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posted 12/9/2021 by Achyut Shastri
Many people use chromebooks every day for multiple different reasons, ranging from writing documents and connecting to Google apps, to writing essays and creating presentations. However, sometimes you need to get your work on the Chromebook done as quickly as possible. To do so, here are some tips and tricks as to how to use ChromeOS with the best efficiency:
The first tip to note is the Chromebook Overview. This Overview is a chromebook function that shows you every window or app that you have running and also allows you to switch between virtual desktops. Virtual desktops are like having multiple computers running on one laptop. It allows you to organize windows into each desktop and make your workflow more efficient. To open the Chromebook Overview, you should have a dedicated key on your keyboard which looks like a box with two lines on the right side of it (should be above the 6 key, placement shown below). If you press that, a grid of your open windows will show up with a toolbar at the top that includes a list of your virtual desktops and an add button for adding more virtual desktops.
Next up is the Chrome dedicated function keys shown above. Since the Chromebook was made specifically to interact with Chrome, it has some special keys that help you navigate Chrome. First of all, the Chromebook has forward and back keys that have the same function as the forward and back buttons on the top left of your Google Chrome window. These function keys can be located at the top left of your keyboard. Second, you can use the reload button. Instead of pressing ‘control’ and ‘r’ together, or clicking the reload button on the screen, you can press the dedicated reload button to reload a page on Chrome. Finally, we have the full screen key. This key allows you to maximize the window size of a tab so that it takes up all of the screen, allowing you to focus only on that tab. These keys are extremely useful when traversing Chrome with multiple pages open. It allows you to have shortcuts, making your work in Chrome more efficient.
Another cool Chrome feature is the ability to take a screenshot. If you hold ‘control’ and the ‘alt’ key, then press the Chrome Overview Key mentioned earlier and shown above, you can bring up a menu that allows you to take multiple different types of screenshots. You could take a screenshot of a specific window by using the second section of the toolbar’s second button. You could capture the whole screen as well with the third button of that section, or capture a region of your choosing with the first button of that section. You could also choose between a video or photo of your screen with the first section of that toolbar. Once you are finished with your screen capture, it will give you a notification that allows you to copy your capture to your clipboard and paste it in a web page. This feature makes copying information more easy and efficient, thus improving your work experience on a Chromebook. Here is a recording of how to use the interface:
Finally, Chromebooks do have the ability to multitask windows. In an OS like Windows, you can automatically resize a window and position it so that it occupies half of your screen on either the right or left. You could even make it occupy fourths of your screen. In ChromeOS, you can do this as well. However, you can only make it occupy half of your screen on the right or left. There are 2 ways to activate multitasking. First, like Windows, you could drag the window to one side of the screen. However, there is an alternate way: click and drag on the fullscreen button at the top right of the window to the side you want the window to be on. This is an easy shortcut to view content on two windows for multitasking. This feature is an extremely useful function that helps you get work done faster and also perform tasks that require the simultaneous use of multiple web pages.
Chromebooks are made for work. Due to this, Google embedded these shortcuts to make life easier when operating a Chromebook. These shortcuts are extremely useful and are recommended for daily use.
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