Chrome adds new productivity features as browser wars heat up

Google Chrome, the world’s largest browser, is rolling out several new features as AI companies and startups move into the web browser market. The company on Thursday announced the official release of three options designed to more deeply integrate Chrome with one of Google’s other online services, including Split View, PDF annotation, and a “Save to Google Drive” feature.

Although these specific additions aren’t AI-focused, Google has already integrated its Gemini AI assistant into Chrome. The move comes in response to increased competition from AI providers such as OpenAI and Perplexity, which are dabbling in agentic browsers. These so-called browser wars have allowed Google to slow down the development and release of more consumer features.

Split View makes multitasking in Chrome easier by allowing you to view two pages side by side in the same tab. This allows you to work across two web pages or watch a video while taking notes. To use this feature, drag the tab to the left or right edge of your browser window, or right-click the link and click[リンクを分割ビューで開く]Select. The tabs will automatically snap into place. When you no longer need it, you can exit the split view layout by right-clicking and using the options that appear.

Another practical addition is the PDF annotation feature. This feature allows you to add annotations to PDFs and highlight text in PDFs from your browser. This means you don’t have to download the PDF, open it in another application, and interact with its content. This option has been around for a long time and can make it much easier to perform basic PDF tasks, such as digitally signing documents, filling out forms, and making notes in files and personal documents.

Finally, the new Save to Google Drive feature lets you save PDFs directly to your Google Drive account instead of on your computer, where you might lose them. With this feature, saved files appear in the Saved from Chrome folder in Drive, making them easier to find.

Today’s update follows last month’s expansion of Gemini and other agent features for Chromebook users. And soon, Chrome will adopt another change first pioneered by its competitors: support for vertical tabs. (Technically savvy users can also enable this option by changing the flag, which is currently in an experimental stage.)

This reimagined way to organize your open tabs was one of the flagship features of The Browser Company’s first alternative browser, Arc, and is now featured in Dia, the company’s AI browser. By adding this and other features, Google hopes to give Chrome users fewer reasons to switch.