Browsing websites on Chrome in Multi Window is common but did you know you can keep your place by opening links in the other window?
It seems like it took Google forever to finally add official support for multi window on Android but I do have to say that when it was added the feature worked exactly as expected. We’ve seen other smartphone companies implement their own version of multi window before but none of them were as seamless as what Google ended up adding in.
The feature in generally seems like it would be quite basic and not have many options to it but there are actually some things about multi window that you may not be aware of.
For example, did you know that you can still use the quick application switcher by double tapping the Recents button while you have multi window activated? There are even some 3rd-party applications that will interact with Android’s multi window feature and that’s what I wanted to show you today. If you’re using Google Chrome (and possibly other web browsers if they add support for it), then you can open up a link in a new window just like you would on the desktop.
Except since we’re on Android the newly opened up web page link will appear in the other side of the screen. Let me show you how it works.
Open Multi Window Chrome Links in the Other Side
- Open up the Chrome application
- Press the Recents button
- Then tap and drag the Chrome application to the top of the screen
- Tap the Home button and browse to the other application you want to use in Multi Window mode
- Now, browse the web with Chrome in Multi Window mode
- Then long press on a link within the Chrome application
- Tap the new Open in Other Window option
- Then watch the link get opened in Chrome in the other side of the screen
- Now Chrome will manage multiple sets of tabs for each instance of Chrome that is opened
Explanation
I personally don’t have the need to use multi window that often on Android and if I do then it’s rarely to browse the web with Chrome. However, I do know that doing things like reading through online forums or watching YouTube videos in Chrome while doing something else in another application is quite popular. It’s the main reason why a lot of people only bought Samsung or LG phones before Google ended up adding the feature into the core Android operating system.
When you think about it, this option to open up a website within Chrome in the other multi window side is actually very intuitive. These mobile operating systems can be quite restrictive at times though so it isn’t something that I immediately thought was possible. Then when I saw the feature in action it just clicked as that is how something like this should really work. So to start, we need to open up Chrome and then activate Android’s multi window feature so that we can open up a second application.
It doesn’t matter what the other application is, but it can be anything else you have installed that also supports the multi window feature. Now you can start to browse the web in Chrome like you normally would by opening new tabs, closing out other ones, going to different websites and more. I don’t long press a Chrome link on a smartphone or tablet too often but when you do with this setup you will see a new option appear in the list. Again, this is assuming that you have set everything up as described and shown in the video above.
The new option is labeled Open in Other Window and as I said this works exactly as it described. So, if you have Chrome in the top part of the screen or the bottom then tapping this option will open up the link in the other window. It’s actually quite handy as it will be treated like two different Chrome windows and each one will have their own set of tabs for you to switch through. When you’re done with this, you can swipe the multi window divider to exit this split screen feature and all of your Chrome tabs will be condensed into the single open instance.
