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Click the Sideview icon in Chrome’s toolbar, or press Alt + Shift + S. Press it again to close the panel. If the icon isn’t visible, click the puzzle-piece button in the toolbar and pin Sideview.

Each tab at the top of the panel is one chat, shown by its provider’s logo. Click + for a new chat with the selected provider, or the arrow beside + to choose a different AI. You can have several chats with the same AI. Hover for a preview, drag to rearrange, and select a tab before clicking its × to close it. With Continue where you left off enabled, tabs reopen their remembered conversations.

No. Every supported AI site works straight after install. If you turned one off in Chrome’s settings for Sideview, the panel says so and offers to turn it back on. See the permissions page for the full list.

Yes. Choose ⋯ > Settings inside the panel. Use Providers to hide and reorder AIs. General includes the start provider, Sideview’s own theme, remembering chats and when unused tabs sleep. AI sites keep their own theme settings. Search settings if you are not sure where to look. Right-clicking the toolbar icon and choosing Options opens the same settings in a full tab.

Sideview shows a home view with provider shortcuts. Choose New chat or a provider to start again. Reopen last closed chat brings back the most recently closed tab during the same browser session. If Continue where you left off is off, reopening starts a fresh chat with that provider instead of saving its chat address.

Turn off Continue where you left off in ⋯ > Settings > General. Open chats keep working until you close the panel, but Sideview stops saving their addresses and titles. Each tab starts a new chat when you reopen. Settings > Privacy & data > Delete everything clears Sideview’s saved tabs, settings, prompts and session data while keeping your Pro sign-in status. This does not delete conversations stored by your AI providers.

Go to ⋯ > Settings > Microphone & camera. Allow the device you want to use; Sideview opens the full settings tab so Chrome can show its permission prompt. AI sites in the panel can then request that access. Sideview only checks access briefly and does not record audio or video, or keep your location. You can revoke access in Chrome’s site settings.

Open ⋯ > Settings > About to see the installed version. Chrome updates Web Store extensions automatically after an update is published. An open side panel or settings page can delay installation; close Sideview or restart Chrome to let a downloaded update apply. You can also open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode and click Update to check for published updates.

Sideview is designed for desktop browsers. Chrome 116 or later is our primary test browser. Edge, Brave and Vivaldi support Chrome extensions and sidebar extensions, so you can install the same package there; behavior and provider sign-in may differ. See Browser compatibility below for installation help. Support for Chrome extensions alone does not guarantee that a browser can display Sideview’s panel.

Open the Sideview listing in the desktop version of Microsoft Edge and choose Get or Add to Chrome. If Edge asks, select Allow extensions from other stores, then Add extension. Pin Sideview from the Extensions menu and click its icon to open the sidebar. The Edge button on this website uses this same Chrome Web Store listing. See Microsoft’s installation guide.

Both browsers support Chrome extensions and sidebar extensions. Open the Sideview listing in Brave or Vivaldi on your desktop, then use the store’s Add button and confirm the permissions. Chrome remains our primary test browser; we have not verified every Sideview feature or provider sign-in in Brave or Vivaldi. Their official guides cover installing extensions in Brave and Vivaldi.

Not every browser that accepts Chrome extensions has the sidebar support Sideview needs. If the extension installs but its panel will not open, use a current desktop version of Chrome or check your browser’s sidebar support. Sideview is designed for desktop use; we do not currently support mobile browsers, Safari or Firefox.

Some provider sign-in pages cannot load in the panel. When Sideview offers Sign in in a new tab, click it and finish signing in there; Sideview returns you to the panel. Some sign-in methods use a popup instead. You can also sign in on the provider’s own site in a normal tab, then choose ⋯ > Reload this chat.

Usually not. The panel shares your browser’s sessions, so a provider you’re signed in to in a normal tab is signed in in the panel too. If it isn’t, sign in in a normal tab, then choose ⋯ > Reload this chat at the top right of the panel.

Choose ⋯ > Reload this chat. Switching to another tab and back keeps the chat loaded, so it does not necessarily reload it. If the problem persists, check that the provider works in a normal browser tab and that its site access is enabled in Chrome’s settings for Sideview. Providers sometimes change their sites; contact us with the provider, your Chrome version and Sideview version if one stops working.

No. It opens the providers’ own websites, so your existing free or paid plans work as normal. Sideview never sees your passwords.

Open ⋯ > Settings > Account & plan and choose Sign in. Chrome asks to let Sideview talk to sideview.app, which is how the extension learns your plan. Approve it, then sign in on the page that opens. After that, the panel shows Pro within a minute or two. If it still doesn’t, make sure you signed in with the same email you used to subscribe.

The extension re-checks your plan every few minutes. Switch back to the panel and the features should disappear within a couple of minutes of signing out.

Open your account page and choose Manage billing. You keep Pro until the end of the period you’ve paid for, and you won’t be charged again.

Payments are non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. If something went wrong, such as being charged twice or Pro not working, email us and we’ll do our best to help. See the Terms.

From your account page, choose Manage billing. Payments are handled by Stripe, so your card details never reach us.

At the bottom of your account page. This removes your account and ends any subscription. Stripe keeps billing records such as invoices, as the law requires.

Use Forgot password on the sign-in page and we’ll email you a reset link. If you signed up with Google, choose Continue with Google instead.

Alt + Shift + S opens or closes the panel. Alt + Shift + P sends the current page to the chat. Alt + Shift + C sends a screenshot. Ctrl + Shift + K opens the command palette (Command + Shift + K on Mac). You can change any of them at chrome://extensions/shortcuts, and set keys for Summarize, Explain and Translate there too.

Another extension may already use that key. Open chrome://extensions/shortcuts, find Sideview, and pick a different key. Shortcuts that read the page also don’t work on Chrome’s own pages, such as the Web Store or new tab page, because Chrome blocks extensions there.

Choose ⋯ > Compare AIs side by side at the top right of the panel. Pick two or three AIs, type a question in the box at the bottom, and it goes to all of them at once. Choose the same item (now Stop comparing) to go back to one chat.

A click inside the side panel does not grant access to the current page, so capturing the visible tab from the panel requires all-sites permission. The same optional permission also enables the Quick chat dock if you turn it on. Without it, you can still take screenshots using Sideview’s keyboard shortcut or right-click menu on the page. Chrome restricts access to its own pages and the Web Store.

With Pro, enable Quick chat dock in ⋯ > Settings > General and allow access to all sites. A slim handle appears at the right edge of ordinary web pages, outside supported AI sites and sideview.app. Hover to open Quick chat, or use + to choose an AI. Selected text goes with your message; Include this page and Add a screenshot are optional. Sending opens Sideview and sends to the chosen AI. The dock is off by default and can be turned off in settings.

Site rules open a chosen provider on chosen sites, which means Sideview has to compare the address of your open tab with your rules. That happens in memory, and addresses are never stored or sent.

Make sure the panel is open and a provider has finished loading, then try again from the page you want to send. Chrome only lets Sideview read a page when you ask from that page, so use the keyboard shortcut or right-click menu on the page itself. The command palette version works only on the tab you last opened Sideview from.

Open the conversation you want in the panel, select its tab, and choose ⋯ > Save this chat. Pick Markdown or PDF; for PDF, choose Save as PDF in Chrome’s print dialog. The export includes the source chat link and export time. Each PDF has its own copy for reprinting. If you switch chats during capture, Sideview asks you to try again. Providers may load older messages on demand, so load any earlier content you need before exporting.

The free extension does not read page text or conversation contents. It does read chat addresses and titles inside the panel. Continue where you left off controls whether those addresses and titles are saved. Pro tools read a page or a chat only when you use them, and what they read goes into the chat you chose or a file you save, never to us. Read the Privacy Policy and the permissions page for detail.

AI sites tell browsers not to load them inside a frame, and the side panel is a frame. Sideview removes those two headers for the provider you picked, only inside its own panel. The same sites in a normal tab are untouched. The permissions page explains exactly where this applies.