Chrome tips
Continue browsing from your phone
While you might already using your Android to unlock your Chromebook, do you know you can also sync open tabs between your Chromebook and Android? For example, if you are searching for some shoes on the Amazon, you can seamlessly shift your browsing to your Chromebook and take advantage of the bigger screen. To set it up make sure you are logged into the same Google account on your Android and Chromebook, Next, open the Chrome app on your Android and tap on More option and then Settings. Next, tap your name, tap Sync and turn it ON. Once done, take a look at the top portion of the app drawer, whenever you browse something on your phone with Chrome browser, you can see the title of that page as the first suggestion on the Chromebook below the launcher’s search bar. Just open it and continue your browsing on the Chromebook.
Pin Chrome tabs
Right-click any tab to “pin” it. When you pin a tab, it moves to the left side of your toolbar. It also hides the title of the website and displays the site’s icon instead. Pinned tabs save space on your Chrome window and are useful when you have a lot of tabs open. It is also helpful when you have to keep a tab as the first tab on the list. For example, if you want gmail.com always on the first tab, you can pin gmail.com. You can tab multiple tabs. To unpin a tab, right-click on the tab and choose Unpin.
Import or export bookmarks
You can import bookmarks from other browsers to Chrome. In the same way, you can export bookmarks from Chrome as a backup or to import it into a new browser. To import bookmarks:
- Open chrome://bookmarks in a new tab.
- Click the three dots settings icon on the top-right corner.
- Select Import bookmarks.
- Select the bookmarks file and click OK.
Rotate PDF Files
Chrome can open PDF files. While viewing PDF files, using the following keyboard shortcut to rotate it to landscape or portrait mode: CTRL + [ The PDF file will rotate clockwise each time you press that keyboard combination. Note: Use the same keyboard (CTRL, not CMD) on macOS as well.
Use Chrome to take notes
To use Chrome as your notepad, type the following into the address bar and hit Enter: data:text/html, <html contenteditable> This makes the Chrome tab a notepad. Read more about this feature here.
Try new features from chrome://flags
The chrome://flags page lists all the ongoing Chrome experiments. These features are not complete and may not always work as expected. However, you will occasionally find interesting features that you can test.
Explore chrome://sync-internals/ to investigate sync issues
The chrome://sync-internals/ page provides a lot of information on Chromesync. You can view and export all the sync events to investigate issues. The page also provides detailed information on what you are sending to Chromesync.
Edit search engines from the address bar
To quickly edit search engines or change the default search engine, right-click within the address bar and choose Edit Search Engines. Please note that these are experimental features and may not work as expected. They might even break some of the existing features. Read the warning on the chrome://flags before proceeding.
View cached versions of websites
Google stores a cached version of the websites in its index. You can access this quickly from Chrome’s address bar. To do this, type cache: followed by the website name. For example, to view Chrome Story’s cache, type cache:chromestory.com and press Enter.
Change the background of your new tab page
Google Chrome provides a lot of options to customize your new tab page. There are a few categories of pictures to select from. You can upload an image from your computer as well. To change the background, click the Customize link on the new tab page and choose Background. Read our article to learn more about this feature.