7 Awesome Google Chrome Tricks to Boost Your Productivity

Google Chrome is by far the most popular web browser around the world and there are many reasons behind its fame.

It’s true that the browser benefits hugely from its association with Google but there are a number of features that also testifies its reputation as the best browser in the world.

Chrome has some unique features that are made to boost productivity and there are also shortcuts to quickly access them.

Most of them are known to most users, however, there are a few hidden features offered only by Google Chrome that only a few people know.

Here, I’ll be sharing seven such awesome tricks that you can perform on Google Chrome to maximize your productivity. Let’s get started.

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1. Compose Emails Directly

Google Chrome has a nifty built-in feature that allows users to compose emails right from the address bar. It completely removes the need of opening Gmail in the browser.

To use it, all you need to do is go to the Chrome settings and locate the Manage Search Engines option.

Once there, scroll down and hit the Add button. The following pop-up should have three text fields.

If you see the pop-up with three text fields, do the following steps. In the first field, write ‘Gmail Compose’ or any cool name you’d like to give it. The second field will ask for the short key, write as per choice. I have written mc, short for mail compose.

The third and the last step is the most important one. Here, write the following text in the colored box and hit save.

mailto:?to=%s

Now, all you need to do is write your short key (mc in my case) and hit tab, followed by a space and the email address. The moment you’ll hit enter, the ‘compose mail’ window will appear. Type in your email and send it.

2. Disable Javascript and Flash

Sometimes, you come across a webpage that is loaded with elements that are either too heavy or are in some way prohibiting users from accessing the page content. In most cases, these things are controlled by Javascript or Flash.

Chrome has a quick setting that can allow you to disable these temporarily or permanently as per your choice.

To do this, open any web page and navigate to the address bar. There, click on the padlock icon and a pop-up will appear. Scroll down and locate Javascript or Flash. Right next to it are the options to disable it, select the appropriate option.

Once all the steps are done, reload the page to see the changes.

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3. Move Multiple Tabs at Once

If you have a habit of opening multiple tabs at once, it’s always a better option to have tabs open in different windows. But moving one tab after the other is quite taxing. Chrome has a neat little feature that allows users to move multiple tabs between windows at once.

To use this feature, simply select the tabs you want to move and keep the ‘Ctrl’ key pressed. Once you have moved the desired tabs, just leave them on the desired window or out of the current window.

4. Unclutter RAM from within Chrome

If you have used Chrome, you may know that it can sometimes be very nasty, eating up a lot of RAM. Why it does that is a separate thing altogether and we are not discussing it here today. Right now, I’ll tell you how you can free resources from within the browser.

Next time you feel that your system or Chrome is getting a bit sluggish, just hit ‘Shift+Esc’, this will bring the Chrome task manager up. From there, you can see which tabs are consuming the most amount of resources and you can end those processes.

This helps reducing resource usage by Chrome. However, make sure that you don’t have any unsaved work on your browser before ending processes.

Also Read: 4 Versions of Google Chrome and How They Differ

5. Get Notifications Even When Chrome Is Inactive

Even though Chrome is resource hungry, some of its processes really make my work a lot easier. For instance, even when I do not open my Facebook or Twitter account on the browser, I still get all the notifications on my desktop. It’s no magic but a simple setting that Chrome has — all you need to do is enable it.

To use it, go to Chrome settings, locate the ‘manage Content Settings’ option. Once there, scroll down and hit the Notifications button. Enable the option if it’s not on already.

Also, if you are annoyed with constant notifications on your desktop, you can mute them by removing the apps or services, of which you don’t want to receive any notification.

6. Open Bookmarks while Browsing

I know Chrome hid the bookmark bar intentionally to make the whole browsing activity a little more aesthetically pleasing but we do sometimes feel the need to access our bookmarks while browsing on a certain page.

To see the bookmarks, you can always go to Options, choose the bookmarks option and then locate what you want or you can simply do what I do. Hit ‘Shift+Ctrl+B’.

With this neat shortcut, you can make the bookmarks bar visible under the address bar or, in other words, toggle its appearance. It’s a simple fix that saves a lot of time.

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7. Save Bookmarks as Desktop Shortcuts

Why do we all love desktop shortcuts? Simple! It’s because they make our lives really easy and we can access commonly used applications without having to go through all the apps.

Similar to that, Google Chrome also allows users to access their favorite links by creating desktop shortcuts.

To do this, simply highlight the content or the URL on the address bar. Drag it and place it on the desktop and a shortcut to that page will be created instantly. The next time you want to visit your favorite page or website, all you need to do is double-click the desktop shortcut and Chrome will take you there.

Last but Not the Least

I personally love all these smart tricks and they help me finish my work within much less time. Google Chrome is a mine when it comes to such features and the more you know about them, the more benefit you reap.

But, as always, we have some more ideas to help you and we will soon be talking about how to use Google Chrome’s experimental features to your benefit. Until next time, adios!

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