Behind its no-frills, stripped-down exterior, the Google Chrome browser hides a wealth of useful features and functions.
Read on to discover some tips and tricks you can make use of to unlock the power of Chrome. Oh, and chip in with your own in the comments at the bottom.
1. Pin tabs
Pinned tabs shuffle along to the left-hand side of the screen, take up less room and in some cases (e.g. Twitter), they glow if there's an update to the page. They also keep their places whenever you start up Chrome in the future. Right-click on a tab title to access the pin tab option.
2. Log out with incognito mode
Like most browsers, Chrome has an incognito mode that disables history logging. Open up an incognito window whenever you want to quickly check how a site -- such as your Facebook page or Google+ profile -- looks to someone who isn't signed in as you. If you're using Windows, Control+Shift+N opens a new incognito window.
3. Browse files
Chrome offers a rudimentary file explorer -- try typing 'C:' into the omnibox and hitting Enter to look around.
4. Search by site
All the usual Google operators apply in the Chrome omnibox. Type 'site:'
5. View background tasks
Chrome is powerful enough to have its own task manager. Hit Shift+Esc to see what's running in the background (typically extensions and offline caching tools), alongside your open tabs, and how much CPU time and memory space each one is taking up.
6. Hide extensions
If you want to clean up the toolbar but don't want to uninstall all your extensions, you can hide them instead (right-click, Hide button). This can come in very handy for extensions that work mainly in the background.
7. Change version
As well as the stable version, Chrome is available in three more versions, which get increasingly more cutting edge and less stable -- Beta, Dev and Canary. Visit the Chrome Release Channels page to switch between them.
8. Use the keyboard
There's a wealth of keyboard shortcuts that make Chrome easier and faster to use, but here we'll just mention two of the most useful -- Ctrl+click to open up a link in its own tab and Ctrl+W to close the current tab.
9. Add desktop shortcuts
Right-click on a web app on the New Tab page and choose 'Create shortcut' to add a link to it from the Start menu, desktop or taskbar.
10. Check memory usage
Enter 'chrome://memory' into the address bar to see where all of your RAM is going. Try 'chrome://chrome-urls' to see the other diagnostic shortcuts that are available.
11. Drag links
If you find clicking on links somewhat old hat, try dragging them to the omnibox or the tab bar.
12. Visualise bookmarks
Add bookmarks to the bookmarks bar, then remove their names in the Bookmarks Manager to be left with a row of compact favicon shortcuts.
13. Edit most visited sites
If there's a thumbnail on the 'Most visited sites' page you no longer want to see, click the cross in the top right-hand corner of the image to replace it with the next most visited site in Chrome's list.
14. Rearrange apps
Click and drag an app on the Apps page to change its position -- drag to the far right to create a new page of apps.
15. Go full screen
See more of the web in full-screen mode -- F11 toggles it on and off.
16. Change History
Head to chrome://chrome/history and you can remove specific pages from your browsing record via the check boxes and the 'Remove selected items' button.
17. Enlarge text
If your eyesight is poor or you're using a huge monitor, you can increase the default text size via Settings > Web content > Font size.
18. Forget everything
Clear everything in Chrome's memory by hitting Ctrl+Shift+Del, ticking all of the boxes (from history to cookies), selecting 'the beginning of time' as the timespan and clicking 'Clear browsing data'.
19. Change the theme
Like Gmail, Chrome comes with a range of official and unofficial themes -- click 'Get themes' on the Settings page to browse the selection.
20. Go further back
Click and hold on the back button to see a list of recently visited pages for the current tab.
21. Jump tabs
Hit Ctrl+ to jump to that tab in Chrome -- Ctrl+2, for example, will open the second tab from the left.
22. Go offline
Keep emailing even when your online connection is down with Offline Gmail from the Chrome Web Store. Google promises more offline apps are on the way.
23. Analyse pages
Right-click on a web page and choose 'Inspect element' to see the HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other resources it's made up from.
24. Import data
Chrome can import bookmarks, browsing history and more from Internet Explorer and Firefox via the Import bookmarks and settings option on the Bookmarks menu.
25. Remote desktop
There's a beta Chrome Remote Desktop app in the Chrome Web Store that lets you access your other machines that have Chrome running. Follow the on-screen instructions to set it up.
26. Pick up where you left off
Rather than opening a set URL or the New Tab screen when you start Chrome, you can opt to relaunch the same tabs that were open when you shut it down -- visit the Settings page under 'On start-up'.
27. Send to phone
The Chrome to Phone extension available in the Chrome Web Store is developed by Google and can send links and other information straight to your Android device. You'll need to install the mobile app too.
28. Stay in sync
Sync some, all or none of the following by signing into Chrome with your Google account: apps, bookmarks, extensions, auto-fill data, passwords, open tabs, omnibox history, themes and settings.
29. Do your sums
Type a calculation into the omnibox to see the result in the suggestions without even hitting Enter.
30. Search elsewhere
On the Settings page under Search, you can set the omnibox search to query sites such as Facebook, Last.fm or Wikipedia by default.
31. Make more room
Drag out the edges of any text input box to give yourself more room to express yourself.
32. Save to Google Drive
Chrome doesn't have this option yet -- in the meantime, set the default download location to a folder being synced by the Google Drive desktop client.
33. Zoom
Use the Ctrl button in conjunction with your mouse's scroll wheel to zoom in and out.
34. See more suggestions
Increase the number of suggestions offered below the omnibox with a command line switch. Create a shortcut to chrome.exe with the '-omnibox-popup-count='
35. Find in page
Hit Ctrl+F and type your text to find keywords in a page -- matches are highlighted in yellow on the right-hand scrollbar.
36. Highlight to search
Highlight a word or phrase and on the right-click menu you'll find an option to use the selection as a query for a Google search in a new tab.
37. Reopen a tab
If you've just closed a tab you didn't mean to, right-click on the tab bar and choose Reopen closed tab to bring it back.
38. Switch between Google accounts
Use the 'Add new user' button on the Settings page to sign in using another Google Account. You can then quickly switch between them by clicking on the user icon in the top-left corner.
39. Experiment
Enter 'about:flags' in the omnibox to see some experimental Chrome features you can try out, covering everything from geolocation APIs to gamepad support.
40. Paste and go
With a link on the clipboard, right-click on the omnibox and choose 'Paste and go' to visit it. If a link isn't detected, the option becomes Paste and search.
41. Find recent bookmarks
The Bookmark Manager creates an automatic list of recently bookmarked links if you can't remember which folder you saved your new favourite YouTube video to.
42. Get nostalgic
Click the globe icon (or padlock icon) on the far left of the omnibox to check when you first visited the current site. A cache clear-out or browser reinstall will reset this data.
43. Disable spellcheck
If you don't like Chrome correcting you on your spelling, you can disable the feature under the Languages heading on the advanced settings screen.
44. Print from anywhere
Activate Google Cloud Print on your current PC with Chrome installed and you can access that computer's printers from every other Chrome browser you sign into.
45. Pan around
Click the mouse scroll wheel on a blank part of a web page to then pan around the site by moving the mouse.
46. Send feedback
You can let the Google Chrome team know about a bug via the 'Report an issue' link on the Tools menu. A screenshot can be included automatically.
47. Manage handlers
Visit Content settings (under Privacy on the Settings page), then click 'Manage handlers' to change the applications used to handle email and calendar links inside Chrome.
48. Speak to type
On any text box marked with a microphone icon, click the icon to speak to type, assuming you have a working microphone attached.
49. Use the jump list
If you're running Chrome on Windows 7, right-click on the taskbar icon to access its jump-list -- from here you can open recently closed tabs and most visited sites.
50. Enjoy your music
Right-click on an MP3 file in Windows and choose Open With > Google Chrome if you want to quickly hear a tune without the hassle of opening up iTunes or Windows Media Player.
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Comments 23
Add your comment
anonymous 15 June, 2012 22:32
Could you explain point 34. please, did not get that one only. Thank you.
Choccie Milk 16 June, 2012 15:16
Thanks for this I knew most of it but I didn't realize that you could remove the names of the Bookmarks and be left with logos which is quite cool and also I didn't know about the different versions I've now installed Canary and am using it with the stable Chrome as my backup in case any of the updates make it completely unusable. It's all quite fun and feels very "Google".
anonymous 18 June, 2012 23:30
Mr. David Nield,
Could you please explain point 34. I did not get that one only. If it is not that much of trouble for you. Thank you again.
Daven 19 June, 2012 10:47
Create a desktop shortcut to Chrome, then right-click and choose Properties to edit it. In the Target box you can add a command line switch (after "chrome.exe"), as described -- include a number after the equals sign to match the number of suggestions you want to see. There are several other command line switches you can use as well -- do a Google search to find them.
anonymous 19 June, 2012 18:40
@ Daven
Thank you very much for your help. And like you said, I Googled it and found many more command lines.
Thanks again.
anonymous 1 July, 2012 21:15
Sirs;
I uploaded Enrico Macias' videos in google+ I left my computer on. Only the screen was black. I touced touch pad. screen was opened. But my 74 videos disappeared. Is it possible them to get back.Yet, I laboured to get them.
Sincerely Yours
anonymous 6 July, 2012 00:27
Awesome tips, man! Consisely and well written - I look forward to more from you!
anonymous 5 September, 2012 19:25
hmm few of those options are really new for me and i haven't used it.. really a nice article
anonymous 22 October, 2012 03:34
how can I Increase Recently Closed Tabs Count In chrome from a default 10 ?? This can be done in firefox using :config.. But not sure how to do it in chrome
gfranz 17 November, 2012 01:36
I run Windows 7 on a Dell laptop. When I surf the net using Google Chrome, I am often unable to successfully click upon a choice located in the bottom left of my desktop. If I scroll upward so that what I am attempting to click upon is now located in the UPPER part of the screen, I am usually then able to successfully click upon the selection (and thus be connected to the web page I want to go to). Any suggestions on how to cure this problem??? Thanks.
anonymous 20 December, 2012 04:24
Great tips, thank you so much!
anonymous 21 December, 2012 02:04
I use the Chrome browser on an Android tablet (Asus Transformer Prime TF201; Android 4.0.3), and it doesn't let me select text in a text box where I'm typing a comment or post (like right now). Ironically the Android stock browser, which seems alot like Chrome, allows this. But Chrome itself goes nuts and tries to do at least a half-dozen things in succession in half a second if I hold my finger down on the touchscreen on the text in the textbox. It does nothing if I just tap (except sometimes relocate the cursor there). It will popup a Paste button when I hold down my finger, if there's anything already on the Clipboard, instead of doing the haywire thing, but nothing else.
When it flips out like that, it does highlight the word I'm pressing on, at least twice, in between other things, but like a millisecond each time, not long enough to do anything else but watch it flash by. Among the other things in the sequence of millisecond things it does is enlarge the contents of the whole screen at least two times, like a bigger and a biggest setting. It also then shrinks the contents of the whole screen at least twice. And the top of the device's screen flashes & jumps down and up a few times -- I'm guessing it's the Copy/Paste menu bar appearing and disappearing a few times, but again, far too fast for anyone to actually do anything with it. No matter how briefly I hold (as opposed to just tapping), I can't slow the millisecond sequence or make it stop anywhere different in its process so I can do anything productive with it.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
anonymous 21 December, 2012 06:07
I had removed the titles of pages to be left with just the icons already and shared that with a few other people. I also knew most of the others but a few were new to me. Using incognito to view something logged out is obvious in hindsight but I'd never thought of that. I likewise hadn't realized points 3, 9, 10, 29, 37 (I always went to the NTP and opened up the recently closed list there) or 39. For the music files, I don't have it in the Open With list, but I can also easily drag the file onto Chrome to open it quickly and hassle-free, so yay for immediate work-arounds! Also, for 20, you mention that you can click and hold, but that takes longer than right clicking the back (or forward) button to do the same thing. Overall, very nice guide. I'm glad I stumbled upon it.
anonymous 31 December, 2012 15:40
Hope someone can help, I have lost all the images on the Most Visited sites on a 'new tab' page, although they do exist if I scroll forward onto the Apps section . Only get a list of the Most Visited sites, which means you cannot delete any from the list, as well as being purely irritating!
Any ideas what I have done or what I should do to recover these as unable to find any solution at all! Many thanks in advance for any assistance
anonymous 9 January, 2013 18:03
Really excellent tips. I can honestly say that I only knew about ten of these. Well presented and well communicated.
anonymous 7 April, 2013 12:49
how do I uninstall chrome it wont go the normal way & it wont do what I want so wanna get rid
Mtn Folks 25 April, 2013 21:05
Is there a way to completely remove "Incognito" from Chrome. I do not use it. Every time I
delete history there is an annoying yellow prompt reminding me to possibly use "Incognito" next time. I never have or want to use it. Is removing it possible. It just pokes me in the eye each time. With so many other unpleasant and down right nasty things in the world ...I complain about this!!!!
anonymous 26 April, 2013 13:00
How exactly do you do #34?
thanks
Pak Hoi Tung 26 April, 2013 16:34
I must say, some of the items in the list are new, but about half of them are "pretty basic" to me, and I use firefox. Nontheless, I learn some new stuff.
Letticia Rosado 26 April, 2013 16:39
I do have Google Chrome in my Google account. However, some computers (like the one I'm using right now) do not have it installed. If they had done so, then I would have used it to the full extent.
anonymous 1 May, 2013 22:34
Tip 13. Edit most visited sites...
I chose to hide everything instead, and I did this by putting this into "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\User StyleSheets\Custom.css":
.tile-grid a.most-visited {display:none !important;}
anonymous 2 May, 2013 14:18
in chrome, how do I move an email to the first position
anonymous 11 May, 2013 02:14
I used to like that Google Chrome gave mi the option to switch between "most visited sites" and "apps". Now, when I open it the first thing I see is the search engine it self and a direct access to: facebook, CNN, ebay, tumblr...
Any one knows how to go back to the old interface?
Thanks so much!