10 Hidden Settings You Should Change in Chrome for a Great Browsing Experience

Chrome Settings #1

You can kill flash within Chrome from chrome://plugins/. You need to click on the disable link under the option that reads Adobe Flash Player. It should not be an issue as most sites use HTML 5 and not Flash to embed the content. You can also run the Flash content as per requirement by going to Settings → Show Advanced Settings → Privacy → Content Settings → Plugins. From here, select the radio button that is next to the option 'Let me choose when to run plugin content'.

Chrome Settings #2

You can assign shortcuts to the Chrome extensions you have installed to speed up the workflow. You can set shortcuts from chrome://extensions or click on Keyboard Shortcuts that is at the bottom right of the Extensions page on Chrome. This will show the list of all the extensions that are enabled. You can click on the field beside any extension and type an easy shortcut that you like to use for that specific extension.

Chrome Settings #3

If you are using the extensions as they are, you are definitely missing on great customization options that the extensions come bundled with. You can explore the extension settings from the Extensions page. There will be a small Options link under each extension and you can tweak it to make it behave as you wish.

Chrome Settings #4

With Parental Controls, you can monitor your children's browser usage and also set up supervised Chrome accounts for your use. This process is similar to that of creating one for a regular user. You need to just go to Settings → People → Add Person. Then, choose a name and a picture for the user. The additional work is that you need check the box that is beside the option 'Control and view the websites this person visits from..'. You will see this option only when you are signed in to your Google account. The same can be managed from any device from chrome.com/manage.

Chrome Settings #5

This is a setting hidden under chrome://flags. These are experimental features and they might not always work. However, there are chances to see these in future versions of Chrome by default. Also, you need to know that every time you change a setting in this, you need to relaunch Chrome for the setting will take effect. You need to enable password generation from chrome://flags. This way, you will be able to create and save a password generated randomly by Chrome while you are on the account creation page.

Chrome Settings #6

In chrome://flags, there is an option called Tab Discarding that has to be enabled to let the browser monitor your tabs and discard the ones that are of low priority automatically. The discarded tabs will not disappear but stay in the tool bar of the browser and these can be reloaded anytime you want them. This can also be done manually from chrome://discards.

Chrome Settings #7

The autofill feature in Chrome is useful, time saving, and convenient while filling out web forms. You can make it more useful by doing a simple tweak in chrome://flags and enabling the option Show Autofill Predictions. This way, it will place relevant predictions into the placeholder text depending on the type of the field.

Chrome Settings #8

Keeping the much needed websites handy to be viewed offline can be done by enabling Show Saved Copy Button from chrome://flags. You can choose the Primary option from the dropdown menu for the option and then relaunch Chrome. The Secondary option will get an inconspicuous Show Saved Copy button and not a bright blue one.

Chrome Settings #9

The Enable Download Resumption option in chrome://flags will help resume the interrupted downloads through the context menu. Enabling this will give the ability to resume downloads that is very useful.

Chrome Settings #10

Material Design made big changes and if you want to have the same on Chrome, you can enable it from chrome://flags. In this page, go to Enable material UI for PDF and Enable Material Design Downloads.