You open a new tab with someone looking at your screen, and Chrome lines up the sites you visit most. Here is how to remove shortcuts from Chrome's new tab, one tile or the whole row, hide the cards and the footer, and what no setting takes away.
What you need
Chrome on a computer. The Customise Chrome button (Customize Chrome in US English) at the bottom right of a new tab opens the panel used below. Google's help says that to customise the page you must be signed in to your Google Account, with Google as your default search engine. Labels are Google's British wording, read on 21 September 2026.
Remove a single shortcut from Chrome's new tab
Point to the tile
Open a new tab and point to the shortcut's icon. A More button appears at its top right.
Select Remove
Click More, then Remove. Chrome confirms with a 'Shortcut removed' message that has an undo button and one to restore the default shortcuts.
Turn off the row, or stop Chrome choosing the sites
Most visited sites is filled by Chrome with, in Google's words, websites that you visit often. My shortcuts holds sites you chose.
Choose My shortcuts
Click Customise Chrome and, under Shortcuts, select My shortcuts. Remove any tile you do not want.
Or hide the whole row
Turn off Show shortcuts. The row stays hidden until you turn it back on.
Hide the cards
Cards are boxes of suggested content that, in Google's words, Chrome curates based on your activity. One resumes browsing with sites from your history and related searches. 'Continue with these tabs' shows recent tabs from your other devices. Google says they appear only when you are signed in to your Google Account; the condition about Google as default search engine applies too.
Open the list of cards
Click Customise Chrome, then Cards, then Customise cards, and select each card to show or hide it.
Or hide one card
At a card's top right, click More. The resume browsing card offers Hide and the name of the search. 'Continue with these tabs' offers Don't show tabs from other devices.
Hide the footer
Google's help says the footer shows which extensions are in use: if an extension controls your new tab, the footer names it.
Use the footer itself
Right-click the footer and select Hide footer on New tab page.
Or use the panel
In Customise Chrome, under Footer, turn off Show footer on New tab page.
What Chrome's settings will not remove
The search box and the Google logo, which on some days is a doodle. Google's help describes the panel as controlling what appears below the search box, and lists no switch for the box, the logo or the doodle. Removing them means replacing the page.
Clear the history behind the suggestions
The suggestions follow your browsing history: Google's help says deleting browsing history removes shortcuts to those pages from the New Tab page.
Remove one site from your history
At the top right, select More, then History, then History again. Tick the box next to each site, select Delete, then Remove.
Or delete history for a period
Select More, then Delete browsing data. Choose a time range, tick Browsing history and select Delete data. With history synced, Google says your other devices lose it too.
A new tab with only what you chose
An extension can replace the new tab page. Chrome's developer documentation calls it an override: Chrome shows the extension's page in place of its own, so the tiles, cards and logo go with it.
We make Backs, so weigh this accordingly. Everything on a Backs page is a Backon, a widget you place on a grid: a clock, notes, bookmarks. The first new tab after installing shows a misty lake photo, an analogue clock, a search bar, a plant, a lantern and three small controls, with a short tour you can skip. After that the page holds what you add. Backs does not ask Chrome for your browsing history or most visited sites, so it has no row of suggestions. To remove a Backon, select Move and drag it off the edge of the screen. It is free without an account and runs in Chrome on a computer.
A blank new tab is possible too. Chrome's settings stop at the logo and the search box, but an extension can show an empty page: searching the Chrome Web Store for blank new tab lists several. Read the permissions each asks for.
What can go wrong
A tile you removed is back. The message after a removal has a button that restores the default shortcuts, and a stray click brings them back. With Most visited sites, a site you keep visiting can be suggested again. My shortcuts, or Show shortcuts turned off, ends that.
The switches are missing or greyed out. Check that you are signed in, with Google as the default search engine. On a work or school computer, look for 'Managed by your organisation' at the bottom of the More menu. Google's help says an administrator can decide whether the footer shows and restrict other features.
The page is not Chrome's at all. An extension probably controls it, and the footer names it. Select More, Extensions, Manage extensions and remove it. Google says settings then go back to how they were.
Questions and answers
- How do I stop Chrome showing my most visited sites?
- Under Shortcuts in Customise Chrome, select My shortcuts or turn off Show shortcuts. Deleting a site from your browsing history also removes its shortcut.
- Can I get a blank new tab in Chrome?
- Not from Chrome's settings: with shortcuts, cards and footer off, the logo and the search box remain. An extension can show an empty page.
- How do I remove the cards from the new tab page?
- Click Customise Chrome, then Cards, then Customise cards, and select the cards to hide.
- Why do removed shortcuts come back?
- Google's help does not say. Two causes fit what Chrome shows: the button that restores the default shortcuts, and a Most visited row that Chrome fills from sites you visit often.
Photo: Philipp Hubert / Unsplash