Contact a TIC

Chrome

Table of Contents (click on link to jump to that article)

Pin Tabs to Keep Websites Permanently in Chrome

Installing a New Version of Chrome (to avoid Google apps problems)

Keep Your Google Accounts Separate

Most of us have two Google Accounts: one for AISJ, and one for personal use. This is very useful, so that you can keep your school and personal lives separate with two accounts. However, using two Google Accounts simultaneously in one browser window can cause big problems. If you are trying to access Google Docs shared with you, or any other service using your Google Account as authentication, you will often not be able to access them if you have two accounts open in the same window.

Therefore, you should use a great feature in Chrome to set up your different accounts as different 'People', and then access them at all times in separate windows. To set up two different Google Accounts in Chrome, do the following:

1. Launch Google Chrome, and click on People > Add Person...:

2. In the Web browsing with Google smarts prompt, choose Turn on sync...:

This allows you to use your Google account on your laptop, on your phone, tablet, or other devices.

3. Sign into your Google Account with your full email address and password

4. In the Turn on sync? step, please click on Yes, I'm in:

5. Your setup is complete, and you can now toggle between your different Google Accounts from the People menu, or by pressing command ~ on the keyboard.

Pin Tabs to Keep Websites Permanently in Chrome

There are often websites that you go back to over and over again, and Chrome makes it easy to keep this sites open permanently at the left of the tab bar at the top of Chrome. This is called "pinning" tabs. You can very easily pin important tabs, such as Gmail and Google Calendar, and have them always showing like this:

To pin a tab, simply right-click (two-finger tap) on it, and choose Pin from the menu:

You can even have several tabs pinned, so that sites that you visit frequently are easily available to you. Here, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, Google Drive, Google Keep, Google Meet, Google Sites, PowerSchool, AISJ Portal, Schoology and PTO have all been pinned:

NOTE: Pinning tabs does keep the tabs running all the time, and that uses up memory on your computer. If you notice your computer starting to run slowly, it's a good idea to close down tabs that you don't need.

Installing a New Version of Chrome (to avoid Google apps problems)

Some AISJ users are experiencing some unusual problems in the functionality of some Google programs (like Docs, Forms, Slides, etc...). We've traced some of these problems to a situation where the Google Chrome browser has stopped updating automatically. If you are having Google-app problems (OR simply want to avoid them) the first phase is to find out if your Chrome has stopped automatically updating. Follow the steps below:

1) In your Chrome browser, go to the icon of three vertical dots (in the top right area) and click on that.

Then, click on the "Settings" link further down the menu.

2) In the Settings menu that opens, select the "About Chrome" option at the bottom of the menu.

3) If your browser is having the problem we are describing in this article, you will see the message "Google Chrome may not be able to keep itself updated" beside a red circle with an exclamation mark in it. If you see this continue with the instructions below.

(If you don't see this message, then your Chrome browser is fine and there is no need to continue).

4) If you found (above) that your Chrome browser is not manually updating, then it needs to be uninstalled and a new version needs to be re-installed. THANKFULLY, the awesome AISJ Tech Dept has provided an automated way to do this. (This process will only take 3-5 minutes to complete.)

Using the Launchpad icon on your Macbook (it may look like a rocket ship if you have not upgraded to Big Sur yet), find the AISJ Tech Self-Service icon (looks like a white baobab tree) and click on it.

5) In the Self-Service app window, click on the "Browsers" link (in the left-side menu) and then click on the "Install" button for Google Chrome.

This will start an automated process which will delete the existing version of Chrome and install the current (newest) version of Chrome. Note that you will NOT lose any bookmarks, Chrome add-ons, Chrome extensions in this process. (Heck, your tabs might even re-open to exactly where you were!)

Once the process is finished, just click on the Chrome icon on your dock to open the new version of Chrome.

If you were having Google app problems, test them again to see if they have been fixed.

Page updated

Report abuse