5 New Browser Features to Try Now

If you’re like most people, your web browser is a chaotic collection of open tabs full of work projects, online shopping, and half-read articles. While you have been browsing, you might be missing out on powerful new tools hidden right under your nose.

Browser makers like Google and Microsoft have recently added a suite of smart features designed to help you multitask, stay organized, and even save battery life without having to add any extensions. These are not just minor tweaks. They are genuinely useful tools that can change how you work online.

This guide skips the obvious tips and focuses on 5 new and practical features that you should start using today.

1. Split Your Screen for Better Multitasking

Constantly switching between browser tabs to compare products or reference information can be a major drain on your focus. A new feature, available in browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, solves this by letting you view two web pages side-by-side within a single tab. This is perfect for tasks like taking notes from a video, comparing hotel listings, or referencing a document while you compose an email.

How to Use It

In Google Chrome, the process is simple. Right-click on any open tab you want to include in the split view. From the menu that appears, you should see an option to “Split tab.” This will create a split-screen view inside that one tab.

In Microsoft Edge, look for the split-screen icon in your address bar, which looks like a square with a line down the middle. Clicking this will also allow you to select another page to open alongside your current one, tidily organized within one tab.

2. Organise Your Tabs with AI

If your browser often looks like a long, disorganised list of 20 or more open tabs, this new feature in Google Chrome is for you. Instead of manually creating tab groups, you can now use artificial intelligence to do the work for you. With a single click, the browser will analyse your open tabs and automatically sort them into logical groups, such as “Shopping,” “Work Project,” or “News.” This instantly turns a chaotic mess into a clean, organised workspace.

How to Use It

This feature is incredibly easy to use. Simply right-click on any one of your open tabs in Google Chrome. In the menu that appears, select the option “Organise similar tabs.” The browser will then take a moment to process your tabs and create neat, labelled groups for you.

3. Read Articles Without Distractions

Web articles are often cluttered with ads, videos, and complex layouts that make it hard to focus on the text. To fix this, most modern browsers include a built-in “Reader View” or “Immersive Reader”. This powerful tool strips away all the distracting elements from a page, leaving you with a clean, simple view of just the article’s text and main images. It is perfect for reading long articles without interruption.

How to Use It

Activating this feature is simple. In browsers like Firefox and Safari, look for a small icon in the address bar that appears on compatible pages, which usually looks like a book or a page of text. Clicking it will reload the page in the clean reader format.

For Microsoft Edge, the feature is often found as an icon in the address bar, similar to Firefox and Safari.

In Google Chrome, the process is slightly different but equally straightforward. When you are on an article page, simply right-click anywhere on the page and select the option “Open in Reader mode.” The page will then reload in a simplified, distraction-free format.

4. Improve Your Browser’s Performance

If you frequently have many tabs open at once, your web browser can consume a significant amount of your computer’s memory (RAM) and battery life. To combat this, both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge have introduced powerful performance-saving modes. These features work by automatically putting inactive tabs to “sleep,” freeing up resources for the pages you are actively using. This can make your entire computer feel more responsive and is especially useful for extending battery life on a laptop.

How to Use It

In Google Chrome, you can enable this by going to Settings and clicking on the “Performance” tab in the left-hand menu. From there, you will see a toggle switch to turn on the “Memory Saver” feature.

In Microsoft Edge, go to Settings and select “System and performance” from the menu. Here, you will find options to enable both “Efficiency mode” and “Sleeping tabs,” which work together to optimise your browser’s resource usage.

5. Use Your Browser’s Built-in AI Assistant

Artificial intelligence is no longer something you need to find on a separate website. Most modern browsers are now integrating powerful AI assistants directly into the browser itself. This is much more than a simple chatbot; these tools can analyse the content of the page you are currently viewing. You can ask them to summarise a long article, explain a complex topic in simple terms, or even help you draft an email based on the information on your screen, all without needing to switch tabs.

How to Use It

The implementation varies slightly between browsers, reflecting their different priorities.

In Microsoft Edge, the feature is called Copilot and is the most prominent. You can access it by clicking the Copilot icon in the top-right corner of the browser, which opens the AI assistant in a convenient sidebar.

The Brave browser offers a similar privacy-focused tool called Leo, which is also typically accessed via an icon in the sidebar.

Google Chrome is integrating its AI in a more contextual way. For example, you can often right-click on a text field and select “Help me write” to get assistance with drafting content.

Firefox is taking a different, more privacy-focused approach by developing AI features that run locally on your computer, like its link-preview tool, rather than relying on cloud-based assistants.