Google's Chrome browser is full of shortcuts, hidden features, and tweaks that can save your time and improve your workflow.
Here's a collection of 21 most useful tips and tricks for Google Chrome that will help you work faster and do more with your favorite web browser and You don't have to install any extension.
#1. Enable Guest Browsing
Someone wants to borrow your laptop, but you're not keen on him or her messing around with your Facebook account or seeing the URLs that come up as suggestions in the omnibox (URLs address). To enable Guest browsing, go to Settings > People > Enable Guest browsing. To switch to the guest account, click on your username (top right) then choose switch person and browse as Guest.
#2. Chrome Omnibox a Hidden Calculator
You can perform quick calculations and even unit conversion right from the address bar (Omnibox), no Google search required. Type out a simple bit of math like "26 inches to feet" and hit Enter, to see answer. Temperature, distances and weights should all work natively just as they do from Google searches.
#3. Save web pages as PDFs
Open any web page, press Ctrl + P on Windows (or Cmd + P on Mac) and choose "Save as PDF" from the list of available printers to download the page as a PDF file.
#4. Get Word definitions
You can double click on a word inside Chrome, right mouse click and select "Search google for" to get a definition in a pop-up window.
#5. Assign Custom Keyboard shortcuts
Google Chrome supports a variety of keyboard shortcuts but you can also assign your own custom shortcuts to launch various extension and Chrome apps. Type chrome://extensions in the browser's address bar to open the Extension page, scroll down to the bottom and click the link that says Keyboard Shortcuts.
#6. Quick fix for slow Chrome
Go to More toos > Task Manager, it shows you a list of all the open tabs and the background processes running in the browser at the moment, along with the amount of system resources they're using up. Sort the list by Memory, select the websites and extensions that are consuming more memory and click End Process.
#7. Switch to Google Cache
When you're on a page, click the address bar, type cache: before the URL and hit Enter. You'll be redirect straight to the Google Cache, if there's one.
#8. Remove embarrassing URLs
When you type in the Chrome's address bar, the browser will suggest matching URLs from your web history. If there's any particular URL that you would not like to appear in the list of suggestions, you can easily remove it by clearing the history or from the address bar itself. Highlight any auto-complete URL in the drop-down list and press Shift+Delete to remove it permanently.
#9. Change Search Engine in the Omnibar
Type amazon in the address bar and press tab, which will change the address bar to search amazon.com and type any keyword to seach in amazon website
#10. Open mobile website on slow Internet
If you're on a slow Internet connection, you can pretend to be a mobile device and most websites will serve you mobile friendly versions that are often light in size. Open chrome developer tools, switch to Emulation tab and choose either Android or iOS as the User Agent. Make sure Screen and Device emulation is off.
#11. Use Chrome as a Media Player
You can drag and drop files, videos, images, text files and PDF documents from your desktop into the Chrome tab and view them without opening a dedicated viewer application.
#12. Text editor inside Chrome
Open a new tab and paste data:text/html,<html contenteditable> into the address bar. Click anywhere inside the tab and start typing.
For larger font with more padding, use this code
data:text/html, <body contenteditable style="font: 2rem/1.5 monospace;max-width:60rem;margin:0 auto;padding:4rem;">
#13. Send emails from the address bar
Go to browser's address bar and type the mail to command like mailto:recipient@domain.com. This will open the Gmail compose window and auto-fill the address in the To field.
#14. Reveal all your Hidden Passwords
Go to Developer tools, visually select the password field on the page and change the input type from password to text. You can also find your saved password under chrome://settings/passwords.
#15. Fake your current location
Go to tools > Developer Tools and press the Esc key to open the console, here switch to the Emulation tab and enter any value for latitude and longitude.
#16. Install unapproved Chrome extensions
Open the extension page of Chrome, turn on the Developer mode and drag-drop the extension (.crx file) into your Chrome.
#17. Autofill Address
Go to Settings > Options > Personal stuff > click on the check box "Enable autofill to fill out web forms in a single click > Click on Manager autofill settings > Click on 'Add new address' and enter the information.
#18. Google Cloud Print
Go to Settings > Options > Under the Hood > click on sign into “Google Cloud Print”.
Once you setup your printer using Google cloud print, you can print to it from anywhere. i.e You can print to it from your mobile, other PC at work, or any other system that is connected to the internet.
#19. Google Chrome browser shortcuts
Alt+F – Open chrome settings menu
Ctrl+J – Go to downloads window
Ctrl+H – Go to history window
Ctrl+Tab – Navigate Tabs
Alt+Home – Go to home page
Ctrl+U – View source code of the current page
Ctrl+K – To search quickly in the address bar
Ctrl+L – Highlights the URL in the address bar (use this to copy/paste the URL quickly)
Ctrl+N – Open a new Chrome browser window
Ctrl+Shift+N – Open a new incognito window (for private browsing)
Ctrl+Shift+B – Toggle bookmark display
Ctrl+W – Close the current Tab
Alt+Left Arrow – Go to the previous page from your history
Alt+Right Arrow – Go to the next page from your history
Space bar – Scroll down the current web page
#20. Generate new password on sign up pages
Type "about:flags" into the browser's address bar, find the option "Enable password generation" select enable and restart the Chrome.
#21. Activate Flash on demand
If you want to improve stability of the browser, go to the browser’s Advanced Settings (chrome://settings/content) and choose the “Click to Play” option under Plugins. This disables Flash Player. Should you need to run the plug-in you can activated it on demand.
Here's a collection of 21 most useful tips and tricks for Google Chrome that will help you work faster and do more with your favorite web browser and You don't have to install any extension.
#1. Enable Guest Browsing
Someone wants to borrow your laptop, but you're not keen on him or her messing around with your Facebook account or seeing the URLs that come up as suggestions in the omnibox (URLs address). To enable Guest browsing, go to Settings > People > Enable Guest browsing. To switch to the guest account, click on your username (top right) then choose switch person and browse as Guest.
#2. Chrome Omnibox a Hidden Calculator
You can perform quick calculations and even unit conversion right from the address bar (Omnibox), no Google search required. Type out a simple bit of math like "26 inches to feet" and hit Enter, to see answer. Temperature, distances and weights should all work natively just as they do from Google searches.
#3. Save web pages as PDFs
Open any web page, press Ctrl + P on Windows (or Cmd + P on Mac) and choose "Save as PDF" from the list of available printers to download the page as a PDF file.
#4. Get Word definitions
You can double click on a word inside Chrome, right mouse click and select "Search google for" to get a definition in a pop-up window.
#5. Assign Custom Keyboard shortcuts
Google Chrome supports a variety of keyboard shortcuts but you can also assign your own custom shortcuts to launch various extension and Chrome apps. Type chrome://extensions in the browser's address bar to open the Extension page, scroll down to the bottom and click the link that says Keyboard Shortcuts.
#6. Quick fix for slow Chrome
Go to More toos > Task Manager, it shows you a list of all the open tabs and the background processes running in the browser at the moment, along with the amount of system resources they're using up. Sort the list by Memory, select the websites and extensions that are consuming more memory and click End Process.
#7. Switch to Google Cache
When you're on a page, click the address bar, type cache: before the URL and hit Enter. You'll be redirect straight to the Google Cache, if there's one.
#8. Remove embarrassing URLs
When you type in the Chrome's address bar, the browser will suggest matching URLs from your web history. If there's any particular URL that you would not like to appear in the list of suggestions, you can easily remove it by clearing the history or from the address bar itself. Highlight any auto-complete URL in the drop-down list and press Shift+Delete to remove it permanently.
#9. Change Search Engine in the Omnibar
Type amazon in the address bar and press tab, which will change the address bar to search amazon.com and type any keyword to seach in amazon website
#10. Open mobile website on slow Internet
If you're on a slow Internet connection, you can pretend to be a mobile device and most websites will serve you mobile friendly versions that are often light in size. Open chrome developer tools, switch to Emulation tab and choose either Android or iOS as the User Agent. Make sure Screen and Device emulation is off.
#11. Use Chrome as a Media Player
You can drag and drop files, videos, images, text files and PDF documents from your desktop into the Chrome tab and view them without opening a dedicated viewer application.
#12. Text editor inside Chrome
Open a new tab and paste data:text/html,<html contenteditable> into the address bar. Click anywhere inside the tab and start typing.
For larger font with more padding, use this code
data:text/html, <body contenteditable style="font: 2rem/1.5 monospace;max-width:60rem;margin:0 auto;padding:4rem;">
#13. Send emails from the address bar
Go to browser's address bar and type the mail to command like mailto:recipient@domain.com. This will open the Gmail compose window and auto-fill the address in the To field.
#14. Reveal all your Hidden Passwords
Go to Developer tools, visually select the password field on the page and change the input type from password to text. You can also find your saved password under chrome://settings/passwords.
#15. Fake your current location
Go to tools > Developer Tools and press the Esc key to open the console, here switch to the Emulation tab and enter any value for latitude and longitude.
#16. Install unapproved Chrome extensions
Open the extension page of Chrome, turn on the Developer mode and drag-drop the extension (.crx file) into your Chrome.
#17. Autofill Address
Go to Settings > Options > Personal stuff > click on the check box "Enable autofill to fill out web forms in a single click > Click on Manager autofill settings > Click on 'Add new address' and enter the information.
#18. Google Cloud Print
Go to Settings > Options > Under the Hood > click on sign into “Google Cloud Print”.
Once you setup your printer using Google cloud print, you can print to it from anywhere. i.e You can print to it from your mobile, other PC at work, or any other system that is connected to the internet.
#19. Google Chrome browser shortcuts
Alt+F – Open chrome settings menu
Ctrl+J – Go to downloads window
Ctrl+H – Go to history window
Ctrl+Tab – Navigate Tabs
Alt+Home – Go to home page
Ctrl+U – View source code of the current page
Ctrl+K – To search quickly in the address bar
Ctrl+L – Highlights the URL in the address bar (use this to copy/paste the URL quickly)
Ctrl+N – Open a new Chrome browser window
Ctrl+Shift+N – Open a new incognito window (for private browsing)
Ctrl+Shift+B – Toggle bookmark display
Ctrl+W – Close the current Tab
Alt+Left Arrow – Go to the previous page from your history
Alt+Right Arrow – Go to the next page from your history
Space bar – Scroll down the current web page
#20. Generate new password on sign up pages
Type "about:flags" into the browser's address bar, find the option "Enable password generation" select enable and restart the Chrome.
#21. Activate Flash on demand
If you want to improve stability of the browser, go to the browser’s Advanced Settings (chrome://settings/content) and choose the “Click to Play” option under Plugins. This disables Flash Player. Should you need to run the plug-in you can activated it on demand.