Modern browsing rarely involves having only one website open at a time. Knowing how to split screen on Chrome is such a useful skill to have. Whether you’re researching, writing, comparing prices, or managing multiple tools, swapping tabs constantly can quickly break your flow state. That’s why the new Google Chrome Split View feature is so welcome. It’s a productivity feature that a ton of browsers are adopting, and for good reason.
In this guide, I’ll briefly walk you through how to split screen on Chrome, explain shortcuts and menu options, give you some scenarios in which Google Chrome Split View is useful, and briefly bring up some alternate browsers that also have this feature.
What is Google Chrome Split View?
Google Chrome Split View is a new built-in browser feature that lets you display two tabs side by side within the same Chrome window. How you had to do it before (if you were on Windows) was to grab the window, drag it to the side of your screen to make it take up half of the screen, then do the same with a second window. What used to take multiple clicks, drags, and a slight pause for the OS to do a thing, is now handled much quicker.
On top of that, the new split view keeps both tabs active and visible at once in the same window, making it simpler to swap between the two as you no longer have to swap focus between two windows.
Google Chrome Split View VS Extensions
Before this feature existed, users relied on Chrome extensions to create split screen layouts. While some of these extensions still exist, they’re a lot less useful than the official feature.
- No third-party permissions required, meaning more security.
- Better performance, as extensions can be memory hungry.
- Seamless integration.
- No extra setup
That said, there are plenty of extensions that do other things! If you want to enhance your browser, check out our list of useful Chrome extensions.
How to Split Screen on Chrome (Step-by-Step Guide)
This section will cover how to utilize split screen. There will be two methods we will go over: using the right click context menu and to split screen using drag and drop.
Method 1: Using Google Chrome Split View from the Context Menu
This is the most straightforward method to activate split screen for Chrome.
- Open Google Chrome and make sure you have at least two tabs open.
- Right-click on a tab you want to split from the current tab you’re on.
- From the context menu, click “Add tab to new split view”. The wording may differ slightly depending on what vesrion of Chrome you’re using.
- Chrome will instantly create a split view tab, placing the selected tab side by side with your current one.
You now have two tabs displayed side by side within the same Chrome window. You can adjust the view in various ways. Clicking on the divider in the middle of the screen will let you resize each view. You can feel free to interact with each view as you would normally without having to alt tab to select a different window.
Method 2: How to Split Screen on Chrome Using Drag and Drop
Another easy way to create a split screen Chrome window is by dragging links.
- Click and hold on a hyperlink that you want to create a split view for.
- Drag it towards the left or right edge of the Chrome window.
- When you see a visual indicator, release the tab.
- Chrome will automatically create a side-by-side split view.
This method should feel natural if you’re already used to rearranging tabs or managing multiple Chrome windows.
One downside of this feature is that there are currently no keyboard shortcuts that will let you use this feature natively. You have to use your mouse to activate it, which can unfortunately slow down some shortcut focused workflows.
Do note that Chrome can be prone to slowdowns, and utilizing too many split view groups can potentially lead to high memory usage and slowdowns. If you run into these issues, make sure to check out our article about how to fix that here.
Things I Use Google Chrome Split View For
I personally find this tool fantastic. As somebody who was already regularly splitting his tabs into two windows and putting them side by side, this fit naturally into my existing workflow. Here are some of the ways I’ve already been using this new feature.
Comparing Prices and Products
Shopping becomes a whole lot easier when I’m able to throw up the details of two similar products right next to each other. Just as an example, throwing up two webpages side-by-side for similar products lets me compare the pricing, colors, features, and dimensions easily. I could also browse stores other than Amazon to see if there are any options that I might like better. The fact that hovering over one half of the tab is enough to scroll it up and down is enough to speed up the process significantly.
Researching and Writing Side by Side
When I’m writing articles, my workflow usually involves doing research on one half of the screen while I write on the other half of the screen. This is especially useful when I’m writing articles that relate to technical matters or when I’m double checking if the tutorial I’m writing is correct by testing it live.
Learning and Following Tutorials
When playing video games or learning how to do some hobby programming, the split screen view is extremely useful as it lets me throw up multiple guides or tutorials all on the same tab. Saving myself an alt-tab input to swap between three different windows is a great time saver.
Other Browsers with Split View
While this is a great new addition to Google Chrome, a couple of other browsers have had this feature built-in.
- Microsoft Edge included split screen browsing earlier, letting users view two tabs side by side within one window.
- Vivaldi has supported advanced tab tiling and split layouts since 2017.
- Opera and the more recent Opera GX has had this feature since 2024.
It might feel like Chrome is playing catch-up, but fear not! Google Chrome’s implementation feels more clean and intuitive compared to earlier versions of the feature.
Is Google Chrome Split View Worth Using?
If you find yourself constantly multitasking on your computer, odds are you’re already using a more brute force primitive version of this. If that’s the case, then knowing how to split screen on Chrome is absolutely worth it. Google Chrome Split View feels like a tiny improvement, but any optimization of the workflow is always welcome.
Because you can always access both tabs at any time, you no longer have to input a keyboard shortcut whenever you want to swap between them. This saves a surprising amount of time the longer you browse. While it is a bit of a letdown that there are no keyboard shortcuts for the feature itself, it’s still very much worth it.
If you want to maximize the productivity you can get from Chrome, combining this feature with smart extensions and various performance tweaks can transform Chrome into a powerful productivity hub. We hope that our various guides can help with that.
