The main factor in which Chrome can be considered a better browser than the others is its being a multipurpose program, which, in addition to surfing the internet, allows you to do many other things with your computer, functioning almost like a complete operating system. Compared to other browsers, the address bar at the top, the one to do searches called Omnibox, is really multifunctional and can be configured to call certain fast actions or commands. The Omnibox in Google Chrome is useful not only for doing simple searches on Google or for visiting websites, but there are several ways to use that search bar for almost all the activities on the web: send an email, send a tweet, set a timer or much more we're going to find out.
Meanwhile, Google has improved the Omnibox both in Chrome 17 with the pre-loading of the addresses, and in Chrome 29 with the most precise search suggestions.
To be better at using the Omnibox it is important to know that pressing the CTRL-L keys on the keyboard enables writing on the search bar at the top and you are immediately ready to search or execute commands.
Among the best things you can do with Chrome's omnibox we have:
1) Call up or add specific search engines
In Chrome, writing a word on the address bar and pressing Enter, you do a search on Google. However, you can also enable other types of search, for example, to search for videos on Youtube, articles on Wikipedia or on Navigaweb. Right click on Omnibox and then on Change search engines . In the list you will notice many search engines related to sites already viewed or searched. By scrolling down, a new one can be added to the last line. You can give it its name, an abbreviation to recall it from the omnibox (for example Nav for Navigaweb.net) and the address of the search engine. To find the address, do a search for the word test (you can also try the box above) and then, the address that comes, copy it, paste it in the configuration field and replace the word test with % s and a
So, the next time you want to see articles on Android on Navigaweb.net, you can write on the Omnibox nav android . While with Youtube you can write y word and so on.
2) Among the most useful search engines there are also Gmail and Google Drive
If you use the Gmail or Google Drive services you can search for messages or files from the Chrome search box, without going to Gmail or Google Drive. To do this, right click on the Omnibox, click on Change search engine and add a new one with the following parameters for Gmail :
Search engine: Gmail
Keyword: gml
URL: //mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/#apps/%s
While for Google Drive
Search engine: Google Drive
Keyword: gdr
URL: //drive.google.com/ "> Send from Omnibox, press on the Chrome address box, type the" . "then space and then write the recipient's email address then write sub and subject, a comma and the body of the email. The email is sent with the default program to send emails which can be Outlook. See here how to set up Gmail to open the Mailto links: or use the MailtoGmail extension.
READ ALSO: Best extensions for Gmail on Google Chrome
4) Set an alarm alarm
Install the Omnibox Timer extension to create timed alarms on Chrome.
After the installation, write the command tm followed by a space and then by the time which can be in seconds (e.g. 10s ) in minutes ( 10m ) or in hours ( 10h ).
The alarm can be a ring or some words spoken with the speech synthesizer (in English).
5) Find the lyrics of a song
If you are listening to a song on YouTube, Spotify, Last.FM or Google Play Music, just press the small blue icon of the musical note in the Omnibox to see the lyrics in a box on the side. There are several extensions to read the lyrics of Youtube and Spotify songs from Chrome, as seen in another post.
6) Send Tweet
ChromniTweet (no longer exists) allows you to write and publish tweets directly from the search bar, without having to go to the Twitter site. After installation write the tw command, make a space and then type the tweet and send it by pressing Enter.
ChromniTweet doesn't understand the "@" or "#" signs and doesn't shorten links.
READ ALSO: Top 10 Twitter extensions on Google Chrome
7) Search in bookmarks among favorites
The Holmes extension allows you to search for bookmarks saved in the bookmarks from Omnibox. After activation, write a * then space and then start writing to see the list of results in real time.
8) Look through the open tabs
Those who open 30 or more tabs on Chrome lose their titles from the header and the tabs are no longer recognizable to each other. If this situation happens often, then you can install Omnitab which is used to search from the search bar among the open tabs. After installation, type the O and then space and the name of the card to be displayed, then choosing the result from the drop-down list.
9) Search on a site
Some sites do not have search engines or have some ineffective ones. For these sites it is better to use Google and with the Site Search extension you can search Google for the site you are visiting. after installation, type the word site, space, then the keyword and press Enter to search for it with Google search.
10) Use Chrome as a notepad
open a tab and type the command as the address
Date: text / html,You can then write text on a blank page.
11) Search for words by dragging them on the address bar
To search for a word written on a web page, you can select it and then drag on the search bar with the mouse.
You can also press the right mouse button on the word to start searching on a new tab.
12) Explore the computer files
On Windows, type C: or file: // localhost on the address bar to open explore resources directly in Chrome.
It can also be written
