26 time-saving tips for the Chrome Android browser

Mobile web crop is all about finding what you need quickly and with a little harass as possible — well, in theory, anyhow. In the real populace, the act of surfing sites from your smartphone is often anything but efficient. From sites that have not-so-friendly mobile interfaces to browser commands that take far besides many steps to execute, hopping around the World Wide Internuts from a hand-held device can frequently leave something to be desired. fear not, though, my fellow finger-tappers : There are enough of tricks you can learn to make your mobile web journey more pleasant and productive. Try these next-level tips for Google ‘s Chrome Android browser and get fix for a much better mobile crop experience.

1. Switch tabs the simpler way

First things first base : Got multiple tabs open ? Move between ’em with minimal attempt by sliding your finger horizontally across the address bar. You ‘ll be zapping between sites in seconds .

2. Manage tabs like a pro

For more advance check management, swipe down on a tab key, starting at the address bar. That ‘ll take you to Chrome ‘s tab key overview interface, where you can see all of your open tab as cards. From there, tap on any yellow journalism to jump to it, swipe sideways on it to close it, or touch and hold it to drag it to a unlike identify in the interface. You can even drag a yellow journalism on top of another pill to create a group and keep all of your overt stuff organized. JR Raphael/IDG

Chrome ‘s tab key overview interface — which seems to be in a constant submit of flux density — is the fastest way to view and manage tabs .

3. Close all of your tabs at once

When you have tons of check open and want to clean theater promptly, tap the three-dot menu icon within that same pill overview interface — and whaddya know ? There ‘s a handy shroud dominate there for closing all of your tabs in one fell pounce .

4. Copy a site’s URL in no time

sure, you can copy a site ‘s address by opening the main Chrome menu, selecting “ share, ” and then selecting “ Copy to clipboard ” from the list that appears — but sweetness fresh molassey, that certain seems like a lot of steps. Snag a URL with less shape by tapping the address bar at the top of the screen and then hitting the copy icon ( what looks like two overlapping rectangles ) directly adjacent to the page ‘s URL .

5. Share with a single step

Sharing a page is probably the command I use more than any other in Chrome on Android, whether I ‘m sending something to a supporter or colleague, saving it into my notes for later reference, or emailing it to random strangers. ( Hey, we all have our quirks. ) And however, that blasted sharing release is never as promptly available as it oughta be. well, here ‘s the cook : With one agile allowance to Chrome ‘s under-the-hood settings, you can enable a permanently introduce one-tap button for sharing a page from the browser to anywhere else on your earphone. It ‘ll save you precious time, and there ‘s absolutely no downside. As of this write, you ‘ll need to dig a little deep to activate the consort fix :

• To start, type chrome:flags into Chrome’s address bar on your phone.
• Type button into the search box at the top of the screen that comes up.
• Find the item labeled “Adaptive button in top toolbar” and tap the “Default” box beneath it.
• Change that setting to “Enabled Always Share,” then tap the blue Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

once Chrome restarts itself, you ‘ll see a dapper new dedicated sharing push button right at the top of the browser. a lot easier, no ?

6. Share a link to specific text within a web page

When it comes to website sharing, a radio link alone is n’t constantly enough. sometimes, you want to point person to a specific section of textbook within a page — and typically, there ‘s no capital direction to do that. Or so you ‘d think. When such a necessitate next arises, press and hold your feel to the text in question within the page in Chrome. Use the selectors to highlight the exact area of text you want, then tap “ Share ” in the menu right above the words. Click the button to copy the connection or use one of the other available sharing options to send it to another app, and the connect will be specially structured so that the page will mechanically scroll down to your selected text and highlight it deoxyadenosine monophosphate soon as it ‘s opened ( provided it ‘s opened in either Chrome or Edge ) — like this : JR Raphael/IDG

When you create a link to specific textbook within the Chrome Android app, the page will open to that accurate sphere with your text highlighted .
decimal point made, seconds saved .

7. Send a link to one of your other devices

Forget sharing with early people for a minute : What about when you need to send a connection to yourself — from your phone to a calculator or possibly even another Android device ? The Chrome Android app has a handy option that ‘ll handle that for you. All you ‘ve got tantalum do is tap the partake icon within the main Chrome menu ( or at the acme of your browser, if you followed our earlier topple ! ) and then select “ Send to your devices ” from the menu that shows up. That ‘ll give you a list of available devices where you ‘re signed into Chrome, and once you select any of ’em, your current page will pop up on that device as a notification — no wires or self-emailing required. Who knew ? !

8. Edit and mark up screenshots with minimal effort

sometimes, a photograph can be worth a thousand words ( or at least a couple hundred ). If you feel the urge to capture and share a screenshot of something you ‘re viewing in Chrome, make a mental note : You can do it from right within the browser and rely on Chrome ‘s built-in tools for editing and annotating your screenshot without ever having to leave that environment. just hit that share control once again, and this time, spirit for the “ Screenshot ” option in the menu that appears at the buttocks of the sieve. Tap it, and you ‘ll find yourself in a fancy editor where you can cultivate, add in text, and draw all over your double as needed . JR Raphael/IDG

Chrome ‘s built-in screenshot editor makes it easy to capture, edit, and mark up screenshots ( self-deprecating or otherwise ) within the browser .
once you ‘re finished, it ‘s merely one more wiretap — of the “ following ” command at the lead of the screen — to either save your creation locally or share it to any early destination on your call .

9. Save a page for offline viewing

The following time you ‘re about to head onto a trajectory, into a tunnel, or into a time machine that ‘s transporting you bet on to an era without Wi-Fi, plan ahead and save some articles for your offline read use. You ‘d credibly never know it, but Chrome actually makes that easy to do : While viewing any network page, open the independent Chrome menu — by pressing the three-dot icon in the app ‘s upper-right corner — and tap the downward-facing arrow icon at the top. And that ‘s it : Chrome will save the entire page offline for you. Whenever you want to find it, just open up that lapp menu and select “ Downloads. ” All of your saved pages will be there and waiting, careless of what seat, year, or proportion you happen to be visiting .

10. Convert a page into a PDF

possibly you want to make a more permanent and easily shareable offline transcript of a web page. Hey, no problem : equitable save it as a PDF. Open Chrome ‘s chief menu while viewing the page, then select “ Share ” followed by “ Print. ” Make sure the printer is set to “ Save as PDF ” — if you see some other printer appoint at the top of the screen door, tap it to change it — and then tap the circular blue picture in the blind ‘s upper-right recess and hit the “ Save ” button on the following screen. All you have to do following is open your phone ‘s Downloads app or your favorite Android file director to find the document .

11. Act on text within a web page

Why neutralize energy typing things into Chrome when you can just tap to find what you need ? Anytime you see text on a web page that you want to act on, weigh and hold your finger on the words — then use the sliders that appear to adjust what ‘s selected. Chrome will pop up a minor menu with options to perform a vane search on the phrase or to share it to any other app on your device ( like a messaging avail or note-taking app, for example ). If you ‘re using 2017 ‘s Android 8.0 unblock or higher — and at this point, you ‘d well be ! — the arrangement should besides mechanically recognize and offer allow one-touch suggestions for things like call numbers, physical addresses, and electronic mail addresses . JR Raphael/IDG

Tap some text to parcel it, search for it, or act on it in other context-appropriate ways .

12. Search without stopping

There ‘s an even simpler way to perform a web research when you only need a quick peek at the information : Highlight the phrase you want to look up, as described in the previous tip off — and then look for the Google legal profession that appears at the bottom of your filmdom. Either wiretap that prevention or slide up on it, and you ‘ll be able to glance at the results for the terminus right on exceed of the page you ‘re already viewing. You can then tap on any solution you see to open it in a new tab, tap the icon in the upper-right corner of the empanel to open that as a new pill, or slide your finger down on the jury to close it all in all . JR Raphael/IDG

Chrome ‘s built-in immediate search option is a convenient way to peek at results without interrupting your work flow .

13. Get answers right in Chrome’s address bar

sometimes, you do n’t even need to open a thing to get the information you require. The Chrome Android browser is able to serve up blink of an eye answers properly within its address bar — so if, for example, you want to know how erstwhile Mark Zuckerberg is ( the decline solution is always “ honest-to-god enough to know better ” ) or how much $ 25 is in euro, merely type the doubt directly into the box at the top of your browser. Chrome will give you the information proper then and there, and you can go right back to whatever else you were doing without having to load another page .

14. Preview a link before you commit

I do n’t know about you, but I tend to open up an amazing distribute of links while I ‘m looking around the web. And more much than not, I end up looking at the resulting pages for approximately 2.7 seconds before deciding to close ’em and move on. The Chrome Android app has an incredibly utilitarian command that saves me tons of time with that manner of browsing. just open up any web page ( heck, even this one ! ) and press and hold your finger on any link you see. Select the “ Preview page ” option from the menu that appears, and there ya have it : You can see the linked page in an overlie empanel, just like with the search results in our earlier point. You can then tap the box-with-an-arrow icon in the gore ‘s upper-right corner to open it as its own pill and slide it down ( or tap the “ x ” in its title bar ) to dismiss it wholly.

commodious, would n’t ya say ?

15. Find what you need faster

Chrome has a shroud way to scan a page for a particular term without much attempt : Open the browser ‘s main menu, select “ Find in page, ” and type in the term you want. Hit the down arrow at the top of screen once — and then, alternatively of hitting that lapp arrow over and over to see every place the term appears, slide your finger down the vertical barricade at the right side of the sieve. That ‘ll move you quickly through the page, with every example of your term highlighted for hassle-free screening .

16. Zoom single-handedly

Pinch-to-zoom is, like, so 2013. When you ‘re using your telephone with a single hand, as so many of us tend to do these days, Chrome has two far easier methods of magnifying a specific character of your screen door. first, on many devices, you can simply double-tap anywhere on a page to zoom into that area and have it take up the full width of your display. Double-tapping a second time will then zoom back out. irregular — and particularly bang-up — you can double-tap and leave your finger down, then drag down to zoom in or up to zoom out. It sounds a bit strange, but give it a hear ; it ‘ll get you where you need to go without all the awkward finger yoga that comes with one-handed top. ( note that these advanced zooming methods wo n’t work on all web pages ; by and large, if a site is already optimized for mobile see, you ‘ll be limited to the regular ol ‘ pinching action. But more frequently than not, the motivation to zoom comes up when a site is n’t by rights optimized — or when you ‘re intentionally viewing the desktop adaptation of a web site — and that ‘s when these techniques are typically available. )

17. Zoom where you wanna zoom

For some inexplicable cause, lots of websites prevent you from zooming in on your mobile device in any manner. And for a kind of reasons — whether you want to make the text larger or get a closer look at something that catches your eye — there are bound to be times when you want to move up conclusion and personal. thankfully, Chrome lets you take back control. Head into the app ‘s settings, open the Accessibility section, and find the choice labeled “ Force enable zoom. ” Activate the checkbox alongside it and get ready to zoom to your kernel ‘s subject — whether the web site you ‘re looking at wants you to or not .

18. Make the web easier to read

Let ‘s face it : Some websites do n’t precisely make interpretation pleasant. Whether it ‘s an annoying layout or a baptismal font that hurts your cerebrum, we ‘ve all come across a page that could be a little easier on the eyes. ( Uh, no motivation to name any specifics, OK ? ) Google has a solution : Chrome ‘s simplified opinion modality, which makes any website a bit more mobile-friendly by simplifying the format and stripping out extraneous elements such as ads, navigation bars, and boxes with associate capacity. Look in that aforesaid Accessibility section of Chrome ‘s settings and make certain the box next to “ Flickroom view for web pages ” is activated. then, whenever you ‘re opening an article, vigil for a white bar at the bottom of your browser with the words “ Show simplify scene. ” Tap it — and the textbook will transform veracious in front of your banal eyes . JR Raphael/IDG

Before and after : Chrome ‘s simplified view .
Need easier reading however ? Go back to that Accessibility section of Chrome ‘s settings and play with the “ Text scale ” slider at the top of the page. It ‘ll make all the textbook you encounter across the web larger, freelancer of your system-level text size set .

19. Silence a site in no time

Sites that mechanically play videos you did n’t ask for are badly adequate ( insert awkward eye darting here ), but sites that include audio in their autoplay videos are absolutely inexcusable. You ‘d never know it, but Chrome has a super-fast way to get any web site to shut up when it ‘s barking at you at the wrong time. Just tap the little padlock icon next to the locate ‘s URL in the Chrome Android address bar, and you ‘ll see a secret on-demand see panel for adjusting all sorts of useful site-specific settings . JR Raphael/IDG

One tap in Chrome ‘s address prevention, and you can silence any site that ‘s playing audio in no time .
If the locate is making heavy, the “ sound allowed ” license will be there and waiting. And all you ‘ll have to do is tap it to reveal a toggle switch that ‘ll let you muffle that misbehaving web-kitten once and for all without having to dig deep into any out-of-the-way menu .

20. Refresh with a flick

need to reload a page ? Swipe down from anywhere in the main browser area. ( You ‘ll need to be scrolled all the way to the top of the page in order for it to work. ) Once you see a traffic circle with an arrow look, you can let go, sit back, and say : “ Ahh. Is n’t that refreshing ? ”

21. Slide your way through Chrome’s commands

excessive exploit is for amateurs. rather of tapping Chrome ‘s menu icon, lifting your finger, and then tapping the item you want ( pshaw ! ), chute down on the button to move right into the menu without always lifting your cute paw. Just keep swiping down until you reach your desire option, then let go — and Chrome will select it for you .

22. Pick up where you left off

One of Chrome ‘s most herculean features is something you might not even know exists : The browser always keeps all of your tabs synced and available across devices — which means you can open up Chrome on your Android device and get to the lapp yellow journalism you left receptive on your laptop or desktop calculator. All you ‘ve got tantalum do to take advantage of it is assailable up Chrome ‘s main menu and choice “ recent yellow journalism. ” There, you ‘ll find a entire list of tabs presently or recently open in Chrome on any devices where you ‘re signed in. Just tap the check you want, or press and hold on a device ‘s name to find an choice to open all of its list tab at once .

23. Find that site you surfed to earlier

possibly it ‘s not a recently open check you need but one you had open a while ago — say, a foliate you were viewing from your laptop last night, before you shut it down and put on your front-runner pink footie pajama. well, no problemo : Tiptoe your way back to Chrome ‘s main menu, and this time, select the line labeled “ history. ” hera ‘s the secret about that department : It shows every page you ‘ve had opened in Chrome while signed in on any device — including background and laptop computers along with any other phones or tablets — all in a single searchable list. You can browse through the pages chronologically or look for specific keywords using the corner at the top of the screen. This might besides be a dear time to remind yourself about the being of Chrome ‘s Incognito mode for the type of network surfing you do n’t want kept on record. And do n’t forget, excessively : You can constantly clear your full browsing history from Chrome on any device, should the motivation always arise. ( Do n’t worry : I wo n’t ask for details. )

24. Make a site especially easy to access

For any site you visit routinely, make your life a little easier by placing a one-tap shortcut immediately to it on your device ‘s home screen. Just expression in Chrome ‘s menu for the “ Add to home shield ” choice. That ‘ll put the current site ‘s icon right where you ‘ll always see it for fast future access. With some sites, you might see an “ install app ” option alternatively. That indicates the site is available as a progressive web app, and installing it will give you an flush more robust app-like experience — sometimes with the benefit of built-in offline access . JR Raphael/IDG

A direct shortcut to a site, at the bed left ( above the dock area ), and a locate turned into a liberal web app, at the right of that lapp line .

25. Speed up your browsing and use less data

These tips all revolve around the impression of saving time — so how about one that quite literally makes web pages load firm while besides helping you use less data ? Chrome ‘s Lite Mode is a potent yet out-of-sight arrangement for doing precisely that : When activated, the feature routes pages through Google ‘s servers — in a cleave second — before they reach your device. The pages are then compressed and sent to you in a sized-down shape, though you credibly wo n’t notice any difference from a ocular position. You can try it out by opening the Lite Mode part of Chrome ‘s settings. Once the have ‘s been running for a while, visiting that same section will show you a detail dislocation of precisely how much data you ‘ve saved over time .

26. Swim into a wilder channel

You may know that Chrome offers different liberation channels for its background browser — but did you know you can besides opt to be more adventurous with Chrome on your Android device ? If you like trying out newly features before they ‘re released, grab Google ‘s Chrome Beta app. It gets new elements and interface changes before they ‘re quick for prime time ( which, fair warn, means they might occasionally be a bite gauche ). If you want to go a footprint farther, try out the Chrome Dev app. It ‘s described as the “ bleed border ” version of Chrome, with experimental elements that are guaranteed to be “ pugnacious around the edges. ” ( careful with those fingers ! ) And if you ‘re in truth impression bold, give the Chrome Canary app a whirl. It ‘s the most mentally ill and frequently update transmit of Chrome, with features thus fresh they ‘re bound to be partially uncooked on occasion. The best share ? All of the Chrome Android channels exist as distinguish standalone apps. That means you can install any or all of them and run them right alongside the regular Chrome app, with no major commitment and no real risk involved. And that, my friends, is what we call livin ‘ on the edge — in the most easy and hazard-free way conceivable.

For tied more time-saving magic trick, come check out my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to uncover advance options for zooming about your device, typing out text faster than ever, and all sorts of other bury treasures. This article was in the first place published in June 2018 and updated in December 2021 .

Informant : https://flickroom.net
Category : Web Browsers