Chrome tips
Open the default new tab page
If you have installed a Chrome extension that customizes your new tab page, you can open the default new tab page from here: chrome://newtab
Use drag and drop to get things done
There are a few things that you can get done by dragging and dropping links and files to and from Chrome.
- After downloading a file, copy it to the desktop or to any other folder by dragging them directly from Google Chrome’s downloads bar (the small bar at the bottom of the page with download progress, when you are downloading a file ).
- You can drag a file from this download bar to upload files as well. For example, you downloaded a photo your friend sent to you via email. While it is still showing on your downloads bar, open Google Drive or Dropbox (or any website that supports drag and drop to upload). Drag the file from the downloads bar directly into the upload field to start the upload.
- Drag Text To Tab Bar To Search In New Tab: Drag it to the omnibar, that is the area above the address bar next to the new tab button, to open search in a new tab.
- Drag Links To Omnibox to open them in the current tab.
- Drag Links to Tab Bar To Open In New Tab
- Drag and drop files from your computer to Chrome address bar to open with Chrome. This works with PDF files, images and HTML files.
- Drag Links to Bookmarks Bar to Add Them To Bookmark
Play the dino game even when you are online
You might have noticed the dinosaur game on Chrome’s offline error page. This page and the game show up when your computer does not have an internet connection. However, you can play this game by going to the following URL: chrome://dino To find more details about this game, read our article here.
Increase Text Size (Zoom)
To increase or decrease font size, use the following keyboard shortcuts:
- CTRL + + (plus key) to increase text size
- CTRL + – (minus key) to decrease text size
- CTRL + 0 (zero) to reset the zoom.
Explore chrome:// URLs
Google Chrome allows you to access a lot of its settings using chrome:// URLs. Here is a list of the most useful chrome:// URLs.
Click and hold the back button to see a tab’s history
If you click and hold the back button (or the forward button) Chrome will show you the history of that tab. Here is how it looks like:
Drag Text To Omnibox To Search
Drag text to the Omnibox (address bar) to search. Try this now by selecting text from this page and dragging it to the address bar.
CTRL + Click opens links in a new tab
Hold down CTRL and click a link to open it in a new tab. Useful when you find links on the page that you are currently reading. The link will open in a new tab while you continue reading the current page.
Use Tab Groups
If you keep a lot of tabs open while browsing, you can group tabs to organize them. To group a tab, right-click and choose Add to New Group. Read our Tab Groups guide to learn more.
Open images and documents in Chrome
Just like audio and video files, Chrome also allows you to open images and documents. You can open PDF files, Word documents, and most common image formats. Just drag and drop the file in the Chrome interface and it will load.