How to open your Chrome bookmarks in the side panel

Updated 18 October 2026

Open the three-dot menu and choose Bookmarks and lists › Show bookmarks in side panel (older versions call it Show all bookmarks). Your bookmarks open in a panel beside the page. Pin it to the toolbar to open it in one click, and move it to the left side in Settings.

Open the bookmarks side panel

1. Click the three-dot menu at the top right of Chrome.
2. Choose Bookmarks and lists › Show bookmarks in side panel.
3. The panel opens beside the page with your folders at the top. Click a folder to open it, or a bookmark to visit it.

Close it with the X at the top right of the panel. To make it wider or narrower, drag its inner edge.

Pin it to the toolbar

With the panel open, select the pin button at the top of the panel (Pin to toolbar). A Bookmarks button then sits in the toolbar next to your profile picture and opens the panel in one click. To remove it, right-click the button and choose Unpin. Chrome’s list of keyboard shortcuts has none for the side panel, so the pinned button is the quickest way in.

Move it to the left

1. Open chrome://settings/appearance.
2. Find the side panel position setting, labelled Side panel or Side panel position depending on your version.
3. Choose the left side. If you see separate rows for Gemini and AI Mode, change the one called Chrome Panels.

This is the closest Chrome gets to a bookmarks list down the left edge of the window. The bookmarks bar itself only runs across the top.

What you can do inside the panel

• Search: the box at the top searches all your bookmarks.
• Sort: click Organize and choose newest, oldest, last opened, A to Z or Z to A. This changes only the panel’s list, which starts out newest first. Folders always stay on top, and your bookmarks bar keeps its own order.
• Switch the view: toggle between a compact list and a visual view that shows page images.
• Edit several at once: click Edit, tick bookmarks, then move or delete them together.
• Open one your way: a bookmark’s three-dot menu opens it in a new tab, a new window, an Incognito window or a new tab group, and lets you edit or delete it.
• Save the page you’re on: Add current tab bookmarks it without leaving the panel.

Side panel, bookmarks bar or Bookmark Manager?

The reading list is next door

Pages you save to read later live in a separate list in the same panel. Open it from the three-dot menu › Bookmarks and lists › Reading list › Show reading list. To add a page, right-click its tab and choose Add tab to reading list.