Google Chromebook – 75 Tips To Master Chrome OS

Getting started with a Chromebook is very easy so is being a normal Chromebook user. But to be a power user, you need to know some tips and tricks. Here is some  to get you started! Thanks everyone who shared these tips on various forums and communities. A big thank you to François Beaufort and all my Google Plus friends!

This is my project for the year 2013. My target is 100 Chromebook Tips!. I am adding new tips to the list every week or so, do not forget to check back later for new tips! Towards the end of the list you will find tips mostly found on development channel or beta channel of Chrome OS. So if you are using stable version of Chrome OS and find a feature not working, do not worry, it will be there in few weeks time when Chrome team updates stable version.

Do you have any new Google Chromebook / Chrome OS tip to add? Comment! Note: These tips are Chrome OS or Chromebook specific and not just Chrome browser. But you can use most of the Chrome tips on a Chromebook too!

1. My first Chromebook tip is, 100 Chrome tips. Confused? Since Chrome OS is mostly Chrome browser, most of the tips that I have listed for Chrome will work for Chromebook too. So checkout my 100 Chrome Tips.
2. Here is a free PDF guide on “Getting Started with Chromebook“
3. Looking for caps  lock? press ALT + SEARCH
4. You can configure the Search key to do other things. Go to the settings page and search for Keyboard Settings. On Keyboard Settings page, Searchdropdown menu is what you are looking for. You can set it to work as Alt, Ctrl , Caps Lock or disable it.
5. For Home key, press  CTRL + ALT + Up Arrow
6. For End key, press CTRL + ALT + Down Arrow
7. For Delete key, press ALT + Backspace. You can use the same keyboard shortcut for deleting files from the file manager and Google Drive.
8. To lock your Chromebook screen, press Ctrl+Shift+L
9. You can open apps pinned on the taskbar using a keyboard shortcut. ALT + Number, where Number is the position of the app. For example, on the taskbar, the first icon is always the Chrome icon which opens a new tab. Ignore that, assume that the second app pinned there is Gmail. Press ALT + 1 and you will see Gmail opening in a new tab.
10. How to view BIOS version on your chromebook
11. How to print from your Chromebook
12. How to access your iTunes library from Chromebook by importing your playlists to Google Music
13. How To Reset Your Chromebook (Factory Reset or Wipe) Easily 
14. How to Diagnose Wifi and 3G Connection Issues on Your Chromebook 
15. How To Download Torrents on Your Chromebook 
16. Switch To HTML5 for Better Google Music Experience on your Chromebook 
17. To change window transparency on your Chromebook, visit chrome://transparency
18. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Reload will make your Chromebook do a barrel roll. Its cool!
19. To find hundreds of offline apps visit the offline apps section of the Chrome Web Store,  click here.
20. To take a screenshot, Ctrl+ 
21. Take a partial screenshot by selecting the area you want to capture, Ctrl+ Shift+ 
22. Refresh google drive cache (hold control and press refresh)
23. Changing your chromebook’s release channel, (software version) is a good idea if you want to experiment or check out new features waiting for general release. To change channels, visit chrome://help and click More Info. You can switch channels here, and with one re-start, you will be on the new release channel you picked.
24. To insert Unicode characters, press  <Ctrl> + <Shift> + U + The number for the unicode character.
25. To clear local cache and reload Google Drive, hold Ctrl and then click the Google Drive settings key on Google Drive. You will see those additional options showing up in the settings menu.
26. To open a command prompt, press CTRL + ALT+ T. Once you are on the command prompt, type shell and hit enter to go to shell prompt.
27. Once you are in the command prompt (CTRL + ALT + T ) you can do SSHusing the following format.  ssh username computernameORipaddress. To view available SSH options, type ssh hit enter, and then hit enter one more time.
28. On an ARM Chromebook, Hold ESC + Refresh buttons then push power to enter developer mode
29. To view hardware information of your Chromebook while it is booting, press Ctrl + i or Tab + i
30. To get the version of chrome your chromebook is running using CLI in dev-mode [crosh/shell] type: /opt/google/chrome/chrome –version
31. To view free space available on your Chromebook’s local drive (HDD or SSD) visit chrome://quota-internals/. Alternatively, you can click the gear icon on the Files app to view remaining space.
32. To enable accessibility options on your Chromebook, visit chrome://settings/search#accessibility. You can enable the accessibility menu, spoken feedback and other accessibility options.
33. Enable tap dragging from settings (accessbility). Search tap dragging from the settings page.
34. Press Shift + Alt + M to open the file manager
35. While viewing pictures from the Chrome OS File Manager, press E (as in Editor) to quickly edit the picture using the inbuilt image editor.
36. If you are experience trouble with 3G or Wifi internet connection on your Chromebook, here is a way to start your diagnostic. Visitchrome://diagnostics and test your connection status.
37. You can create a recovery media right from the Chromebook. You need a 4 GB or larger USB flash drive or SD card. This card needs to be wiped completely so make sure you don’t have any data on it. Open up chrome://imageburner and follow on screen instructions.
38. To view total amount of RAM, open chrome://system, find meminfo and click expand.
39. To view the mac address of your device, go to Settings, search for Internet Connection. Now, click on the name of the network that you are currently connected to. A popup box with the network information will be displayed. The Hardware address listed there is the MAC address.
40. To know the bandwidth used by your Chromebook/Chromebox, open chrome://net-internals/#bandwidth
41. Hold Shift key and click on any app to open it in a separate window,without the addressbar. This makes it look like an app, instead of a website!. You can right click any app to change the way they open by default, for example,  full screen, new tab, new window etc.
42. How to change MAC address of your Chromebook.
43. To change the launcher/taskbar position, right click the taskbar and go toLauncher position menu.
44. Ctrl + S to save webpages for offline reading. (Yes, it works!)
45. A Simple Method to Upload Music to Google Play from a Chromebook.
46. How To Add Locally Managed Users in Chrome OS.
47. On the Ash Try (The small pop up menu you get by clicking the time and profile icon on the bottom right corner of Chrome OS desktop) click the profile icon to easily access profile pic changing settings.
48. On the file manager, right click Downloads drive to see available space on your Chromebook’s HDD/SD
49. Open chrome://flags and enable “Force high DPI mode” flag to view Chrome OS in high resolution.
50. If you try to open a .swf file (flash) from the Files app, you will get an error saying it is unsupported. Drag the file to a Chrome tab, and it will work fine!
51. <Alt> + <Shift> + N opens the new messaging/notifications center
52. Do a Powerwash to Factory Reset your Chrome OS device.
53. Looking for some help with Chrome OS File Manager? Its here.
54. 7 things you can do right now to make Chromebook secure.
55. Accessibility options on Chrome OS, a guide.
56. Ctrl + M once, minimizes current window, and displays any other window that is open. Keep pressing Ctrl + M to minimize each open window, till you see the desktop!
57. On the file manager, Ctrl + E creates a new folder
58. You can create a new folder (also) by clicking the gear icon on the top right corner of the file manager
59. On the file manager, while you are dragging and dropping files, hovering over a folder will open it. To open the folder immediately without waiting for it, press the spacebar
60. To quickly get the IP address and MAC ID of your Chromebook, click the Ash Tray (the right end of your taskbar where time and your profile icon) and click the wifi icon, and then the “i” icon.
61. How To Stop Chromebook From Grouping Windows Per Application
62. You can access files present on the inbuilt Google Drive app from Chrome omnibar too. Open drive:drive/root/ followed by the file name. Note: it will not work without a file name.
63. An hidden folder is actually a folder that starts with a dot like “.hidden_folder” for instance. By pressing <Ctrl> + “.” in the Files App, you can quickly toggle hidden folders visibility. It also works with files.
64. To remove wallpaper images that you added through “Custom” section, right click the image and select Delete.
65. On the Chrome OS wallpaper picker screen, you can check “Surprise me” to see a random wallpaper each time you login. In future, it will download wallpapers from an RSS feed located at https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromeos-wallpaper-public/wallpaper.rss (not working yet)
66. How To Use Google DNS Servers On Your Chromebook
67. How To Keep Chromebook Stay Awake with Screen On
68. You can rotate Chrome OS screen using this keyboard shortcut. <Ctrl> + <Shift> + <Refresh> . Try portrait mode now!
69. Here is a very good looking Chromebook User Guide from Samsung.
70. The keyboard shortcut to rename a file in the Chrome OS Files app is Ctrl + Enter
71. <Refresh> + <Power> does a cold reboot.
72. Press Ctrl + Shift + Q , twice (second time for confirmation) to exit
73. <Shift> + [ ] (F4 or the full screen key) to make a packaged (native) app full screen.
74. If you are on Developer Mode (not developer channel) you can force an update to Chrome OS by typing the following command in Chrome OS shell update_engine_client -update
75. If you have a Chromebook Pixel, you can play with the lightbar, control its colors and have fun!
76. When you open the notifications bar, press the pause button to pause notifications for a day. You can click the Android like clear notifications icon (those three lines!) to clear all notifications at once.