Google Chrome is a popular web browser and one of the most popular browsers in use today. It has a number of features that make it an excellent choice for online browsing, including full-screen mode. To activate full-screen mode in Google Chrome, open the browser and click on the three lines in the top left corner of the screen. This will open a menu with options toggles for various aspects of the browser. The first option is “Full Screen.” If you select this option, all content on the screen will be displayed in a single window, making it easier to use and faster to load. The second option is “Window Mode.” If you select this option, all windows will be divided into small sections that can be opened or closed independently. This is great for using Google Chrome as a work or school computer monitor while other windows are open on your desktop or laptop. The last option is “Customize.” If you select this option, you can set different preferences for how Google Chrome behaves when in full-screen mode. For example, you can choose to have all windows open at once or have them opened according to their size rather than by time period.


Full-screen mode in Google Chrome offers a minimalistic approach that eliminates almost all distractions while you read an article or try to work online. Become the productivity guru you always wanted to be by removing tabs, navigation buttons, extensions dock, and Omnibox.

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How to Activate Full-screen Mode

Fire up Chrome, and then navigate to a web page that you want to visit in full-screen mode. Click the menu button, and then click on the full-screen mode icon (the empty square) located next to Zoom mode about halfway down the menu. Alternatively, press the F11 key on your keyboard to activate full-screen mode (if you’re using a Chromebook, look for the key that looks just like the icon represented in the menu).

What you get is a view of the web page without the elements of Chrome that can quickly advert your attention to less important things.

Full-screen mode is excellent for staying on one website, and it lets you traverse the internet with direct links only. If you want to visit another website via the Omnibox, you have to exit full-screen mode.

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As you may have noticed, when you enter full-screen mode, the menu icon disappears along with the Omnibox. So how do you exit it to navigate to a different website?

Simple: press F11 one more time to return to the regular windowed view of Chrome. Again, if you’re using a Chromebook, use the hollow rectangle key on the keyboard.

If for whatever reason the keypress doesn’t work—maybe you’ve remapped your function key—don’t worry. Move the mouse cursor to the center of the top of the screen until a circle with a white X appears. Click the icon to exit full-screen mode.

If you want an approach that resembles reader view on many of the other browsers,  you can enable Chrome’s experimental reading mode. It makes it easier to concentrate on articles by removing all the same elements as full-screen mode while it adds a few other formatting changes, increasing readability and focus.

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