The Best Hacks Every Chromebook Power User Should Know

If you’ve chosen a Chromebook as your laptop, you know the main benefits it brings: namely speed, ease of use and affordability. Despite the simplicity of ChromeOS, you can do a lot more with it than you think. You can use it offline and sync files to and from local storage, for example. The operating system is much more powerful and versatile than is often believed.

These hacks are intended for power users who want to enhance the capabilities of their Chromebook and get additional value from their laptop, beyond the standard use cases that everyone is familiar with. No matter how you use ChromeOS, there should be something here to help you.

Use your Chromebook offline

Google Drive can work offline.
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Chromebooks are often criticized for being useless without Wi-Fi, but that’s not the case: All Docs, Sheets, and Slides tools can be used offline, with changes syncing when your internet connection is restored: From Google Drive, click the gear icon (top right), then choose Settings > General and check the option under the Offline title.

You can also use Gmail offline. You obviously can’t send or receive emails, but you can read and organize your inbox and compose emails ready to send once you get your internet connection back. From Gmail, click the gear icon (top right), then choose See all settings > Offline. Check the Enable offline messaging and choose the amount of email you want to sync.

This offline functionality also extends to third-party streaming apps, as ChromeOS supports Android apps. With apps like Netflix and Spotify, you can sync content to your Chromebook to watch when you don’t have a reliable internet connection, such as when you’re taking a long flight or traveling between countries.

Talk to your Chromebook

Enable dictation via accessibility settings.
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Typing is all well and good, but sometimes talking is faster. Launch Settings, then choose Accessibility > Keyboard and text entry > Dictation to enable the feature. You can then press the launcher (G) And D to start dictating in any application, whether you’re composing emails or writing essays.

Move local files to Google Drive

One of the benefits of using a Chromebook is that everything syncs online almost instantly, if you’re using one of Google’s online apps or something similar. However, local files may accumulate on the laptop, including screenshots and downloads, and sometimes you will want to sync them to the cloud as well.

You can view these files through the ChromeOS built-in Files app and manually download them through the Google Drive web interface. There is, however, an easier way to import them into Google Drive: from the Files app, select all the local files you want to upload in the right pane, then drag them to My disk below Google Drive in the left menu bar.

Configure virtual desktops

Chromebooks don’t always have the largest or highest resolution screens, but you can give yourself more space by managing multiple virtual desktops (which ChromeOS calls “desks”). Press the “Show Windows” key (it’s the one with the little rectangles on it, usually also labeled F3) to view open desktops, switch between them, and create new ones.

Enable guest access

Because ChromeOS is so closely tied to your Google account, you don’t necessarily want other people to borrow your laptop and be able to access your Google apps. The solution is Guest mode: restart your Chromebook or sign out of your current user account, then click Browse as a guest to launch a Chrome window without any Google account connected.

Make full use of the clipboard

ChromeOS can sometimes feel limiting in that you can’t quickly drag files to the desktop or to a temporary folder the same way you can in Windows or macOS. You might also consider this a benefit (it means fewer junk files will clutter your system), but sometimes you may just need to store something temporarily for transfer.

That’s where the ChromeOS clipboard comes in: it actually stores five items instead of one, so it’s a useful (if rather hidden) way to move images, text, and links between websites and apps. Use the usual Ctrl+C, Ctrl+XAnd Ctrl+V shortcuts for copy, cut and paste, then hold down the launcher (G) And V to see all items on the clipboard.

Open ChromeOS Task Manager

ChromeOS comes with its own task manager.
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The ChromeOS Task Manager is useful for everything from closing crashing apps to seeing exactly where all your RAM is going, and it can be a key tool in the power user’s belt. Open it by pressing the launcher (G) key and Escape: You’ll see that you can browse individual tabs and system processes, or search for something specific on ChromeOS.

Register an old laptop

ChromeOS isn’t just for Chromebooks: you can breathe new life into an older, struggling laptop by installing ChromeOS Flex on it (even older laptops can usually handle Chrome). Google offers full instructions on what you need to do to make this work and will walk you through the process of creating a bootable USB drive with ChromeOS software enabled.

Explore the Beta and Dev Channels

Change channels on ChromeOS.
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As with many software programs, beta and development versions of ChromeOS are available as well as the stable version. If you want to get the latest Chromebook features before anyone else and don’t mind a few bugs, you can make the switch. It doesn’t take long and you can always go back, although a system reset is sometimes necessary.

To switch between ChromeOS channels, click the time panel (bottom right), then click the gear icon to go to the main settings page. Choose About ChromeOS > Additional Details > Change Channelthen choose the one you want to use. You will continue to receive live updates for the selected channel until you switch to another.