Tidy Sidebar

Name: Tidy Sidebar
Rating: 3.696551724137931 (145 reviews)
Author: http://whatever-will-be-que-sera-sera.tumblr.com/

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Tidy Sidebar is a Chrome extension designed to enhance your browsing experience by providing an efficient sidebar for managing tabs and bookmarks. It features a docked sidebar that displays your open tabs and organizes bookmarks, allowing you to add tags for easier categorization and retrieval. You can quickly search bookmarks by typing an asterisk followed by a space in the address bar.

The extension supports customizable keyboard shortcuts, such as toggling the sidebar on/off with Alt+A, which can be adjusted via Chrome's extension settings under "Configure commands." Although Tidy Sidebar development has stopped, it remains a tool tailored for users who want an organized and accessible sidebar to streamline their tab management and bookmark searching workflows. Note that there is a limit to write operations on bookmarks per hour as per Chrome's extension API limitations.

Extension Productivity Developer Tools

By:

http://whatever-will-be-que-sera-sera.tumblr.com/

Users:

4,000

Rating:

3.70

(145)

Version:

5.2 Last updated: 2017-02-15

Creation date:

2017-02-15

Risk:

Permissions:

storage
unlimitedStorage
bookmarks
history
tabs
contextMenus
chrome://favicon/*
sessions
http://*/*
https://*/*

Size:

189.00KB

URLs:

Website

Full description:

Source:

Chrome Web Store

Data ingested on:

2025-07-11

Ranking

# 13,987 ▲ 108

Other rankings

#3491 in Workflow & Planning ▲ 10 #18 in sidebar keyword 47 ▼ 1 #72 in programmer keyword 7 ▼ 2 #218 in typing keyword 27 ▲

Top 10 Best Sidebar Extensions for Chrome in 2025

User reviews

Tidy Sidebar is appreciated for providing a versatile and customizable sidebar to Chrome, filling a functionality gap by managing bookmarks, tabs, and notes with useful features. However, multiple users report bugs such as flickering, focus stealing, docking issues, and UI quirks, especially on newer Chrome versions or complex display setups. While it works well for many, the lack of ongoing development means some issues remain unaddressed. Overall, it is considered better than no sidebar but suffers from instability on certain systems.

Pros

Provides a customizable sidebar for bookmarks, tabs, history, and notes that many users find useful and simple.
Offers features like drag and drop URL organization, resizing, and color customization that enhance user experience.
Works well for users looking for a sidebar similar to Firefox's or Opera's, filling a gap in Chrome's functionality.
Minimizes and maximizes smoothly with Chrome, without losing focus or window position for most users.
Supports multiple functionalities beyond bookmarks, such as tab listing, history, and a memo pad.

Cons

Has bugs on certain Chrome versions causing flickering, refreshing, or bookmarks bar shifting off-screen.
Issues with window management like stealing focus from the main Chrome window, improper docking, and resizing problems, especially on multi-monitor or 4K displays.
Development appears to have stopped, leading to unresolved bugs and lack of updates.
Some users experienced compatibility problems with other third-party desktop extensions or tools that constrain window positions.
Recently closed tabs function does not refresh properly and UI can be confusing regarding toolbar buttons and tab management.

Recent reviews

ENG Ugly to see, the drag and drop does not work. Moreover, the sidebar keeps on stealing focus from the chrome main window, preventing interactions with it. ITA Bruttissima da vedere, non funziona il drag and drop Oltretutto, la barra ruba continuamente il focus dalla finestra di chrome, rendendo quest'ultima inutilizzabile

En*****, 2022-09-19

Unfortunately, it no longer works: it is refreshing its own window every second.

To*****, 2021-09-08

Maybe 5... i think there is a bug with Chrome Version 90.0.4430.93 (Official Build) (32-bit) on th size bar. If you set Width more 300px, others tab fit size in windows but bookmarks bar is permanent to 300px. if you correct bug, i change my review to 5 stars because is very simply ed efficient extension.

It*****, 2021-05-03

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

Tidy Sidebar requires a lot of sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
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Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Chrome extension may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Chrome extension reputation on Chrome Web Store, the amount of time the Chrome extension has been around, and other signals about the Chrome extension. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Chrome extension.

Tidy Sidebar is probably trust-worthy. Prefer other publishers if available. Exercise caution when installing this extension.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension publisher URL may be invalid
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