5 Chromebook tips and tricks to fine-tune your productivity - ballardcousise81

Spell Chrome OS started life as a simple, stripped-down browser and little other, Google's operative system of rules now has tons of tools, tweaks, and customizations that let you shoehorn your Chromebook to your specific workflow needs.

Fitting like Windows or OS X, Google's built extra functionality into Chromium-plate OS's app catapult, the taskbar-like shelf, window size, and other functions to help you stay productive. These tips will show you how to make the to the highest degree of those tools and start acquiring stuff through happening your Chromebook.

Let's entrench!

Set up your shelf

The shelf has many of the features you may know from the Windows taskbar. You tooshie even relocate it to the left or right side of the screen, though not the top. Just right-click it and choose your desired locating.

Actuate the shelf to the left or far-right side of the shield.

The Chrome OS shelf likewise gives you some flexibility in how you launch apps. You can right-click an app and select to open it by default option as a window, pinned tab, or full screen. For example, I tell Google Play Music to launch in a separate window so it acts like a standalone music application, much as Spotify or iTunes on other operating systems. Doing the same with Gmail and the Google Drive productiveness suite potty help those tone comparable distinct screen background apps, peculiarly if you activate their offline capabilities.

Customize the app launcher

Exerting order on the randomness of the Chrome OS app launcher tin can also streamline your workflow. Customise the app placement in the launcher by clicking and holding on an app and then tumbling it.

Group similar apps into a folder, just as you would act connected an iPhone or Android device.

You can also propel about the icons and package them conjointly in folders, just as you would on an Android twist or iPhone. If there are several different apps that you use from the launcher instead of the shelf, this is a great way to find them faster. Father't forget, however, you can also hit the Search button (where the caps lock would get on a PC or Macintosh) and starting time typing the constitute of the app for another rapid way to launch your next task.

Revolve around your task away going full-screen

With a couple of tweaks you can revolve around one task, such every bit writing in a Google Doc or Office Online filing cabinet. For penning, I like to auto-hide the ledge and set the pill in brimming-screen so I can sportsmanlike concentrate on what I'm working on. (Press the Immersive mode button, or F4, to entire full blind mode on a Chromebook.)

Writing a Google Doc is one of many uses for going full-screen with a Chrome app.

In Immersive way, additional tabs are delineate by flat bars along the big top of the screen. Your shelf is represented by quasi bars, so you can still switch between apps in Immersive mode if you don't feel like victimization one of the umpteen Chrome keyboard shortcuts.

Snap windows happening the left & right

Just now ilk the Windows Cinch feature that came out in Windows 7, you can wharf two separate windows on the left and right sides of the silver screen for multitasking. It's great if you're redaction spreadsheets, for instance, Eastern Samoa you can update the spreadsheet on one side of the screen and view source data on the former go with. You can likewise assign different browser tabs to each half of the screen.

Just like in Windows, you rear end sorrel two windows side by side.

To snap a window to the left Oregon flop side of your Chromebook's display, tick and hold the entitle bar operating theater chit, then merely drag it to the left wing Beaver State right butt against of the screen.

Search Gmail and Google Drive good from the omnibox

If you're searching Gmail or Google Repulse often—hey, you are victimization a Chromebook after all—then this elfin trick will make you quicker. You ass search these items far-right from the Chromium-plate browser's Omnibox.

Search your Gmail right from the Omnibar.

Doing so requires several setup, nonetheless. Get across the web browser's options menu, then head to Settings > Manage research engines. Scroll to the stern of the Other search engines box (represented down the stairs). Then add Gmail in the Add up a new search engine box at the keister, typeGmail As the keyword, and the following URL:

https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/#apps/%s

Follow the duplicate procedure for Google Drive off, using Drive (or whatever you'd like) as the keyword and pursuit as the URL:

http://drive.google.com/?hl=en&A;tabloid=bo#hunt/%s

Erst you set this, you North Korean won't need to voyage to these specific apps to search for whatever of the items. All you'll need to bash is type either Gmail operating theaterDrive into the browser Omnibox, pressTab, then type in a search term and press Enter. It sounds like a lot of steps, but it's insanely quick in practice.

Notice totally the "Other search engines" already loaded into Chrome's "Manage search engines" setting. You pot perform the same steps to search inside those sites, operating theatre add any land site you'd comparable to agile-search using similar steps to those above.

Add a custom seek engine in the Chrome OS settings.

It's this sort of extendability that makes Chromebooks strong sufficient to serve as your important figurer, especially if you've embraced the wider Google ecosystem. Once you've mastered these steps, be sure to check out PCWorld's Chromebook power exploiter tips and our guide to powerful websites that will make you forget about desktop software for even more tools and tricks that leave help you squeeze the most out of your Chromebook.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/431943/5-chromebook-tips-and-tricks-to-fine-tune-your-productivity.html

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