Chromebook Tricks

Chromebooks have limited local storage, but you’re encouraged not to use it, and Google Drive appears as an option whenever you download something from the web.

To have Chrome OS save files straight to Google Drive with no prompt, open up the Settings dialog then click Show advanced settings.

Under Downloads, click Change, then specify your Google Drive (or any folder inside it), and click on Open. Back on the Settings screen, untick the box marked Ask where to save each file before downloading. The change is saved automatically and new downloads will go straight to your cloud storage.

Use Chrome App Launcher as a Unit Convertor

Use The Chrome App Launcher as a Calculator

Make A Favicon Bookmarks Bar

Create a very colorful favicon-only bookmarks bar. They more than just look good. By reducing links to your favorite sites to their website icons you can have more of them on show and at hand.

To make the Chrome Bookmarks Bar show only website icons:

Right-click on a bookmark bar item
Select ‘edit’
Delete the text in the ‘name’ box
Hit ‘save’

It’s that simple. No extensions or add-ons needed. Repeat the process until all of the sites/services you want to minify are.

Control + Shift + T = Reopen Last Tab

Use Chrome App Launcher to Open Apps By Voice

You can do more than check the weather

Google’s Launcher also has built-in voice search capabilities (which can even be set to “always listening” in the latest developer builds).

Aside from barking random search terms at your device you can also launch apps installed on your Chromebook by saying their name:

So, for example, saying “Ok, Google – YouTube” will launch YouTube (assuming the YouTube app is installed) .

For what it’s worth you don’t even need to say the word. For example “cal” would launch any shortcut, website or app result that matches.

How To Use Your Touch Pad

Three Finger Trick

Put three fingers on your touchpad, swipe left or right to switch between tabs.

-and-

Next time you want to open a link as a new tab, save yourself a step and simply click the link with three fingers on your trackpad. It'll automatically open into a new tab in the background — no right-clicking and menu-selecting required.

Organize Your Apps

Give your Chromebook's apps a little organization by creating folders within the Chrome OS launcher. All you've gotta do is click or tap on any app and then drag it on top of another app's icon. To take an app out of a folder, click or tap it and then drag it toward the top of the screen.

Photo Editing

Chrome OS's Files app has a built-in photo editor that's perfect for basic image manipulation. While viewing an image in Files, click the pencil-shaped icon in the upper-right corner — or hit "e" on your keyboard — to get started.

Did You Know Your Device Has An SD Card Slot?

Chromebooks offer an SD card slot. While the SD card slot is useful for moving files between computers, for many people it may be most useful as semi-permanent external storage.

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