Editing Google Toolbar (section)

== Features ==
Google Toolbar resided above the browser's tab bar and provided a search box to carry out [[Web search engine|web searches]]. Users could log into their [[Gmail]] accounts and access their email, saved bookmarks, and web history. It had tools such as [[AutoLink]], AutoFill, [[Google Translate|Translation]], and spell checker on all browsers. The pop-up blocker and word finder were restricted to [[Internet Explorer]].<ref name="gtf">{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/intl/en/toolbar/ie/features.html|title=Google Toolbar Features|access-date=May 16, 2009}}</ref> Google Toolbar was often distributed through [[product bundling]] with a primary download.

=== Sidewiki ===
[[Google Sidewiki]] was launched on September 23, 2009, allowing users to make comments, which were visible to the public, on any web page.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-and-learn-from-others-as-you.html|title=Help and learn from others as you browse the web: Google Sidewiki|date=September 23, 2009|publisher=Google|access-date=September 23, 2009}}</ref> [[Google]] used [[PageRank|ranking algorithms]] to determine comment [[Relevance|relevancy]] and usefulness using criteria such as users voting up and down a comment and past contributions. Sidewiki was available for [[Internet Explorer]] and [[Firefox]] through Google Toolbar, the [[Google Chrome]] browser through an add-on,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fldmleagmkblgoeodhdlhdejhhngdihi | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219131413/https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fldmleagmkblgoeodhdlhdejhhngdihi | url-status=dead | archive-date=2011-12-19 | title=Chrome Web Store - Google Sidewiki| date=2011-12-19}}</ref> and for other browsers, like [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]], it was available as a [[bookmarklet]].

Web site owners could not control Sidewiki comments,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/andrewkeen/100003634/sidewiki-google-colonial-sideswipe/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927175859/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/andrewkeen/100003634/sidewiki-google-colonial-sideswipe/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 27, 2009|title=Sidewiki: Google colonial sideswipe|author=Andrew Keen|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=UK|access-date=December 12, 2009|date=September 24, 2009}}</ref> and there was no way for a web site to opt out of Sidewiki; however, Sidewiki was disabled on [[HTTP Secure|secure sites]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=494bb6012632fb05&hl=en|title=How do webmasters opt out of sidewiki?|access-date=February 24, 2010}}</ref>

In September 2011, Google announced that it would discontinue Sidewiki.

=== My Location ===
My Location was a [[geolocation]] service which uses the location of [[Wi-Fi]] access points to determine the toolbar user's location.<ref name="google-mylocation">{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/answer.py?hl=en-uk&answer=166104|title=Toolbar Help|access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref> This location was used to optimize search results based on where the user was located.<ref name="google-mylocation"/> Google Toolbar could also provide the geolocation data to third-party websites<ref name="google-mylocation"/> through the [[W3C Geolocation API]].

=== AutoLink ===
Google Toolbar was criticized when the AutoLink feature was added to the toolbar because this new feature directed users to pre-selected commercial websites. For example, if it found a book's [[ISBN]] on a webpage, it provided a link to Amazon's product page for the particular book. Google said that the feature "adds useful links" and "none of the companies which received AutoLinks had paid for the service."

=== Web caching ===
The desktop version of Google Toolbar showed the [[web cache|cached copy]] of any given search result, which was useful for slower Internet connections and benefitted by [[Google Web Accelerator]] until its discontinuation in 2008. This feature does not exist for the mobile version.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}