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The sidebar is one of Page Assist’s most powerful features, allowing you to interact with your AI models directly from any webpage without opening a new tab. This makes it perfect for quick questions, webpage analysis, and maintaining context while browsing.
Some browsers may not support the sidebar feature. Check the Browser Support page to verify compatibility.

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Opening the Sidebar

There are three ways to open the Page Assist sidebar:
1

From the browser toolbar

  1. Click the Page Assist icon in your browser toolbar
  2. Select “Open Sidebar” from the menu
Or right-click the icon and select “Open Sidebar” directly.
2

From the context menu

Right-click anywhere on a webpage and select “Open Page Assist Sidebar” from the context menu.
3

Using keyboard shortcut

Press Ctrl+Shift+Y (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+Y (Mac) to instantly open the sidebar.
You can customize keyboard shortcuts in your browser’s extension management page. See Keyboard Shortcuts for details.
The sidebar interface includes:
  • Chat area: Main conversation display
  • Input box: Send messages and prompts
  • Settings icon: Quick access to sidebar-specific settings
  • Chat history sidebar: Toggle with Ctrl+B to view previous conversations
  • Model selector: Switch between different AI models
  • Mode toggles: Enable chat with webpage, internet search, knowledge base, or vision

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Key Features

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Chat Modes

Toggle between different chat modes using the icons in the input area:
  • Normal Chat: Standard conversation with your AI model
  • Chat with Webpage: Analyze and discuss the current page content
  • Internet Search: Get real-time web search results
  • Knowledge Base: Query your uploaded documents
  • Vision: Analyze images or page screenshots
Press Ctrl+E to quickly toggle between normal chat and chat with current page mode.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Enhance your productivity with these sidebar shortcuts:
ActionShortcutDescription
Open SidebarCtrl+Shift+YOpen the sidebar panel
New ChatCtrl+Shift+OStart a new conversation
Toggle HistoryCtrl+BShow/hide chat history sidebar
Focus InputShift+EscFocus the message input field
Toggle Chat ModeCtrl+ESwitch between normal and webpage chat
Access sidebar-specific settings by clicking the settings icon in the sidebar.

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Chat with Website Settings

Configure how the sidebar interacts with webpage content:
Chat with website using vector embeddings: When enabled, uses RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) to process webpage content. Requires an embedding model configured in RAG Settings.To disable RAG:
  1. Open sidebar settings
  2. Find “Copilot Chat With Website Settings”
  3. Disable “Chat with website using vector embeddings”
  4. Adjust “Normal mode website content size” to control how much content is sent to the AI
Enable Chat with Website by default (Copilot): When enabled, the sidebar automatically activates chat with webpage mode when opened.
Resume the last chat when opening the SidePanel: Automatically continue your previous conversation when reopening the sidebar.Configure this in Settings → General Settings → “Resume the last chat when opening the SidePanel (Copilot)“

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Model Selection

Switch between different AI models directly in the sidebar:
  1. Click the model selector dropdown
  2. Choose from your configured models
  3. The sidebar remembers your last used model
You can configure models in Settings → Model Settings. Add models from Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other providers.

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Tips and Best Practices

Quick Access: Pin the sidebar to keep it always visible while browsing.
Context Retention: The sidebar maintains your conversation context even as you navigate between pages.
When using Chat with Webpage on data-heavy sites, processing may take a few seconds depending on page size and your embedding model settings.

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Customization Options

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Default Prompts

Set a default system prompt for sidebar conversations:
  1. Go to Settings → Manage Prompts
  2. Create a custom system prompt
  3. Enable it as default for the copilot/sidebar

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Visual Customization

Customize your sidebar appearance:
  • Wide Mode: Enable in General Settings for larger screens
  • Dark/Light Theme: Automatically follows your browser/system preference
  • Chat Background: Set custom background images in settings

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Troubleshooting

  1. Ensure an embedding model is configured in RAG Settings
  2. Check if the webpage allows content extraction
  3. Try disabling RAG mode in sidebar settings
  4. Verify your AI model is properly connected
  1. Check for conflicts with other extensions
  2. Reconfigure shortcuts in chrome://extensions/shortcuts
  3. Ensure the webpage has focus (click on the page first)

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Next Steps

Chat with Webpage

Learn how to analyze and discuss webpage content

Vision

Use vision capabilities to analyze images and screenshots

Knowledge Base

Upload documents and chat with your own data

Internet Search

Get real-time information from the web

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