Have you ever tried out experimental options in ChromeOS earlier than? I used to dwell on the experimental department, however recently I’ve simply been having fun with the secure department—principally as a result of Google has rolled plenty of options that used to require flags into the primary working system.
From a correct calendar view to customized keyboard shortcuts, ChromeOS has matured loads over the previous few years. Listed here are 5 superior options of ChromeOS that used to require experimental flags that at the moment are out there as a part of the core Chrome working system.
5
Floating and Snapping Window System
As soon as requiring two flags to allow, ChromeOS now helps each floating and snapping home windows.
This looks as if a easy factor, proper? You may even assume that ChromeOS all the time supported floating home windows, and it has—however not like this. With the brand new floating home windows replace that got here out in the previous couple of years, now you can pin a window to drift all the time on prime by hovering over the window icon within the prime proper of any open program.
I truthfully want different working techniques like macOS and Home windows had a straightforward method to make a window float on prime, because it’s one thing that could possibly be tremendous helpful in a wide range of circumstances. Regardless, ChromeOS now does this natively.
In the identical replace, the ChromeOS workforce launched a snapping window system that resembles the Home windows 11 window administration instruments (that’s plenty of home windows!).
This not solely lets you drag a window to the left or proper and have it snap to take up half the display screen, however there are additionally extra choices by hovering over the window icon within the prime proper of the display screen. Merely put, you possibly can snap a window to full display screen, partial display screen, or half display screen with a single click on.
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4
Calendar View within the System Tray
It’s onerous to think about that there was a time earlier than a calendar view was out there within the system tray of ChromeOS, however that’s the reality. You used to must set off at the least one (if not a number of) experimental flags to get a calendar within the system tray.
Now? It’s simply there, sitting the place it all the time ought to have been. Clicking on the date within the decrease proper of your display screen will open up a full month-to-month calendar view so you possibly can see your complete month at one time.
Clicking on a date will convey up something in your Google Calendar for that day, and above the calendar is your Google Duties lists the place you possibly can simply test issues off. It is a main productiveness hack for ChromeOS, and it’s good to see it included by default as a substitute of requiring flags to be enabled to take pleasure in it.
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3
Customized Keyboard Shortcuts
Much like the system tray calendar view, it’s onerous for me to imagine that there was a time that ChromeOS didn’t have customized keyboard shortcuts. Nevertheless, that function solely made it to mainstream ChromeOS in 2024.
Till the 2024 replace, you couldn’t customise keyboard shortcuts in ChromeOS. As a substitute, you needed to merely be taught the Chrome-specific shortcuts, and there was no different choice. Now you possibly can customise what keyboard shortcuts carry out completely different capabilities.
It is a nice replace, because it lets you program ChromeOS to operate extra like macOS or Home windows, relying on what working system you’re extra conversant in.
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The ChromeOS 123 replace additionally provides hotspot tethering for 4G LTE Chromebooks.
2
Partial Cut up Window Format
As a part of the window snapping update, ChromeOS bought partial cut up window layouts. This lets you rapidly snap a window to half the display screen. Accomplished by both dragging a window to the left or proper of the display screen (or utilizing the keyboard shortcut Alt + ] or [), this functionality is crucial to moving or uploading files easily.
Personally, I mainly use the split window function when dragging and dropping files from one folder to another, or from the file browser to an online service where I’m uploading them to. However, there are a number of other reasons to use this type of snapping function.
For instance, you could snap Google Docs to one side and a Chrome tab to the other side for research and writing purposes. Or, you could have YouTube open on one half of the screen and Facebook on the other. The possibilities are endless, and it’s great that Google finally made partial split-window layouts easily possible in ChromeOS.
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1
Android App Streaming From Your Phone
While streaming Android apps from your phone to your Chromebook is a more limited feature, it’s now an official part of ChromeOS. It used to require experimental flags, but now is baked into the main operating system.
The Phone Hub on ChromeOS connects your Android device to your Chromebook over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, enabling many features. One of those features is Android App streaming.
While modern Chromebooks can run most Android apps natively, there are still some that are available on Android phones exclusively and not on Chromebook. If you have a supported smartphone (a Pixel 4 or newer, Nothing (1) or (2), or a Xiaomi 12T, 12T Pro, 13, or 13 Pro), then you’ll be able to stream apps directly from your phone to Chromebook.
This function is definitely more niche and not quite as useful as the others on this list, but it’s still something that used to be experimental only and now is part of ChromeOS natively.
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After trying out these features, why not check out these nine power user tricks that you should totally be using? Linux is the crux of a lot of power user functionality on Chromebooks, and it’s great that you can natively install Linux apps on Google’s laptops now.
Also, don’t forget about virtual desktops in ChromeOS. This feature isn’t new at all, but it’s a crucial part of any productivity setup, and you should definitely give it a try if you haven’t before.
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