Chrome flags

If you’ve followed Chrome Unboxed for any amount of time, you’re likely aware that I’m the tinkerer of the family. Whether I’m looking for new features in the Canary channel of ChromeOS or trying to install You may have heard us or other tech outlets mention the term flags. More specifically, Chrome flags but what are these mysterious features that are hidden right in plain sight in Chrome? Simply put, flags are nothing more than experimental features and tools in Chrome and other software that have either not made it into the stable build of said software, or are used solely for developmental purposes and are disabled by default. Many of the features that we use in Chrome today once began life as experimental flags and while many features evolved from flags to prime time, some are deprecated entirely for various reasons. Why use Chrome Flags? Again, Chrome flags are experimental, and yes, occasionally enabling a flag can result in a buggy user experience and even crashes. That said, no need to panic. Resetting finicky flags is relatively quick and easy. More on that in a minute. First, let’s look at why you’d want to enable a flag in the first place. Then, we’ll take a look at the ins and outs of using flags in Chrome and ChromeOS. There are two main reasons that you would want to enable a flag or flags in Chrome. For the curious types, like myself, enabling flags can gain you access to new, cutting-edge features that aren’t readily available in Chrome or ChromeOS. Here’s...

Chrome Flags for Tooling Many tools maintain a list of runtime flags for Chrome to configure the environment. This file is an attempt to document all chrome flags that are relevant to tools, automation, benchmarking, etc. All use cases are different, so you'll have to choose which flags are most appropriate. Here's a Commonly unwanted browser features • --disable-client-side-phishing-detection: Disables client-side phishing detection • --disable-component-extensions-with-background-pages: Disable some built-in extensions that aren't affected by --disable-extensions • --disable-default-apps: Disable installation of default apps • --disable-extensions: Disable all chrome extensions • --disable-features=InterestFeedContentSuggestions: Disables the Discover feed on NTP • --disable-features=Translate: Disables Chrome translation, both the manual option and the popup prompt when a page with differing language is detected. • --hide-scrollbars: Hide scrollbars from screenshots. • --mute-audio: Mute any audio • --no-default-browser-check: Disable the default browser check, do not prompt to set it as such • --no-first-run: Skip first run wizards Task throttling • --disable-background-timer-throttling: Disable timers being throttled in background pages/tabs • --disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows: Normally, Chrome will treat a 'foreground' tab instead as backgrounded if the surrounding window is occluded (aka visually covered) by another window. This flag disables that. • --disabl...

To access the Flags menu, type chrome://flags into the address bar and hit Enter. Here, you'll see a long list of options, each of which has a drop-down menu that can be set to Default, Enabled or Disabled. There are lots of them, so the best way to find the one you want is to hit Ctrl+F and search for it. Once you've enabled a Flag, you'll be prompted to re-launch your browser to activate it. This will close and re-open all your current browser windows, so make sure you've saved anything you're working on. With these enabled, you can right-click twice on a YouTube video and select 'Picture-in-Picture' to make it pop out in its own little window. You can drag this around your screen anywhere - even outside your browser. 2. Show autofill predictions Unless you've disabled it, Chrome will store data like addresses that you often enter in forms, and offer to autofill it for you. With the Flag #show-autofill-type-predictions activated, such forms will be pre-filled automatically, saving you a few valuable seconds. Handy! 3. Automatically reload offline tabs Your Wi-Fi connection has dropped and all your tabs need to be reloaded. Normally you'd have to go through clicking each one to make that happen, but with #enable-offline-auto-reload enabled, all your open tabs will be reloaded automatically when you're back online. 4. Show saved copy button You now the feeling – you need some information from a webpage that you've visited before, but now the page is gone. Worry not, with t...

Chrome Flags come and go at a rapid rate, with some becoming full-fledged browser features while others disappear forever. These features have been aptly renamed to “Experiments,” as they let you experiment and test beta features. There are plenty of Chrome Flags you can set to boost your browser performances. These are the best current Chrome Flags you should enable right now. Note: we update this list regularly to ensure that the flags we list are still available, but sometimes an outdated flag may slip through the net. If that happens, then let us know in the comments, and we’ll remove it. How to Access and Enable Chrome Flags Follow these steps to view and enable Chrome flags: • Type chrome://flags in the Chrome address bar and hit Enter. • You will see a list of Chrome Flags with a warning that the features are not stable. • Use the search bar at the top to find the desired flag. Once you find it, click on the drop-down box next to it to enable or disable the flag. 4. Click on the “Relaunch” button to restart Chrome and activate or deactivate the flag. Helpful hint: if you’re considering using Incognito Mode, first read about 1. Disable System Notifications There are two types of notifications that Chrome can send to your PC: some are native within Chrome, and will only appear when Chrome is running, others link to your OS and will appear within the OS UI. A lot of people find these notifications annoying, so you may want to disable them in Chrome Flags. In the Flags ...