Keep ChatGPT in your Chrome sidebar.
Open ChatGPT beside your browser tabs with your existing account. Keep separate chats for reading, writing and your next question.
By Sideview · Updated October 21, 2026 · Sideview 1.1.0
Open ChatGPT beside the page you are reading
Sideview opens the ChatGPT website in Chrome’s side panel. The page you are browsing stays visible beside it, and your chat stays open when you switch browser tabs. You use your own ChatGPT account, with the same plan and provider limits you have on the regular website. Sideview does not require an API key.
Set up the ChatGPT sidebar
- Install Sideview from the Chrome Web Store in desktop Chrome 116 or later, then pin it from Chrome’s Extensions menu.
- Click Sideview’s toolbar icon, or press Alt + Shift + S, to open the panel.
- Use the arrow beside + at the top of the panel and choose ChatGPT.
- If you need to sign in, follow Sideview’s sign-in hand-off to a normal tab. Complete the provider’s sign-in and return to the panel.
If you already use ChatGPT in the same Chrome profile, the panel normally shares that signed-in session. You can change the starting provider in ⋯ > Settings > General.
Keep several ChatGPT conversations open
Click + while a ChatGPT chat is selected to open another. Each chat gets its own tab in Sideview, so your reading notes can stay separate from a draft or a coding question. Drag the tabs to reorder them and hover over a tab for its preview.
With Continue where you left off enabled in General settings, Sideview remembers the chat addresses and titles locally. Unused tabs can sleep to save memory. You can turn remembering off, or clear Sideview’s saved data in Privacy & data. Your ChatGPT conversations remain subject to ChatGPT’s own history and account settings.
What is free, and what needs Pro?
Opening ChatGPT, using multiple chat tabs and keeping the sidebar open across browser tabs are free. You do not need a Sideview account for these features. A ChatGPT subscription is separate from Sideview.
Sideview Pro adds tools to send the current page, selected text or a screenshot to the chat, plus saved prompts, provider comparison and conversation export. A screenshot requires a provider and plan that accept images. The free sidebar does not automatically read the page you are viewing.
If ChatGPT is blank or signed out
Check that ChatGPT works in a normal browser tab. Then choose ⋯ > Reload this chat in Sideview. Switching away from a Sideview tab and back does not necessarily reload it. If a problem persists, the support guide covers sign-in and site access.
