I just bought my first Chromebook after about a year of thinking about it. I was worried that this simple machine couldn’t keep up with my demands – like having 15 or more tabs open in my browser while I worked all day. Now that I’ve taken the plunge and purchased an HP Chromebook 14, I thought I’d share some of my experience in switching from a full and powerful laptop to a Chrome machine.
I’ll tell you all about the great things later – like how insanely easy it is to set up, how fabulous the keyboard is, and how I wish I had switched long ago. But first I want to share with you what my stumbling blocks were because I’ve seen that I’m not the only who had a little trouble figuring out some of the mechanics of this little powerhouse.
Chromebook Touchpad Tips – It’s A Little Different
Chromebook Touchpad not working? It probably is; you just need to know how it’s different from laptops. There are a few differences in the way a Chromebook’s touchpad works. Unlike my laptop’s touchpad, this one doesn’t have separate and obvious buttons at the bottom of it. I’ll admit that I was perplexed by the lack of the buttons on the touchpad. It took me two days of searching (Chromebook Touchpad Not Working is a popular search, but full of lots of old information) to find out it wasn’t the Chromebook, it was me. It seems this touchpad can do everything my laptop’s can, it just does it differently.
Chrome OS – How to Enable Caps Lock, use the Special Keys, and more on your Chromebook
by Chrome Help Center’s channel
It was much later that I found the video this video, Chrome OS – How to Enable Caps Lock, use the Special Keys, and More on your Chromebook. This happy fellow, one of the Chrome OS designers, walks us through many of the options and the reasons behind them. Granted, I don’t agree with their choices, but still, I would have saved a lot of time if I’d found this first. Start with the video if you’re new to the Chrome OS.
Chromebook Touchpad Shortcuts
Here’s a quick look at some of the differences between traditional touchpads and the Chromebooks (please note, yours may vary):
Single Click
For example, there is technically a single click button on the bottom left-hand side of the touchpad. Press there, and you’ll feel it depress just a millimeter or so, and that’s your click. Alternately, you can use one finger to tap the touchpad anywhere, and that registers as a click as well.
Right Click
But what about a right click? It’s such a useful shortcut and one I don’t think I could live without, so I tried every imaginable combination I thought possible. I even pressed the right side of the touchpad, as I had the left, and it made the same satisfying “click” sound, only nothing happened on my screen. But thankfully the Chromebook engineers didn’t leave us to ponder why they didn’t include a right click button, they just made it accessible by a different combination of keystrokes or clicks.
[alert style=”grey”]To right click on a Chromebook, you have two choices – hold down the Alt key and click (as above), or use two fingers and tap the touchpad at the same time.[/alert]
Chrome Touchpad Shortcuts
- One finger single click – places the cursor
- One finger double click – chooses the word
- One finger triple click – chooses the paragraph
- Alt + 1 finger click – brings up the shortcut menu (replaces right click)
- Alt + backspace – delete
- To scroll, place two fingers on the touchpad and then go up or down
- To move the cursor, place one finger on the touchpad and go up and down
- To drag and drop, select the item with a double click, then single click on the bottom left of the keypad and while still holding it down, use another finger to sweep the item to where you want it
The Case of the Missing Buttons
Whew! Now that I had my right click to my shortcut menus back how about delete? Can you believe there is no delete key? Me either! That’s when I noticed that there wasn’t a page up or page down button either. Nor is there a caps lock button – HOW WOULD I WRITE ANGRY EMAILS WITHOUT MY CAPS LOCK? There isn’t even an end or home key to keep me orientated on the screen – I USE those keys a lot. For a split second I wondered if I’d made a mistake, but common sense slapped me in the face and I realized that surely they had accounted all of my beloved navigation keys as well, and I was right.

Press Ctrl + Alt + ? to see all of the shortcuts available to you – this is my Chrome OS configuration, yours may vary.
Please note that “+” means WITH the other keys and not the plus key itself. So page up would be: press the alt key and while still holding it down, press the up arrow. See why I use shorthand? 🙂 If there’s a single letter, that means to press that letter. Example: Open a new tab – press and hold the Ctrl button and then press the letter T (no caps are not required – don’t press the caps button)
Chrome OS Keyboard ShortcutsPress Ctrl + Alt + ? to see all of the shortcuts available to you |
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Page up | Alt + Up Arrow | Search Current Page | Ctrl+F |
Page down | Alt + Down Arrow | Screen Capture | Ctrl+![]() |
Home | Ctrl+Alt + Up Arror | Mirror Screens | Ctrl+ ![]() |
End | Ctrl+Alt + Down Arrow | Add Bookmark | Ctrl+B |
Delete | Alt + Backspace | Zoom Reset | Ctrl+0 |
Bookmark Bar (on/off toggle) | Ctrl+Shift+B | Zoom In | Ctrl+= |
Open a new tab | Ctrl+T | Zoom Out | Ctrl+- |
Open a new window | Ctrl+N | Downloads | Ctrl+J |
Toggle through open Tabs | Ctrl+Tab | History | Ctrl+H |
Toggle through open Windows | Alt+Tab | Add www. and .com to open address | Ctrl+ENTER |
Close current tab | Ctrl+W | View Source | Ctrl+U |
Dock Left | Alt+[ | Dock Right | Alt+] |
Chrome OS – Keyboard & Shortcuts
So far, I haven’t found any shortcut or keyboard functions missing that I frequently use. I do miss being able to split my screens by simply pulling one screen to the left margin and the second to the right, but with the Dock Left and Dock Right commands I can do the same thing.
Have you switched to a Chromebook? I’m wondering how you like it and if there’s anything you’ve found missing?
I have been wanting a chromebook! Thanks for all the wonderful tips!
They’re super cheap and for most things work fabulously. I love how light it is and how fast. I took it on a recent trip and found a few shortcomings when it comes to blogging, but most users won’t even notice them. I can’t say enough great things about it. I should have bought one much earlier. I have several tablets, but they’re limited by their mobile OS. The Chrome OS is fantastic. Buy one! 🙂