As browser wars heat up, Chrome adds new productivity features

Source: TechCrunch

Chrome adds new productivity features

As AI companies and startups push their way into the web browser market, the world’s biggest browser, Google Chrome, is rolling out a handful of new features. The company announced the official launch of three options—Split View, PDF annotations, and a “Save to Google Drive” feature—designed to integrate Chrome more tightly with Google’s other online services.

While these additions aren’t AI‑focused, Google has already integrated its Gemini AI assistant into Chrome (source). The move responds to growing competition from AI providers like OpenAI and Perplexity, which are experimenting with agentic browsers. This “browser wars” pressure has pushed Google to accelerate consumer‑facing feature development.

Split View

Split View makes multitasking easier by placing two pages side‑by‑side in the same tab. You can work across two webpages or watch a video while taking notes.

• How to use: Drag a tab to the left or right edge of the browser window, or right‑click a link and select “Open Link in Split View.”
• Exiting: Right‑click the Split View layout and choose the exit option.

Image Credit: Google

PDF Annotations

The PDF annotations feature lets you add notes, highlight text, digitally sign, fill out forms, and make other edits directly in the browser—no need to download the file and open a separate application.

Image Credit: Google

Save to Google Drive

The new Save to Google Drive option allows you to store any PDF directly in your Drive instead of on your local device. Saved files appear in a “Saved from Chrome” folder, making them easy to locate.

Image Credit: Google

Looking ahead

Today’s update follows the recent expansion of Gemini and other agentic features for Chromebook users. Chrome is also poised to adopt vertical tabs, a feature first popularized by competitors such as The Browser Company’s Arc and its AI‑focused browser Dia. Users can already enable vertical tabs experimentally by changing a flag (example).

By adding these productivity tools, Google aims to give Chrome users fewer reasons to switch to alternative browsers.