New to Google Chrome? - Google Chrome Help
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New to Google Chrome?

With more information going online these days, it's important that you use a fast and safe browser on your computer. Introducing Google Chrome -- a browser that opens web pages at lightning speed! Its sleek design gives you more room to browse your favorite sites. This guide walks you through the main features of Google Chrome.



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to preview Google Chrome features.

Browse the web using tabs

When you visit a website, it opens as a tab in Google Chrome. To open a new tab, click the new tab button button. Tabs line up along the tab strip at the top of the browser window, so you can easily switch between different pages that you've opened.

Try the following tricks with your tabs:

  • Pull a tab out into its own window.
  • Pop a tab into another window by clicking and dragging the tab out to the top of the new window.
  • Move a tab by clicking the tab and dragging it to a different location along the tab strip.

If a page unexpectedly stops working, just close that tab. Unlike other browsers, one misbehaving tab won't affect most of your other tabs or the overall responsiveness of Google Chrome.

Learn more about using tabs

Resourceful new tabs

Click this button to open a new tab. The New Tab page is designed to help you get to the site you want to visit, as quickly as possible.

New tab page

Over time, the page will show you the following resources:

  • Snapshots (or thumbnails) of your most visited sites. Just click a thumbnail to open the site. You can easily remove specific thumbnails from the page.
  • Your recently closed tabs and windows.

Learn more about the New Tab page

Revisit webpages from your browsing session

Use these arrows to go to webpages that you've just visited in the tab. Click an arrow and hold it down to see a history of your browsing session.

Reload the page

Click this button to see the latest content of your page.

Open your home page

This button lets you get to your home page in one click. Turn on this button and set your preferred home page by clicking the wrench icon wrench menu and selecting Options (Preferences on a Mac) > Basics tab > Home page.

Learn more about setting your home page

Create bookmarks (favorites)

To create a bookmark (same as a favorite in Internet Explorer) for the page you're on, just click this button. This places a shortcut for the page on your bookmarks bar.

Learn more about creating bookmarks

Browse or search the web

In Google Chrome, you don't need a second search box -- the address bar doubles as your search box. In addition to opening web addresses, here are all the other ways you can use the address bar:

  • Search the web.
  • See matches from your bookmarks and browsing history as you type.
  • See suggestions of popular sites and search terms as you type.

Learn more about the address bar

Add useful features to the browser

Sometimes, a feature is really useful for some people, but not for everyone. Extensions (like add-ons in Internet Explorer) let you customize Google Chrome with features you like, while keeping your browser free of clutter that you don't use.

See what extensions are available in the Extensions gallery.

Learn more about extensions

Manage your browser settings

No need to click through multiple menus. All your settings are available through the wrench menu, including the following:

  • Open a new tab or window.
  • Open a new window in incognito mode. Pages you visit in this window won't be stored in your browsing history.
  • Cut, copy, or paste text.
  • Change the font size of your current page.
  • Go full screen, which is convenient when viewing videos on the Web.
  • Save or print your current page.
  • Open the find bar to search the text of your current page.
  • Find the Options dialog, where you can import your browser settings from Internet Explorer. Here, you can also adjust your settings for your home page, pop-ups, passwords, autofill, privacy options, and more.

Find your bookmarks on the bookmarks bar

The bookmarks bar gives you easy access to the pages you've saved. Like tabs, bookmarks are easily rearrangeable -- move them by dragging and dropping them into folders or onto the bar directly.

A few helpful tips:

  • Import your existing bookmarks from other browsers, like Firefox or Internet Explorer. You'll find them in the "Other bookmarks" folder at the end of the bookmarks bar.
  • Dock the bar underneath the address bar. Do this by going to the wrench menu wrench menu > Tools > Always show bookmarks bar.
  • Use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Shift+B (Windows and Linux) and ⌘-Shift-B (Mac) to toggle the bar on or off.
  • You can also use the bookmark manager to sort and organize your bookmarks.

Ready to try it out?

Download Google Chrome

For Windows XP, Vista, and 7; Mac OS X 10.5 or later (Intel only); and Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/openSUSE)

See installation instructions