Chrome

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Browsing in Chrome

Chrome makes browsing the Web quick and easy. In this lesson, we'll talk about navigating to websites in Chrome. You'll also learn how use tabs, access your browsing history, and view your downloads.

If you don't have much experience using a web browser, you may want to check out our lesson on Browser Basics, which covers the basic points of Internet browsing in more detail.

The Omnibox

Some browsers use an address bar for navigating to websites and a search bar for conducting web searches. Google Chrome combines these two elements into one bar, known as the Omnibox. By integrating Google's search technology, the Omnibox offers suggestions for websites or potential web searches as you type, which makes navigating the Web faster and easier.

To use the Omnibox:

1. Type a web address or search term into the Omnibox.
   Entering a search term
2. Suggestions will appear below the Omnibox as you type. Suggestions in green text are websites. Suggestions in black text are potential web searches.
   Viewing suggestions in the Omnibox
3. Click a suggestion to navigate to a website or conduct a search. You can also type a full web address and press Enter to navigate to a website, just like a regular address bar.

Omnibox suggestion icons

To the left of each suggestion in the Omnibox is a gray icon, which indicates the suggestion type.

• This is a page you've viewed before or a website related to what you're typing.
• The suggestion is a potential search term.
• This website is one of your bookmarks.

Navigating in Chrome

Chrome uses three buttons for navigation in the top navigation bar: the Back, Forward, and Refresh buttons.

• The Back and Forward buttons allow you to move through pages you have recently viewed. Click and hold either button to see your recent history.
  Viewing recent history
• The Refresh button will reload the current page. If a website stops working, try using the Refresh button. If a webpage doesn't load correctly, it will temporarily become the Stop button . Click this button to stop a webpage from loading.
  The Stop button appears when loading

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Windows and tabs

Like all browsers, Chrome allows you to open new windows to view different pages. In addition, Chrome allows you to open multiple websites in the same window using tabs. Tabs are usually more convenient than opening several windows at the same time.

To open a new window:

1. Click the Chrome menu in the top-right corner of the browser, then select New window. Alternatively, press Ctrl+N on your keyboard.
   
   Opening a new window
2. The new window will appear.
   The new open window

To open a new tab:

1. Click the New tab button to the right of open tabs. Alternatively, press Ctrl+T on your keyboard.
   
   Opening a new tab
2. The new tab will appear. Type an address and press Enter to navigate to a new page.
   Using a new tab
3. The page will appear in the new tab.
   
   The currently selected tab

To switch between tabs:

1. Click any tab that is not currently selected.
   
   Switching between tabs
2. The tab will be selected.
   The newly selected tab

You can also press Ctrl+Tab on your keyboard to switch between open tabs.

To close a tab:

• To close a tab, hover the mouse over any tab and click the Close tab button. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+W on your keyboard to close the current tab.

To open a link in a new tab:

Tabs can also make it easier to browse the Web. If you find a link to a website, you can open that link in a new tab. This allows you to open the site without losing your place on the original page.

1. Right-click the link you want to open, then select Open link in new tab from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, hover the mouse over the link, then press the scroll wheel on your mouse.
   Opening a link in a new tab
2. The website will open in a new tab.
   The link opened in a new tab
   
3. Click the tab to view the website.
   
   Navigating to the new tab
   

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Managing tabs

Tabs can be moved, pulled in and out of windows, and even pinned into place for easy access.

To move tabs:

1. Click and drag the tab you wish to move.
   Moving a tab
2. Release the mouse when you have moved the tab to the desired position.
   Releasing the tab

To pull tabs:

If you want to view two tabs at the same time, it's easy to pull a tab to its own window.

1. Click and drag the tab you wish to pull out of the window. A transparent preview of the new window will appear.
   Pulling a tab out of a window
2. Release the mouse. The tab will now appear in its own window.
   A tab pulled into its own windows
3. To put a tab back into a window, click and drag the tab over the desired window. Release the mouse when the tab appears on the tab bar.
   
   Putting a tab back into a window

To pin tabs:

If there are some pages you use every time you open your browser, like your email or calendar, you might consider pinning the tab. Pinned tabs will open automatically whenever you start Chrome, making your favorite pages easy to access.

1. Right-click the desired tab, then select Pin tab from the drop-down menu.
   Pinning a tab
2. The pinned tab will appear as a smaller tab in the top-left corner of the browser.
   The pinned tab
   
3. To unpin a tab, right-click it and then select Unpin tab from the drop-down menu.
   Unpinning a tab

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The New Tab page

Whenever you open a new tab, the New Tab page will appear. This page contains shortcuts to your most visited sites, installed apps, and recently closed tabs. Taking a little time to become familiar with the New Tab page will make browsing the Web that much faster.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about using the New Tab page.

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Browsing history

Like all browsers, Chrome saves details and cookies from every website you visit, which you can view from the History tab. Chrome uses some of this information to decrease load times for sites you visit regularly. Chrome also allows you to search your history to find a previously viewed page and to delete your history for the sake of privacy. 

To view your browsing history:

1. Click the Chrome menu in the top-right corner of the browser, then select History.
   Accessing the History tab
   
2. The History tab will appear with your full browsing history. The history includes every site you've viewed in the last few weeks. The list is sorted by date, so the most recent history appears at the top of the page.
   Viewing the History tab
   
3. If you can't remember the exact address or name of a webpage you've visited before, you can try searching the history. Enter a search term or website into the search bar, then click Search history.
   Entering a search term
4. A list of results will appear. If you wish to return to a website, simply click the link.
   Viewing search results

Review our lesson on Chrome Privacy and Security to learn how to delete your browser history.

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Downloading files

Chrome can display many different types of documents, media, and other files, such as PDF and MP3 files. But there may be times when you'll want to access a file outside of the browser. To do this, you'll need to download the file directly to your computer.

For example, suppose you need to complete and print a form you find online. You could download it to your computer, then open it with the appropriate program (such as Microsoft Word) to edit it.

To download a file using Save link as:

If you click a link to a file, it may download automatically. However, depending on the file type, it may just open within the browser. To prevent a file from opening in Chrome, you can use Save link as to download it to your computer.

1. Right-click the file you wish to download, then select Save link as.
   Clicking Save link as
   
2. A dialog box will appear. Select the location where you wish to save the file, enter a file name, and click Save. Your Downloads folder will be selected by default.
   Downloading a file
3. The file will begin downloading, and the download progress will appear in the lower-left corner of the browser. When the download is complete, simply click the file to open it.

For various reasons, many websites do not allow you to download content. For example, YouTube does not offer a way to download its videos.

To access your downloads:

The Downloads tab allows you to view and manage all of your downloads.

1. Click the Chrome menu in the top-right corner of the browser, then select Downloads.
   Clicking Downloads
2. The Downloads tab will appear. From here, you can open previously downloaded files, search for downloads, or clear the list of downloads if desired.
   The Downloads tab