Keyboard shortcuts are very useful in Google Chrome. It can perform operations like closing tabs, refreshing the web page, and even deleting browsing data, etc quickly to save a lot of your time. There are more than hundreds of key combinations to perform browsing or internet-related tasks within a second. Whereas, if you use the traditional method (using a computer mouse or touchpad) to perform these tasks, it can take more time and user effort to do that. In this article, we have shared the top 17 useful Google Chrome keyboard shortcuts that you should know.
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Top 17 Useful Chrome Keyboard Shortcuts You Should Know
These keyboard shortcuts work flawlessly on Microsoft Windows as well as Apple Mac.
1. Open Incognito Mode
The Chrome users must be aware of the feature “incognito mode“. It allows users to surf the websites while not creating any browser logs such as browsing history, etc. To access the incognito tab on your desktop Chrome, just simply press Ctrl + Shift + N from the keyboard and start browsing in this tab.
2. Reopen Closed Tab
Sometimes, we accidentally close the active tab that is currently in use. There’s a cool Google Chrome shortcut that you can use to reopen the recently closed tabs. Just press Ctrl + Shift + T from the keyboard to get the previously closed tabs.
3. Refresh the Web Page
You can either use the ‘F5‘ or ‘Ctrl + R‘ keyboard shortcut to refresh a web page in the Chrome browser. Also, use ‘Ctrl + Shift + R‘ or ‘Shift + F5‘ to perform a hard reload of a web page which means instead of fetching and reloading web files from cached data, it loads the web page directly from the servers where the original files are located.
4. Zoom in/out
When the content on a web page is too small or too big that your eyes simply can not handle it. In this case, you can use the zoom in or zoom out feature using keyboard shortcuts to view the content clearly. The Google Chrome shortcuts Ctrl + Plus Key (+) and Ctrl + Minus Key (-) key can be used to zoom in and zoom out on a web page.
5. Open Chrome Task Manager (Only for Windows)
The task manager in Windows is used to manage all the running tasks and applications. Similarly, Google Chrome has its own built-in task manager that you can access through a keyboard shortcut. Simply press Shift + Esc keys to launch Chrome task manager. Here you can manage your open Chrome tabs and running extensions and close them as well. Note: This keyboard shortcut works on Windows operating system only.
6. Delete Browsing Data
You can clear your browsing history, download history, web cookies, cached files, etc within a second using just a simple keyboard shortcut. To do that, simply press Ctrl + Shift + Del from the keyboard and click on clear data.
7. Access Chrome DevTools
Chrome DevTools is a set of web developer tools used to view the fundamental elements of a web page (i.e. HTML, CSS, JavaScript). Using DevTools, you can modify each web page element, insert new elements, and test your codes. Also, web developers use this tool to debug and optimize HTML, JavaScript, and CSS codes so that it can load faster and efficiently in web browsers. Just press the Ctrl + Shift + I key from the keyboard to access Chrome DevTools and view the elements of a webpage.
8. Switch Between Tabs
Moving the cursor to a specific tab is a hectic task to switching between multiple tabs. You can use the Ctrl+Tab keyboard shortcut to move across all the active tabs in your Chrome browser. Also, you can use Ctrl + 1 to Ctrl + 8 to jump directly to a specific tab. Some other useful tab shortcuts are:
- Ctrl + 9: Jump to the rightmost tab
- Alt + Home: Open your home page in the current tab
- Alt + Left arrow: Open the previous page from your browsing history in the current tab
- Alt + Right arrow: Open the next page from your browsing history in the current tab
9. Open Chrome History
Press Ctrl + H to quickly go to the History tab in your Chrome browser.
10. Open a New Tab
Press Ctrl + T to quickly open a new tab in the Google Chrome browser.
11. Close Current Tab (Ctrl+W)
Press Ctrl+W to quickly close your current active Chrome tab.
12. Save Bookmark (Ctrl+D)
Google Chrome lets you add your favorite websites to the bookmark by using the keyboard shortcut. You can simply press Ctrl + D on your keyboard to save the current web page on your browser’s bookmark. Also, Ctrl + Shift + D will save all the active tabs into the bookmark. Other bookmark-related Chrome shortcuts are:
- Ctrl + Shift + B: To show bookmark bar
- Ctrl + Shift + O: To open bookmark manager where you can view, delete and organize your saved websites
13. Finding Tool (Ctrl+F)
You and use the find tool to quickly search any text or phrase on a web page. Press Ctrl + F to launch the finding tool instantly.
14. Print Web Page
Sometimes we want to print a web page through the scanner or printer. Then, we can use the ‘Ctrl + P’ keyboard shortcut while a web page is opened in the Chrome browser to print any web page through the printer. Also, you can use the same shortcut to convert a web page into a PDF file.
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15. Jump to Address Bar (Ctrl+L)
Press Ctrl + L to quickly go to the address bar. Alternatively, you can also press the Alt + D keys combination.
16. Go to Downloads Tab
To go to the download tab in your browser, just press Ctrl + D simultaneously from the keyboard.
17. Perform Scrolling on a Page (Up/down)
When you don’t want to use your mouse, you can use the keyboard up/down and left/right arrow keys to scroll through a web page. —Use Up/down arrow keys to navigate up and down on a web page—Use Left/right arrow keys to navigate left and right on a web page—Use Alt+left / Alt+ right to navigate backward and forwards through pages.
Bonus: Quit Google Chrome
To quit the Google Chrome browser entirely, press Alt + E then x from the keyboard.
Bottom Line
I hope you like these top 17 useful Google Chrome keyboard shortcuts. If you’ve any questions or queries regarding this article, don’t hesitate to ask in the comment box. Also, don’t forget to share our website with your friends or followers. Subscribe to our website to get the notification instantly as any new article is being published.