# Open in Sidebar

> Open link, tab or bookmark in sidebar.

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-link-in-sidebar](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-link-in-sidebar)

## Overview

- **ID:** `open-link-in-sidebar`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** Afnan Khan
- **Category:** other
- **Daily users:** 1,461
- **Weekly downloads:** 21
- **Rating:** 4.29 / 5 (62 ratings)
- **Version:** 2019.7.8
- **Last updated:** 2019-07-08
- **First published:** 2017-12-01
- **Size:** 107 KB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-14
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/open-link-in-sidebar/)

## Description

Open in Sidebar is a Chrome extension designed to enhance your browsing workflow by allowing you to open links, tabs, or bookmarks directly in a sidebar. This feature enables efficient multitasking, so you can view and interact with multiple pages simultaneously without cluttering your main window. Whether you're researching, comparing products, or managing resources, Open in Sidebar streamlines your workflow by keeping important content accessible at all times.

## Rankings

- #2,696 — Overall
- #7 — sidebar
- #8 — deepseek sidebar
- #15 — openvpn
- #19 — openclaw
- #22 — openai

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `menus`
- `storage`
- `bookmarks`
- `<all_urls>`
- `webRequest`
- `webRequestBlocking`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** High risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Low risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
- This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

## Review summary

Users love that the add-on restores a simple, minimal sidebar feature and find it very useful. The top complaints are the inability to resize the sidebar, lack of configuration (default URL, per-site rules, persistence), and occasional layout/loading integration issues; several users also ask for UI improvements like a toolbar button and better dark-theme icon visibility.

### Pros

- Restores a removed/expected Firefox sidebar feature — many users appreciate getting it back
- Simple, minimal and works as expected — lightweight and easy to use
- Handy and useful for specific tasks (users mention messaging, music, bookmarks)

### Cons

- Sidebar width is not resizable / appears too large — repeated annoyance and workaround requests
- Limited configuration: no default/startup URL, no per-site or pinned-tabs rule to always open in the sidebar, and no persistence (e.g., keep an app playing when closing)
- Layout/loading issues and site integration problems (messengers, some pages) plus limited UI options — requests for a toolbar button, context-menu control, and better icon visibility in dark theme

## Similar extensions and apps

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- [Open in Sidebar](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open_in_sidebar) — 213 users, 4.74 / 5
- [Link Preview Sidebar](https://chrome-stats.com/d/link-preview-sidebar) — 54 users, 5.00 / 5
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- [Open in Safari](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-in-safari) — 503 users, 4.57 / 5
- [Open in Chrome](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-in-chrome) — 50 users
- [Page Sidebar | Open any page in side panel](https://chrome-stats.com/d/page-sidebar) — 864 users, 4.53 / 5
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- [Open All Links](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open_all_links) — 9 users
- [Open All Links](https://chrome-stats.com/d/openalllinks) — 4 users

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-link-in-sidebar)