Google Chrome browser has emerged as one of the leading browsers. It is available on almost all software platforms. Google Chrome browser features a minimalistic user interface, with so many integrations for a better browsing experience. It is arguably one of the best internet browsers available in the market.
While using shortcuts make working easier, Google Chrome browser comes with a handful of tricks for better internet services. It has a clean, polished UI with a wide range of actions. Therefore, Chrome’s abilities multiply greatly when you consider the near-bottomless library of extensions, there’s a bounty of stock functionality embedded all throughout Chrome’s guts that you may not even know about.
Google Chrome TRICKS and TIPS
1. Anonymous Browsing in Incognito Mode
When you go Incognito, your browser neither keeps track of browsing history nor store cookies from your browsing. This is very useful when browsing for things that you might not want the world to know about (like Porn). Always be mindful that Incognito mode does not hide your IP address. Click on the three dots on the top right, select New incognito window. This opens an anonymous window.
2. Drag Multiple Tabs at Once
You can drag and drop Chrome tabs into their own browser windows, or mix and match them between browser windows. Also, this can be done on multiple tabs in Google Chrome browser. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on all the tabs you wish to move and you can move them as one. If you’re on a Mac, hold the Command key and repeat the same process.
3. Open Accidentally Closed Tabs and Windows
Recover mistakenly closed tab with a simple trick. Right-click on another open tab and select “Reopen closed tab” or
press Control+Shift+T on the keyboard (Command-Shift-T on a Mac) and Chrome will reopen any recently closed tabs. Repeat the steps to recover more closed tabs. This makes you work your way back through your browsing history. If you closed an entire window, with all your precious pinned tabs, open or right-click on a new Chrome window and select “Open closed window”.
4. Open a Search in New Tab
To search a text, simply highlight the text/word and right-click, hit “search google for a text”. This automatically searches the item in a new tab. It saves time and preferred to Copy and Paste technique. [Highlight means, left click, hold and drag across the text to select the text.] (on a Mac, Control-click on a highlighted word).
5. Open Link in New Tab
The fastest way to open a link in a new tab is, Hold down the Ctrl Key (command key on Mac) and click on the link. The link will open in a new tab. This saves your current tab from exiting.
6. Browse Through Tabs Using Key Commands
Navigate through tabs quickly by holding down the Control key (Command on Macs) and a number 1 through 9. Each number is associated with a different tab starting with 1 all the way to the left. This moves incrementally through 9 tabs as you move to the right.
7. Drag a URL to the Bookmarks Bar
Quickly add a website’s link to your Bookmarks Bar by highlighting the URL and dragging directly down to the Bar. You can edit it later if you want to change the name. You can drag a URL in from sources other than Chrome as well. Dragging a URL directly to the input field is possible in the Google Chrome browser.
8. Add a Link to the Desktop
Chrome also offers an elegant, baked-in feature that allows users to add a clickable link to your desktop for later use. Click the Hamburger in the top-right corner > More tools > Add to desktop. This will prompt a pop-up window, which allows you to name the link. This creates a clickable link on your desktop with an icon to represent the page.
9. Create a Profile for Your Kid/Add Another Person
Google Chrome browser allows you to set up a separate profile for anyone which you can monitor and control. You must first sign in with your Google account details.
First, create a new profile by going to Settings > People > Manage other people > Add person. Make sure to click the box next to “Control and view the websites this person visits from” [your log-on account] and click Add. These supervised people will not be set up with their own Google identities (which means they are theoretically not being tracked and targeted by Google’s ad business). A few minutes later, you’ll receive an email link leading you to the supervised user’s page.
Once there, you’ll have the ability to block certain sites, keep SafeSearch on lock, and view that user’s web activities. You can then log your kid into Chrome under their own identity by clicking Settings > Manage Other People and then clicking on their profile. Multiple identities can also be set up.
10. Chrome as a Simple Multimedia Browser
Drag an unknown file into the Chrome browser to see information on how to open such files.
11. Add Google Calendar Events From the Omnibox
You can use your Omnibox to get access to Google Calendar’s “quick add” function. There are a few steps involved:
- The first thing to do is to copy this line of code:
http://www.google.com/calendar/eventctext=+%s+&action=TEMPLATE&pprop=HowCreated%3AQUICKADD. - Next, go to Settings, scroll down to Search, click on “Manage search engines…”(chrome://settings/searchEngines) and a new window will open.
- Click Add to open a new window. Paste the above link into the “search engine” eld (don’t get fooled by the “search” part). In the keyword eld, type “calendar” (or whatever you chose to put in the keyword eld) Leave “URL with %s in place of quotes” as is (don’t worry about that crazy talk in that last one).
Now just type “Calendar” (or whatever omnibox keyword prompt you would like to use when you use this function) and hit tab. It will say “search,” but just start typing in some plain sentence-style English to describe a future event with all the whats, wheres, and whens. Google is fairly adept at wringing out the details and translating it into a Calendar event.
For example, try “eat all the tuna sh in the world next Tuesday at 8:30” and then hit return to automatically open an autopopulated Google Calendar tab with all the correct information. From there, all I had to do was press “SAVE” or “Discard.” For more, check out 14 Google Calendar Tricks You’re Probably Not Using .
12. Zoom In and Zoom Out On a PC
Hold down Ctrl key while using the scroll wheel of your mouse. This will zoom in or out; making the texts larger or smaller. Using Ctrl key and Plus/Minus keys on the keyboard activates zoom operations. When zooming, a magnifying glass icon will appear on the right side of the omnibox. Click on the magnifying glass to manually zoom in or out. Reset to default settings is accessible on the magnifying glass icon.
13. Navigate Up and Down Using Key Commands
Pressing the spacebar on the keyboard will scroll the page some inches downwards. To scroll up, use Shift + spacebar.
14. Delete Browsing History With Shortcut
Simply delete your browsing history, including past URLs, cached images, passwords, and cookies, by a shortcut. Hold down Control+Shift+Delete on the keyboard and a “Clear browsing data” window will open. (Press shift-Command-Delete to use this function on a Mac).
15. Task Manager
Task Manager shows a list of running processes. It is useful to know applications that are active and running. To access the manager on Google Chrome browser, click the Hamburger in the top-right corner > More tools > Task manager. (Or use Shift + Esc on the keyboard). If one of those processes seems like it’s causing a problem (like slowing down or stalling your browser), you can highlight it with a click of the “End process” button at the bottom of the window.
16. Translate Anything
Google Chrome browser has built-in Google Translate for entire webpages. You can install the official Google Translate extension from extension manager for word/phrase translation. Then highlight any unfamiliar text and click the little Google Translate icon that sits in the top-right side of your browser screen. This translates the highlighted phrase/word.
17. Enable Cloud Printing
Cloud printing allows users to print to any connected printer from anywhere. It’s easy to set up any “Cloud Ready” printer, just follow your manufacturer’s provided instructions. To set up your printer, on the associated computer’s Chrome browser go to Settings > Printing > click on Manage Cloud Print device to add or remove any printers. Here, you will also nd the ability to add an option to save any documents as PDF on your Google Drive account.
18. Update Autofill For Easier Shopping
Autofill works by automatically filling your details when it comes to registration or payments. This is more advanced than the normal remembering passwords. You can add addresses and credit card numbers. Google Chrome will automatically fill the details othe n next session of browsing. Go to Settings > Passwords and forms > Autofill settings. When Chrome identifies a form to buy something, the credit cards you’ve saved will automatically show up in a drop-down list (you’ll still have to enter the CVC number from the card. This ensures the security of the account).
19. Mute Tab
This is useful when playing media files online. Or accessing online media websites. Mute a tab to silence sounds coming from the website. Right-click on the tab and select “mute tab”. This will silence any sound coming from the website you are browsing on.
