Google Chrome Adds Three New Useful Address Bar Shortcuts

Google Chrome has rolled out an upgrade to its address bar. The latest update has brought in new shortcuts for easier browsing. These shortcuts allow you to search directly for the correct tab, bookmark or URL from the address bar. The Web browser has introduced three site search shortcuts @tabs, @bookmarks and @history in the Chrome address bar. The feature is rolling out to Chrome 108 version for desktop. You can press the spacebar after entering any of these three shortcuts and you will be taken to the relevant page, the company says.

According to Google’s blog post that details how the feature works, typing @tabs in the address bar will show you matching suggestions from your open tabs. This means you won’t have to juggle between open tabs on your browser. The feature could come in handy if you usually have several tabs open and need to locate a specific tab quickly.

Similarly, the “@bookmarks” shortcut can help you find a bookmark you’re looking for. It will redirect you to the relevant bookmarked website, and will search all your bookmark folders. All you have to do is click on the address bar and type @bookmark, followed by your search term.

The last shortcut is called @history, and this feature will let you quickly search through your browsing history directly from the address bar, and open the page you’re looking for. While you can also open your browser’s history and perform a search, accessing your entire history through the address bar can save a lot of time.

Meanwhile, Google recently began testing a new “Search” button for its Photos app on Android. The new button offers Lens features, allowing you to view photos and recognise faces. It could be rolled out by the company as a replacement for the Lens button that allows you to get more info about a particular subject in a photo.

The new generic “Search” button on Google Photos will reportedly scan faces in an image and then search for related photos in the Google Photos Library. It will also offer Google Lens features like OCR text selection and identification of objects. Currently, the new feature is being rolled out to selected users, and is speculated to be available more widely in the coming months.