ChromeOS devices have become much more useful since Cr-48. Linux and Android apps, and “web only” have had little trouble these days, so these are attractive secondary machines. But having to learn an entirely different set of keyboard shortcuts to use them effectively is always a pain.
But if some experimental features in the latest beta ChromeOS release (111) are any indication, help is on the horizon. An updated version of the Shortcuts Viewer in the Settings app that has appeared has early functionality for shortcut modification and additional mechanisms.
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Keyboard shortcut viewer for ChromeOS. The experimental flag is enabled, a lock icon appears next to the shortcut, and[すべてのショートカットをリセット]button is displayed.
Kevin Purdy
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Dialog for remapping or adding keyboard shortcuts on ChromeOS. Not functional, but available in beta builds. (Ctrl+alt+left arrow is author add).
Kevin Purdy
Clicking on the shortcut will bring up a dialog where, at the moment, you can add another shortcut to the common shortcuts for working with tabs, windows, desktop, system settings, accessibility and other utilities. A small “lock” icon next to each suggests that these shortcuts may be unlocked to remove or change the defaults. provide tips. Sadly, the promise is there, but none of the shortcuts you’ve added seem to work so far.
I’m someone who constantly flips between Mac (work), Windows (gaming), Linux (Pi work and testing/googary), and ChromeOS (shared “home” laptop). My brain can remember all the major shortcuts I use. But the small annoyance of having to reach inside my mental filing cabinet for them after pressing the wrong key at least once leads to a big sigh of frustration. I’ve used deeper system hacks, or apps like his Rectangle for macOS, to line up shortcut settings between most of these systems. ChromeOS has long prevented this kind of tweaking and customization.
Tofel lists three flags that must be enabled in the chrome://flags section for beta channel devices to be able to take advantage of the new shortcut viewer. I had to enable one more before it appeared. Three of these and one are shown below.
- chrome://flags#improved-keyboard-shortcuts
- chrome://flags#enable-shortcut-customization-app
- chrome://flags#enable-shortcut-customization
- chrome://flags#enable-only-show-new-shortcut-app
I also enabled chrome://flags#new-shortcut-mapping but I don’t know what effect that had. As mentioned above, none of these shortcuts allow for shortcut remapping at this time, but that may be enabled in future ChromeOS releases.
