You’re using your Chromebook wrong. There, I said it. If you’re just using your Chromebook to browse Facebook and check email, you’re leaving so much on the table.
Here are seven features that you’ve probably missed that your Chromebook can do.
7Virtual Desks
Virtual Desksare ChromeOS’ way of doing multiple desktops. Each Virtual Desk can hold a collection of windows so you can just swipe (or use keyboard shortcuts) to switch between them and have different windows open.
On my MacBook, I used to usemacOS' implementation of virtual desktopsquite often, as it was an easy way to have a different arrangement of windows for various apps when I only had one monitor. Now that I have multiple displays, I use the feature less.
However, when mobile, I totally think that Virtual Desks on a Chromebook can level up your productivity in a major way. For instance, you could have one Virtual Desk that is the Chrome browser open full-screen. The next Virtual Desk could haveSlackand Asana side-by-side, so you can keep tabs with work.
A third Virtual Desk could containYouTube Music or Spotify, so you’re able to easily change what song is playing.
You could even set it up so that way your primary Google Chrome Virtual Desk was in the middle, with Spotify on the left and Asana/Slack on the right. The opportunities are endless here, and if you haven’t used Virtual Desks yet, you’re majorly missing out.
6Linux Support
Did you know that your Chromebook likely supports runninga full-blown Linux virtual machinewithin itself natively? This has been the case for the past few years, and it’s one of the biggest upgrades ChromeOS has ever received outside the Play Store, I think.
Once youenable Linux on your Chromebook, you’ll have full access to both a Linux terminal andinstalling Linux apps.
This completely revolutionized my usage of ChromeOS. Now, if there’s an app that I want to install that isn’t natively supported on ChromeOS, I simply head to a few different Linux app stores (likeFlathubandSnap) to see if it’s available there.
Chances are, I can get the app through one of those two app stores and install it on my Chromebook without a problem. I’ve used this method to getObsidianrunning on my Chromebook, as well as Slack, Asana, and evenDarktable.
With Linux support, your Chromebook has a new lease on life, and you should definitely be taking advantage of it.
Like all modern operating systems, Chromebooks support various touchpad gestures to help level up your productivity.
Of course, the typical two fingers up or down scroll up or down on a page just like you’d expect. you’re able to also swipe with two fingers left or right to go back (or forward) to a page that you were just on.
Using three fingers, you can swipe left or right to move between multiple open tabs. Swiping up with three fingers will open Overview to show you all open windows as well as all Virtual Desks.
Speaking of Virtual Desks, swiping left or right with four fingers switches between your open Virtual Desks.
All of these touchpad gestures can help you navigate your Chromebook more efficiently, which can lead to seconds (or even minutes) saved over each week, helping you to be more productive when working on-the-go.
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook
Untether the limits of your study space with an agile IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook. Featuring an FHD IPS display and long battery life, your options stay wide open for web-browsing, study, or work, no matter where you go. Open your Chromebook to boot up in seconds, touch the screen to select and drag, and stay focused uninterruptedly and even into the night with a long battery life.
4Advanced Clipboard History
Did you know that your Chromebook has abuilt-in clipboard manager? This clipboard manager holds the last five things copied to your clipboard (limited to pictures or text).
Simply use the keyboard shortcut Search+V (or Launcher+V depending on your keyboard layout) to access your clipboard manager. It’ll then show the last five things copied to your clipboard wherever your mouse is.
you may click on an item to paste it, or hover over it and click Ctrl+C to copy the highlighted item to your most recent clipboard, allowing you to paste it somewhere using Ctrl+V.
This is something that I wish macOS and Windows had natively, as there are many times when I have wanted to copy something to my clipboard, but not lose what was already in my clipboard. ChromeOS simply handles this with a built-in tool.
3Voice Dictation
Dictation doesn’t come turned on by default in ChromeOS. Instead, you have tomanually enable voice dictationby navigating to your Accessibility settings and toggling it on.
Once you have voice dictation enabled, however, it works system-wide. In fact, it’ll even work offline. The simple act of enabling dictation when connected to the internet will download the models required to handle voice dictation offline.
Voice dictation on ChromeOS not only handles words, but also punctuation. It’s even contextual—I said “How To Geek dot com” to voice dictation on my Chromebook when I was typing into the address bar of Chrome, and it made sure to type it out as a proper domain so I could simply hit enter.
As I was speaking, it was typing it out as you would a sentence—How-to geek dot—but when I said “com” it flipped to formatting it as a domain. This is pretty stellar, as it means that you can use your voice to type just about anything on your Chromebook, from a paper to a text or the website you want to go to.
2Snap Windows
I snap windows on every computer I use. Window snapping is simply a fantastic, fast, and easy way to organize windows side-by-side. ChromeOS has had this feature for the past few years, and it’s really nice to use.
My primary use for window snapping is putting two file windows next to each other for moving files around on my computer. Another big use for me is organizing productivity apps side-by-side—like Asana and Slack. It’s also great for organizing Chrome tabs if you have, say, ChatGPT and YouTube both open at one time.
Really, this is just a simple part of ChromeOS that you should definitely be using if you’re not already.
1Pin Websites as Apps
Probably the biggest feature you might not be using on your Chromebook is pinning websites as apps. This is basically building your ownProgressive Web Apps(PWAs), and is something that I’ve found myself doing more and more often on my Chromebook.
Instead of installing native apps for everything, sometimes a PWA is a great alternative. For example, I tried several ways to installAsanaon my Chromebook. I used the Google Play Store and I even tried installing it through Linux. Same with Slack. Both apps gave me fits when trying to install a native client.
Eventually, I decided to try pinning the websites to my task bar as an app—that was the ticket. As soon as I moved from a native app to a PWA on my Chromebook, the experience changed and was good all of a sudden.
Pinning a website as an app is as easy as clicking the three dots in the top right of the Chrome browser, going down to “Cast, save, and share” then selecting “Install page as app…” if the website doesn’t have a native PWA app built for it, or it’ll say “Install” if there’s a native PWA built for it. Both work equally as well, providing a native experience on your Chromebook.
This can be done with just about any website. I use this for all sorts of services now, and I can’t believe it took me as long as it did to figure out how to do this. If you’re struggling to get some services to work right on your Chromebook, try pinning the website as an app (if there’s a web app for the service) and see if that fixes your issues.
The great part is notifications still work through these pinned websites. I get notifications from both Slack and Asana using this method. I also use this method to pin Photopea to my task bar so I can have a Photoshop-like photo editor on my Chromebook.
After you try out the above features of ChromeOS that you likely haven’t been taking advantage of, be sure to check outthese Chromebook keyboard shortcutsthat are sure to take your productivity to the next level.
Chromebooks have come a long way since they were introduced over a decade ago. In fact, I used to say that Chromebooks were only good if you needed to browse the web. Now, however, I thinkthey’re powerful enough to be a daily computer for many people.
Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus 15.6"
The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus packs a gorgeous 15.6-inch OLED screen, which is fairly unique in the world of Chromebooks. It also features a multitasking-capable Intel Core 3 Series 1 processor, a wide port selection, and an ultra-thin design.
