You open a new tab and do not like what you see: shortcuts you never picked, a dull background, or a page some extension put there. There are two real ways to change the Chrome new tab page, and one that people look for in settings and never find.
What you can and cannot change
- Restyle Chrome's own page: background, colours, shortcuts and cards.
- Replace the page with an extension. Chrome asks you to confirm, and you can undo it.
- Not in settings: making every new tab open a web address you choose.
Menu names here are from Chrome on a computer in British English: Customise Chrome is Customize Chrome in the US.
Change Chrome's own new tab page
Open the Customise Chrome panel
Open a new tab and click Customise Chrome at the bottom right. A panel opens at the side. Google's help page lists the same steps.
Change the background
Under Appearance, select Change theme and pick a collection, or Upload an image for your own photo. Inside a collection, Refresh daily changes the picture each day.
Pick a colour and a mode
Still under Appearance, pick a colour and Light, Dark or Device. Reset to default Chrome, at the bottom of the panel, undoes it all.
Choose which shortcuts appear
Under Shortcuts, select My shortcuts for a list you manage, or Most visited sites to let Chrome fill the row. To change one, point to its icon, click More, then Edit shortcut or Remove.
Hide the shortcuts
Turn off Show shortcuts and the row disappears.
Show or hide cards
Click Cards, then Customise cards, and select what to show. Cards such as 'Continue with these tabs' appear only when you are signed in to a Google Account with Google as your default search engine.
What Chrome's settings do not let you change
People search Settings for a box to type the address every new tab should open. There is none. Two settings sound close, and neither touches the new tab page.
- On start-up (On startup in the US) decides what opens when you launch Chrome: the New Tab page, last time's tabs, or a specific page or set of pages.
- Show Home button, under Appearance, adds a Home button and points it at the New Tab page or an address you type. It acts only when you click it.
Replace the new tab page with an extension
An extension can take over the new tab page. Chrome's developer documentation calls this an override: the extension supplies its own page and Chrome shows that instead of the built-in one. Momentum, Tabliss, Bonjourr and our own Backs are all new tab extensions. Only one controls the new tab at a time, so turn off the old one before trying another.
Pick an extension in the Chrome Web Store
In the Chrome Web Store, read what the extension changes and which permissions it asks for. Google's advice: approve only extensions you trust.
Add it to Chrome
Select Add to Chrome, read any permissions Chrome lists, then select Add extension. This is not possible in Incognito or as a guest.
Open a new tab and answer Chrome's prompt
The first time the extension's page appears, Chrome asks whether you meant it. The prompt reads 'Change back to Google?' or 'Did you mean to change this page?' and names the extension. Keep it keeps the new page, and Chrome does not ask again. Change it back turns the extension off and restores Chrome's page.
See which extension controls the page
Chrome can show a footer on the new tab page naming the extension in control. If it is missing, open Customise Chrome and turn on Show footer on New tab page. Right-click the footer to hide it.
Turn it off or remove it
Select More, Extensions, Manage extensions, or type chrome://extensions in the address bar. Switch the extension off, or select Remove. Google's help says changed settings go back once an extension is removed, so Chrome's own page returns.
One option: Backs
We make Backs, so weigh this accordingly. It is a new tab you arrange yourself: Backons (widgets for tasks, notes, a focus timer, weather, bookmarks and more) sit on a grid where you put them, and their colours adapt to the background photo. It needs no account and costs nothing. Premium (€3.99 a month or €39.99 a year, 14-day trial) is optional. Chrome on a computer only.
What can go wrong
The new tab changed by itself. Look for an extension first. If Chrome shows 'Did you mean to change this page?', choose Change it back. Then remove the extension, and any other you do not recognise, at chrome://extensions. Google lists settings that keep changing and extensions that keep coming back as signs of unwanted software. If the change keeps returning, open Settings, Reset settings, Restore settings to their original defaults. It resets the new tab page and search engine and turns off your extensions. Bookmarks and saved passwords stay.
An extension will not install, or will not go away. On a work or school computer the organisation may block extensions or install its own. Look for 'Managed by your organisation' at the bottom of the More menu, or open chrome://management. Only the administrator can change it.
The new tab is blank or slow. Turn the extension off at chrome://extensions and see whether Chrome's own page behaves. A Repair button there means Chrome found the extension's files damaged.
Incognito still shows Chrome's page. By design: extensions cannot replace the new tab page in Incognito windows.
Questions and answers
- Can I set Google as my new tab page?
- Chrome's own new tab page already has a Google search box when Google is your default search engine. If yours shows something else, remove the extension that replaced it, then check Settings, Search engine.
- Can I make new tabs open a specific website?
- Not from Chrome's settings. On start-up and the Home button open an address only when Chrome launches or when you click Home. For every new tab you need an extension: search the Chrome Web Store for one that sends new tabs to an address you choose.
- Does a new tab extension slow Chrome down?
- It depends on how the extension is built: its page loads each time you open a tab, and Chrome tells developers that people expect it to open instantly. Google's help suggests turning off extensions you do not use.
- Why does my typing still go to the address bar?
- Chrome gives keyboard focus to the address bar first in every new tab, including one drawn by an extension, and tells extension makers not to count on anything else. Click the extension's own search box to use it.
Photo via Unsplash