windows side-by-side — and you’d be correct. However, doing it in the same browser window can have its advantages. The main one is that it’s treated as a single tab, which can make management much easier (especially on Mac, where window management remains a pain point).
PDF annotations
Sometimes the best tool is the one you have on hand
The second new feature is the ability to annotate PDFs directly in the browser. If you normally open PDFs in Chrome and only go to a different app to annotate, this will be super useful. As with the split tabs, the features available are pretty simple — there’s a draw tool in the toolbar, where you can select a pen, highlighter, or eraser. Each has several options for line thickness and color. It won’t replace a dedicated tool for those who do a lot of work with PDFs, but it’s excellent if (like me) you just need to perform the occasional markup or signature.
Save to Google Drive
No more juggling files
Finally, Google has added a new “Save to Google Drive” function. There’s now a button in the PDF viewer to send PDFs directly to Google Drive. There’s a new folder called “Saved from Chrome” that will house these files. The nice thing here is that it’s a one-click process, whereas before you’d need to either download the file and then reupload it to Drive or use the Print to Drive option in the Print menu.
These might not be the flashiest features, but they’ll be very useful to the right audience. Personally, I’ll take them any day over more Gemini integrations.
These features are rolling out now — all three are available to me on Chrome version 145.0.7632.76.
