This is the second and the final installment of the series where I’m discussing the reasons that have made Arc my primary browser since November 2022.
In the first part of this article, I touched on the following topics:
- Tab management
- Spaces
- Air traffic control
In this second part, let’s continue with:
- Little Arc
- Arc Max
- Split Window
Little Arc
When Arc is your system’s default browser, if you click on a link in another app (e.g. Slack), Arc opens the link in a small separate window allowing you to quickly take a peak (before you fully commit to it :) ).
Above, you can see the Little Arc window that Arc opened when I clicked on a link that I received on Slack.
At this point I have the option to read it within Little Arc (and close it when I’m done), or open it in a space of my choosing. In that case, the newly opened page becomes part of that space’s Today list.
Within Arc, you can also hold Shift when clicking on links to trigger Little Arc.
You can configure Little Arc’s behavior in Settings > Links:
Please note that if a given URL triggers an Air Traffic Control rule, clicking on it won’t trigger Little Arc. You can learn more about Air Traffic Control in the first part of this article.
Arc Max
Arc Max is a bundle of AI-powered features that enhance Arc.
As of this writing, Arc Max has the following features that you can enable/disable individually:
- Tidy Tabs — Whenever you have more than six Today tabs, Tidy Tabs can organize them under subsections for you automatically.
- Instant Links — Instant Link allows you to open the top result of a Web search.
- Ask on Page — You can press Cmd + F on any page to ask a question and let Arc Max answer it for you in seconds.
- 5-Second Previews — Hover over the links to see instant summaries to appear in small windows.
- Tidy Tab Titles —Have your tabs automatically renamed with tidier, shorter titles when you pin them.
- Tidy Downloads — Have your many downloads more organized with better names, which makes the files a little easier to find later.
- ChatGPT in the Command Bar — Start your new tab search with the word “ChatGPT” to ask it any question instantly.
Let me dive deeper into my top three that I use regularly:
5-Second Previews
This is one of the Max features that I like using. I occasionally hover over links to see instant summaries.
The feature title says preview, but this is about getting a summary. It is similar to giving the link to an LLM and asking for a short summary.
For some sites that I use regularly, this feature is triggered automatically: HackerNews, twitter (X) and Google. For other sites you hit <Shift> while hovering over a link.
Here are some examples:
Once more, I’d like to point out the fact that these popups don’t contain previews but summaries.
Tidy Downloads
Have you ever downloaded a file with a cryptic name? It happens to me regularly when I download research papers or various bills emailed to me.
Here’s an example. I found this sample research paper and tried to download it:
If I try to save the above paper, it is downloaded as gu2004.pdf.
But thanks to the Tidy Downloads magic, what I get is Adaptable Design CIRP Annals.pdf.
Tidy Tabs
Whenever you have more than six Today tabs, Tidy Tabs organizes them under subsections for you automatically.
Here’s an example:
The first screenshot shows what I had before hitting the Tidy Tabs icon, and the second screenshot shows how Tidy Tabs organized them.
In the above example, Tidy Tabs organized my tabs under three categories: Programming Languages, Leadership and Other.
In my experience Tidy Tabs is more powerful when I have a few dozen tabs open.
Split Window
Another feature that I regularly use is Arc’s split window. It makes it easy to split the window horizontally or vertically.
It is very practical when I need two websites side by side, such as doing research in one and taking notes in another one or reviewing an article in one and typing a feedback email in another one.
In the above screenshot, I’m reading the official Go website on the left window, and taking notes on the right window.
Bonus Feature: <Cmd> + <Shift> + C
As you can imagine, Arc has other simple but very handy features. I’m going to end this article with one last feature that I always use:
Copying the URL of the active webpage with Cmd + Shift + C.
So, What Do You Think?
Will you give Arc a try?
Don’t forget to follow Insider Engineering Blog and twitter/X account to see more articles ✍️ and news.
If you’re interested in Leadership topics, you can also check out my YouTube Channel: The Leadership Journey.
