Sometimes it’s a little thing that can make a big difference. Google has recently expanded its sidebar panel for Chrome that lets you customize the way you access handy items like bookmarks in an easy-to-read way. You may not have noticed the small square icon to the left of your profile picture in the upper right of your Chrome browser window, but that innocuous icon is the door to some nice customization that can make your browsing experience more productive.

The side panel gives quick access to your bookmarks, which you’re used to seeing listed as a horizontal row near the top of the Chrome window. To see more than 10 or so, you click the double arrow to see another batch, and to see them all, you click “All bookmarks.” The dropdown consists of the named documents or websites you’ve chosen to save, along with the associated icon for the document type or the website’s favicon (the tiny icon shown in a site’s tab when you have it open). It’s a bit of a clunky process. Instead, try clicking on the box with a shaded portion to open the side panel.

In the sidebar, you’ll see your bookmark listings nicely spaced. Notice the filter function at the top of your list. You can set the view to show you newest or oldest first, or in the order last opened, or in alphabetical order starting from A or Z. Use the pencil tool to edit your bookmarks: Check the corresponding box to delete, move to an existing folder or create a new one, or open in a new tab, a new window or an incognito window. You can easily remove the old bookmarks bar by right-clicking it and unchecking the Show bookmarks bar — a small thing that instantly declutters your window.

But a better bookmark feature is just the beginning.

In addition to bookmarks, you can easily switch between your reading list, browsing history, reading mode and search. Notice the small downward arrow in the Bookmarks box at the top of the panel. Click it to open the dropdown and see these five options.

Quick access to the Reading List is helpful when you’ve come upon an article you want to read but just don’t have the time at that moment. With the article page open, just click the blue button with the plus sign to add a current tab. When you’re ready, it will be right there for you. Once you’ve read a page, you can mark it as read and keep it or delete it.

Going into “Settings” to find your browsing history can take a minute. Using the side panel, you have immediate access to the tabs you recently closed. Your history is arranged from most recent by minutes, hours and then by days. Each of your browsing topics per session is boxed and you’ll notice Google includes suggested searches at the bottom of each group to find more information. When you click the three dots next to the time stamp, you have the option to open that group of sites in a new tab group, hide all items or remove them from your history.

The fourth feature in the sidebar is Reading Mode, which is particularly useful when you land on a webpage with lots of ads, pop-ups and other distractions. Reading Mode strips away these elements, leaving you with only the text. For instance, when you click Reading Mode on a news site like CNET, you’ll first see a list of linked stories in the side panel. Click on one you want to read and Chrome will show you just the text in this panel. Now is likely a good time to widen the sidebar to allow for longer lines of text. Simply put your cursor on the left edge of the panel and it will turn into a double arrow that can be dragged to adjust the panel’s width.

Finally, there is Search with a dash of artificial intelligence. Open Search from the panel dropdown to see your options. Google will serve up suggested searches related to the content you’re viewing, an AI-powered feature. You can also type in your own query or search by image using Google Lens. You’ll see a Google-colored camera icon in the search bar. Click on it to open Google Lens. Now you can drag an image from the webpage you’re viewing into the box and Google will show you where the image came from if it finds a match.

Leslie Meredith has been writing about technology for more than a decade. As a mom of four, value, usefulness and online safety take priority. Have a question? Email Leslie at asklesliemeredith@gmail.com.

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