20 tips for new Chromebook users should know

Perhaps you took the time to consider the positive and negative aspects of Chromebooks to make the final decision of owning a computer. That is a great choice! I owned a Chromebook a few months ago and I was happy to have such a laptop. Your Chromebook may be different, but I think you'll be happy with it like I do.

However, Chromebook computers have their own uses. You can see that your computer looks different when compared to MacBook or Surface, but take the time to learn it. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you get used to Chromebooks faster.

1. Fix errors not typing Vietnamese on Chrome

1. Create multiple user profiles

Chromebooks make good use of Chrome's User Profiles feature, allowing users to split computers into separate profile logins. Each profile maintains its own applications, management and settings. Sometimes you can lend to others so it's best to use multiple profiles.

In particular, profiles are important if your home has children. By enabling Supervised Users , you can create restrictive profiles that only allow browsing certain websites and cannot disable SafeSearch (temporarily translating as safe search). Basically, it is a parental control feature (feature for parents to control what their children see, hear, play .).

2. Use Guest Mode for other users

Even if you don't use the Profile feature above, you must also know Guest Mode. This mode allows you to give your computer to others without worrying that they will view your data (eg browsing history, download, bookmarks, .) or access applications. use.

After the end of another user's session, their activities will be automatically deleted from the device without manual removal. (This sounds similar to Incognito Mode in Chrome browser, but keep in mind that Guest Mode and Incognito Mode are not the same).

3. Open the application in separate windows

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Because all Chromebook applications are web applications, first-time users are often stalled by the fact that applications are always open in Chrome. Fortunately, you can force any application to open in its own window.

Find the application you want to open in the App Launcher or Taskbar, right-click the application and select Open as Window . Very simple, isn't it? Now, your device is like a real laptop, not just a popular Chrome browser.

4. Group the applications into multiple folders

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As you use the device more and more, you will install more and more applications. Although the App Launcher helps you launch any application with a quick search function, but you want to immediately click on the application for fast. In that case, you should take advantage of App Folder .

Open App Launcher and click on All Apps , then drag any application icon to another application icon to group them into a folder. Continue dragging many other icons if needed. To name the folder, click on that folder and change the "Unnamed Folder" at the top to the name you want.

5. Turn the website into an application

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Remember, Chromebook apps are basically just websites that are set as apps. Although this comes with a few drawbacks, it has more benefits: you can turn any website into an application and run it in a separate window.

Open Chrome, navigate to the website you want to confirm and click the three dots button at the top right. Scroll down to More tools , then select Add to shelf . Name the application, make sure you select Open as windows and click Add .

1. How to turn the website into an application on Linux?

6. View the file before opening

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One of the most interesting things about the Finder feature on macOS is that you can highlight most files and press Spacebar to download the preview without actually running the file in the related application. Did you know that Chrome OS also has such a preview feature?

Open the Files app, select any file without opening it, then press Spacebar . You should see an overlay with some file details (for example, size, file type, last edit time, etc.) and some file-specific information (such as ID3 tags or MP3). Some types like images and sounds also have a preview.

7. Move the windows left and right

If you own a Chromebook that supports 1920x1080 or higher resolutions, you probably won't want to maximize your apps. For better productivity, you can take advantage of the screen by opening two windows in parallel.

An easy way to do this is to drag the window to the left or right side, then Chrome OS will automatically drag them to one side and split the screen in half for each window. Or you can choose a window and press Alt + [ to move the window to the left or Alt +] to move the window to the right.

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8. Forced removal of freezing applications

You may not be able to run applications that frequently freeze on Chrome OS like Windows or Mac, but if you miss running, you need to open Task Manager (use the Search + Escape button) to remove the application. Freeze this.

Once opened, you need to find the frozen process, select it and press End process . Task Manager is one of the most important features of Chrome OS, so you should use this important system feature.

9. Reboot the frozen system

In the unlikely event that an error occurs with the system, you will see Task Manager will not open or cannot free your device. If that happens, you can use the last option - it's the Hard Reboot .

Each Chromebook comes with a special set of multimedia keys located on the number pad row. One of them is the Refresh key (which looks like a round arrow) and a Power key (like a circle with a vertical line). Press Power + Refresh key to reboot immediately.

Note: This will cause you to lose unsaved data in open applications. Moreover, this operation does not have the same function as Powerwash (will be described in more detail in section 20 below).

10. Master the integrated Search key

One thing only in Chromebook keyboards is the lack of Windows keys or Command keys. Instead, Google chose to replace the Caps Lock key with the Search key, which helps open Apps Launcher when pressed.

This key is extremely useful to help:

1. Launch any application quickly by typing its name. In this sense, it is very similar to the Start menu in Windows 10 and Mac Spotlight.
2. Quickly launch website URLs or query any search engine.
3. Activate voice search by pressing the microphone button.

11. Reconnect special keys

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Chrome OS has 5 special keys that allow you to reconnect them if you want: they are Search, Ctrl, Alt, Backspace and Escape keys. You can connect these keys to any key of the five keys, plus Caps Lock and Disabled keys. If you don't like the Search key, you can revert it to Caps Lock here or turn it off completely.

Click the profile icon in the bottom right corner, then click the gear icon to open Settings . Scroll down to the Device section and click on Keyboard settings . Just change the key combination with the drop-down menus. You can also turn the top multimedia keys into function keys by activating the checkbox.

12. Learn the system shortcuts

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In addition to different keyboard layouts, Chromebooks also have different shortcuts for system-level operations. Fortunately, Google has designed it extremely easy to learn new shortcuts: just press the shortcut Ctrl + Alt +? .

This will display an interactive keyboard map that shows you the function of each shortcut. If you hold down the Search key, it will display all the shortcuts associated with the Search key. Same with Ctrl, Alt and Shift keys. Let's start to learn the most important shortcuts in Chromebooks right now.

13. Press right mouse and middle mouse on Touchpad

Using touch mice seems a bit difficult for first-time Chromebook users. To right click, you just need to press the touchpad simultaneously with two fingers. To click between, just press the touchpad simultaneously with three fingers. This tip will help you experience Chromebooks millions of times faster.

14. Swipe gestures on Touchpad

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All new Chromebook devices come with touchpad support for gestures. While there are a lot of gestures that are supported, but there are four special gestures that new users use Chromebooks should know:

1. Swipe horizontally with two fingers to forward and return to Chrome.
2. Swipe vertically with two fingers to scroll up and down.
3. Swipe horizontally with three fingers to slide between open tabs in Chrome. This is even faster than using Ctrl + Tab .
4. Swipe down with three fingers to open Task Switcher tool, see all open applications in the interface.

15. Free up disk space quickly

All Chromebook devices come with some form of SSD to store data. Although this is great news about speed and performance, it has one weakness: SSD has small storage capacity. In fact, you can hardly find an affordable Chromebook that has more than 32 GB of storage.

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That's why managing disk space is important. Click the profile icon in the bottom right corner, then click on the gear icon to open Settings . Under Device, click Storage management . Here, you can see which applications or programs are taking up space on the system and click to delete when needed.

16. Disable Sleep Mode

Chrome OS does not provide any way to adjust energy saving options. When not plugged in, the screen will turn off after a few minutes of inactivity. When plugged in, the screen will last longer but will still turn off when not working.

However, if this feature makes you unhappy, you can open the Chrome extension and turn off Sleep Mode. Here, you can not only disable Sleep Mode, but also choose between "sleep only" or "sleep on the screen and the system" mode.

17. Easy screen capture

If your Chromebook doesn't have a Print Screen button, what do you have to do to take a screenshot? Very simply, you just need to press Ctrl + Switch Window (Switch Window is a special key on the top of the keyboard that looks like a rectangle with 2 vertical lines next to it).

The saved screenshot will appear in the Downloads folder, where you can access it using the Files application. Note that you can also use Ctrl + Shift + Switch Window to select specific areas of the screen on the screen.

18. Enable optional features with Flags

Open Chrome and type chrome: // flags in the URL bar to access a wide range of optional Chrome OS features. Feel free to browse them if you have time, if not, at least check the flags (flags) to improve performance.

Note: These optional features are not always stable. The lightest is that they can not work as intended. In the worst case scenario, they can cause data loss. However, in fact, most of these features are stable and very rare, but we should also take care of unfortunate risks.

19. Experimental features on Beta and Dev channels

The Beta channel allows you to review upcoming features with low risk, about a month before the Stable channel. Channel Dev provides high-risk, error-prone features when viewing features tested before the Stable channel. To switch to the Beta or Dev channel:

1. Click the profile icon at the bottom right
2. Click the gear icon to open Settings .
3. At the top, select About Chrome OS .
4. Click More info .
5. Click the Change channel button.
6. Finally choose the Beta or Dev channel.

If you want to minimize system problems and potential data loss, attach Stable channels. However, switching from the test channel to the Stable channel will erase all data from the Chromebook, including accounts.

20. Restore original settings using Powerwash

If you want to reinstall the Chromebook or plan to sell it, or you have a serious error that causes your system to crash continuously, the table needs to powerwash your device.

Powerwash is Google's term meaning "restore original settings". Powerwash will erase all data on the Chromebook and return it to its original state as when it was launched. Although losing local data, your Google accounts and profiles will not be affected, because your data has been synced in Google Cloud.

Conclude

Above are the 20 most basic tricks for new Chromebook users. In my opinion, it was really useful because I experienced it myself.

Do you like using Chromebooks? Any advice for new users that I missed in the post? Let us know by commenting below.