While browsing the web throughout your workday, you inevitably encounter fascinating technical guides, in-depth investigative articles, and industry analyses that you want to read, but lack the time to finish right away. Saving these temporary articles as permanent browser bookmarks rapidly clutters your bookmarks bar with disposable links you will never revisit once read. Google Chrome features a dedicated Reading List that lets you queue articles for later, track read versus unread items, and synchronise reading queues across desktop, Android, and iOS.
Reading List vs. Bookmarks: What Is the Difference?
Understanding when to use the Reading List keeps your browser organized:
- Bookmarks: Designed for long-term reference links that you plan to visit repeatedly—such as your company portal, banking sites, webmail, and reference documentation.
- Reading List: Designed as a temporary “read later” inbox. It splits saved pages into Unread and Pages you’ve read sections, making it easy to sweep away articles once consumed.
- Offline Access: On mobile devices, Chrome caches saved Reading List articles locally so you can read them on flights or commutes without internet access.
How to Add an Article to the Chrome Reading List on Desktop
Saving a page to your reading queue takes just a couple of clicks:
- Open the webpage you want to save in Google Chrome.
- Click the Side Panel icon in the top-right corner of Chrome (the rectangular window icon next to your profile picture).
- From the dropdown menu at the top of the side panel, select Reading list.
- Click the Add current tab button at the top of the panel. The page will immediately appear under the Unread section.
- Alternative shortcut: Right-click directly on the webpage tab header at the top of your browser window and select Add tab to reading list.
How to Manage and Mark Articles as Read
Once you finish reading an article from your queue:
- Open the Reading list inside Chrome’s Side Panel.
- Hover your cursor over the saved article card.
- Click the Checkmark icon (Mark as read). The article will move smoothly into the collapsible Pages you’ve read section below.
- To remove the article completely, click the “X” (Delete) icon.
Accessing Reading List on iPhone and Android
Your Reading List synchronises automatically across devices using your Google account:
- On iPhone/iPad: Tap the three-dots menu (…) in the bottom toolbar, select Reading List, and tap any cached article to read offline.
- On Android: Tap the three-dots menu (â‹®), tap Bookmarks, and tap Reading list located at the top of your folder directory.