Can you put folders on Chromebook desktop?

Chromebook 101: how to customize your Chromebooks desktop

Give your laptop a personal touch

• By JR Raphael
• on October 12, 2019 9:00 am

Chrome OS isnt the most option-packed operating system around, but there are some things you can do to make your Chromebooks desktop look and work the way you want.

Ready?

Customize your Chromebooks wallpaper

First, lets tackle your desktops basic appearance:

• Right-click anywhere on your Chromebooks desktop and select Set wallpaper from the menu that appears.
• Click through Googles categories to select an image, or click the My Images option at the bottom of the list to choose an image from your own local storage.
• If you want your wallpaper to change to a new image every day, click the Daily Refresh toggle thats available on the first thumbnail of any of Googles categories. [That option, unfortunately, isnt currently available with your own images.]

Customize your browsers background

You can also personalize the page that comes up every time you open a new tab in your browser:

• Open a new tab in Chrome and click the Customize button [or the pencil icon] in the browsers lower right corner.

• Select Chrome backgrounds to choose an image from Googles collection or Upload an image to pick an image from your own local storage, then follow the prompts to find and confirm the image you want.

Customize your browsers theme

Google has promised that soon youll be able to click that same Customize button and pick a custom theme thatll change the colors of your browsers tab and toolbar area. Until then, however, if you want a theme for your browser, youll have to download it from the Chrome Web Store.

For now:

• Open the Themes section of the Chrome Web Store.
• Find a theme you like, click it, and then click the Add to Chrome button.

Customize your Chromebooks shelf

Last but not least, take control of the Chrome OS shelf the dock-like row of shortcuts at the bottom of your screen. Start by selecting exactly what icons appear in that area:

• Open your app drawer [by clicking the circle icon in the lower-left corner of the screen and then clicking the upward-facing arrow on the partial drawer that appears]. Right-click any item in the list and select Pin to shelf.

• If you want to add a website, open the site, click the three-dot menu icon in Chromes upper right corner, and then select More tools followed by Create shortcut.

If you want the site to open in an app-like window, without the usual browser elements on top, click the Open as window option in the Create shortcut? pop-up window that appears. Then click the blue Create button.

• Drag and drop any of the icons in the shelf to change their position.
• Have you decided that you dont want the icon in your shelf after all? Right-click on the icon and select Unpin.

And one final pair of possibilities: If you want your shelf to appear on the left or right side of your screen instead of at the bottom, right-click anywhere inside it, select Shelf position, then select Left or Right. And if you want your shelf to remain hidden by default and appear only when you mouse over it, right-click the shelf and select the Autohide shelf option.

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