6 small everyday hacks to improve your Chromebook productivity

Tackle your to do list on the couch or in the coffee shop and get the most out of your Chromebook with a little help from some new and time-tested shortcuts and productivity tips.

1. Tap to click with your touchpad

Forgot your mouse? No problem. Copy and paste, insert emojis and much more with a lighter, faster movement by enabling "Tap to click" in your touchpad settings. Once it’s set, you can right or left click by lightly tapping your trackpad with two fingers.

2. Scroll the way you want

Chromebooks support double-directional scrolling so you can scroll up by swiping down on your touchpad and scroll down by swiping up — or the other way around. You get to choose what works for you by enabling “Reverse scrolling” in your touchpad settings.

3. Customize your mouse

You can customize your mouse for the features you use every day. Taking a screenshot, muting or unmuting your microphone or turning on dictation can all be just a click away. To get started, go to “Customize mouse buttons” under the Devices tab in your Settings.

4. Find and customize your favorite shortcuts

Shortcuts can save some serious time and Chromebook has a lot of them. To find all the available shortcuts, press “Launcher+Ctrl+S,” search for the action you want to take, like opening a new tab or searching across all open tabs, and find the corresponding shortcut.

If your ideal shortcut doesn’t exist, we’ve got you covered. You can edit any key combination for specific actions to be whatever you like. Simply open the Key Shortcuts app using “Launcher + Ctrl + S” and click on the pen next to the action you want to edit. From there you can change the key combination for that action. Coming soon to all Chromebooks.

5. Easily type letters with accents

If you write or work in multiple languages, you likely often need to type letters with accents (é, ö, û, anyone?). To make this easier, enable the "Show accent marks and special characters" option in the Keyboard Settings. Then, when you long press a letter, you'll see accent options. Just press the number corresponding to the accent you need and you’ll be able to type café like a local.

6. Change your screen display for a more comfortable view

Need to work late? Consider turning on Night Light and Dark Theme for a more comfortable experience. Night Light reduces the blue light of the screen and displays warmer tones, which aligns better with a natural sleep schedule while Dark Theme helps reduce screen glare, which can help reduce eye fatigue so you can work in any type of light.