By midday, my browser usually has twenty or thirty tabs open. Some are articles I meant to skim. Others are links I already forgot about. One of them is the page I actually need.
That problem is what led me to try MaxFocus, a browser link preview extension designed to help you preview links without opening new tabs. I used it daily for two weeks while researching, writing, and prospecting to see if it actually reduces tab overload.
What Is MaxFocus?
MaxFocus is a link preview browser extension that lets you see what’s behind a link before you open it.
Instead of clicking a link and adding another tab, you hover or long-click. A preview window opens with the page content inside it. You can scroll, read, and decide whether the link is worth opening fully.
That single change makes a bigger difference than it sounds.
MaxFocus works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi. You don’t need to switch browsers to use it.
Some people compare it to Arc’s Peek feature. The key difference is that MaxFocus works inside the browser you already use, making it a practical Arc Peek alternative for non-Arc users.
Key Features in Daily Use
Preview Links Without Opening Tabs
This is the core feature and the main reason to use MaxFocus.
Hover over a link or use a long click, and a preview window appears. You can skim articles, check landing pages, or review documentation without creating a new tab.
The preview window is resizable, and you can control how it triggers. After a small delay adjustment, it stopped opening accidentally and became part of my normal browsing flow.
During research-heavy days, this alone helped reduce browser tabs from thirty or more down to under ten.
Reader Mode for Cleaner Previews
Many sites are cluttered with ads, popups, and layout noise. MaxFocus includes a reader mode that strips pages down to clean text.
This was especially useful when previewing long articles. Instead of fighting the page layout, I could focus on the content and decide whether it was worth opening fully.
Video Previews
MaxFocus lets you preview YouTube videos and embedded clips inside the preview window.
This is useful when you just want to check relevance. You see the video without loading comments, sidebars, or recommendations. If it’s not useful, you close it and move on.
Built-In AI Assistant
The extension includes an AI assistant that can summarize content or answer questions about the page you’re previewing.
I used this mostly for quick research checks. Instead of opening a page to search for a specific detail, I could confirm it inside the preview.
Privacy-Focused Design
MaxFocus does not track browsing history or store personal data from previews. It also blocks trackers on previewed pages.
For a browser productivity extension that interacts with nearly every link you hover over, this matters.
How MaxFocus Helps Different Types of Work
Research and Writing
Research work usually means opening many sources at once. Tabs pile up fast.
MaxFocus made it easier to skim sources first and open only the ones worth reading closely. While writing product comparisons, I stopped losing track of where information came from and stopped reopening the same links repeatedly.
Sales and Prospecting
For prospecting work, especially from spreadsheets, link previews save time.
Instead of opening each website or LinkedIn profile in a new tab, you can review them inline. This keeps momentum going and reduces context switching.
Social Media and Content Review
If part of your job is checking links shared on social media, previews help you filter quickly. Hover, skim, move on.
This reduces the mental fatigue that comes from constantly jumping between tabs.
Development and Design
Documentation, Stack Overflow answers, and design references are easy to check in preview mode. You confirm relevance first, then open the full page only when needed.
What Actually Helped in Daily Use
Most days, my tab count stayed low without me actively managing it. I could check links, skim pages, and close previews before they turned into permanent tabs.
The preview controls were easy to dial in. I adjusted the hover delay and preview size once, and then didn’t touch the settings again.
Previews loaded reliably across news sites, blogs, search results, and social feeds. I rarely ran into pages that failed to load.
The interface stayed out of the way. I didn’t need a walkthrough or tutorial to start using it, and nothing felt buried or overdesigned.
Previews weren’t logged or tied to my browsing history. That mattered, given how often the extension is active.
I also appreciated that it worked across the browsers I already use, including Chrome and Brave, without locking me into a single ecosystem.
The one-time payment stood out. I didn’t have to justify another monthly charge for something that runs quietly in the background.
Where MaxFocus Falls Short
MaxFocus only works on desktop. If most of your browsing happens on your phone or tablet, this won’t help there.
The free plan has daily preview limits. On research-heavy days, I hit that cap.
A small number of sites with stricter security settings didn’t load correctly in preview mode. I ran into this occasionally, but not often enough to break the workflow.
Pricing Model
There’s a free plan that lets you use link previews with daily limits, which is enough to understand how the extension fits into your workflow.
Paid plans remove those limits and unlock AI features. Pricing is a one-time payment, not a subscription. If you preview links frequently, paying once makes more sense than adding another recurring tool.
Should You Use MaxFocus?
After two weeks, I haven’t turned it off.
It prevents tab overload before it starts. I can decide whether a link deserves a full tab instead of opening everything and sorting it out later.
This won’t matter much if you browse casually or work mainly on mobile. But for researchers, writers, sales teams, and anyone who spends long hours online, the difference is noticeable.
If tab overload slows your work, MaxFocus is a practical fix.
You can try the free plan first and see whether link previews fit your day-to-day workflow.
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