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How to split screen in Chrome

Updated 2026-10-16 · Split View extension, Chrome 114 or newer

To split screen in Chrome, install the Split View extension from the Chrome Web Store and press Ctrl+Shift+S. The tab you are on takes the left half of the screen and the tab you were on before takes the right, as two real Chrome windows. For a different tab, a stacked split, or three and four panes, press Ctrl+Shift+L and pick them in the popup.

How do I split my screen in two, 50/50?

Press Ctrl+Shift+S. This is Lightning split: no popup, the current tab goes left, the previous one goes right, each window sized to half of the monitor's work area with the taskbar excluded. A small toast confirms it, and Ctrl+Shift+Z undoes it if it picked the wrong tab.

To choose the second tab yourself, press Ctrl+Shift+L or click the toolbar icon, keep 50/50 selected, type a few letters of the tab's title and press Enter. The layout row also has a stacked 50/50, one window above the other.

How do I put a specific tab next to this one?

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+L. The popup lists your open tabs.
2. Pick a layout: 50/50 side by side or stacked, or one of the multi-pane grids.
3. Type to find the tab, select it, press Enter. Both windows snap into place on the monitor you are on.

Mac uses ⌃ in place of Ctrl. Every shortcut can be rebound at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

How do I split a Chrome window into three or four panes?

Open the popup and choose a multi-pane layout: main + 2, two panes over a strip, a T-shape, or a 2×2 grid. Pick a tab for each pane and press Enter. Close one pane with the × in the popup banner and the others re-tile to fill the gap.

How do I change the ratio after splitting?

Drag the edge where the two windows meet. The other window follows, so the split stays seamless at 60/40, 70/30 or wherever you let go. To swap sides, click Swap in the popup banner.

How do I undo, or get back to one window?

Ctrl+Shift+Z restores the previous arrangement: window bounds, tab placement and the active tab. Ctrl+Shift+E, or Exit split in the popup, merges every pane's tabs back into one window that fills the screen. After a close or an exit, a toast in the page offers undo as well.

How do I keep a layout I use every day?

With a split active, click Save in the popup banner and name it. The saved layout stores each pane's page, the layout and the monitor it was on. Next time, open the popup and click the name: the windows come back in one click.

Does it work with two monitors?

Yes. The split lands on the monitor your current window is on. With more than one display connected, the popup shows a monitor strip; click a different one before pressing Enter. The two-monitor guide covers the details.

What happens to pinned tabs and tab groups?

Pinned tabs stay pinned and grouped tabs stay in their group when they move between windows. If an action would be disruptive, the Split View extension asks first.

Does the Split View extension use iframes?

No. Most split-screen extensions load the second page in an iframe, and Gmail, Google Docs, most banks and almost anything with a login refuse to render there. The Split View extension never embeds a page: each pane is a real Chrome window, so every site behaves as it does in a normal tab. It asks for no host permissions either, so it cannot read any website; see the privacy policy.

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