How to Assign Keyboard Shortcuts to Chrome Extensions?

When you have lots of extensions installed on Google Chrome, it will be a difficult task to manage the extensions by clicking on each of them. Keyboard shortcuts will help you to save time and quickly get things done. You can assign shortcuts for each extension to activate or deactivate depending upon the nature of the extension. In this article let us explain how to assign keyboard shortcuts to Chrome extensions.

Related: How to create desktop shortcut of webpages in Google Chrome?

Show or Hide Extension Icons in Chrome Toolbar

After installing extensions, Chrome will show the shortcut icon right next to the omnibox in the toolbar. You can click on the extension to activate or deactivate and customize the options. However, if you don’t want to show the extensions visibly on the browser then you can hide them from the toolbar.

• Right click on the extension icon and choose “Hide in Chrome Menu” option. This will hide the extension though it is active on the browser.

• When you want to show the extension icon, click on the three dots button. Chrome will show the hidden extension icons on top of the dropdown menu.
• Right click on the extension icon and choose “Show in Toolbar” option. This will bring the icon back to the toolbar.

Accessing Keyboard Shortcuts

Hiding the icon will just help you to save the space, however, you need to go to customize menu every time to show the icon back on the toolbar. The quicker option here is to assign a keyboard shortcut to each extension and toggle on or off. Hiding the icon and controlling with shortcuts make the browser looking clean while you can control the extensions easily.

• Go to “chrome://extensions” command URL or navigate to “Three dots customize menu > More Tools > Extensions”.

• Click on the “Extensions” hamburger menu to expand the options.
• Click on the “Keyboard shortcuts” option to view the list of extensions on your browser.

Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts to Extensions in Chrome

• You can set different shortcuts for each extension using the modifier keys. On Windows, Chrome will show a message to use control or alt keys. On Mac, though you will not see any message, you are allowed to use control, option or command modifier keys.

• Click on the text box against “Activate the extension” option. Hold any of the modifier keys and type a letter. For example, hold option key and type L to make the shortcut as ⌥L  (Option + L) in Mac. On Windows, you can shortcuts like “Alt + L”.
• Similarly choose another shortcut if you have additional “Toggle Pause/Resume on all sites” option.

Related: Assign keyboard shortcut to apps in Windows 10.

Using Shortcuts on the Browser

Now when you are browsing, press the shortcuts ⌥L or “Alt + L” to activate the extension. If you have hidden the icon, Chrome will show the extension icon on the toolbar with settings dropdown. If you have the icon on the toolbar then Chrome will show the settings dropdown for the extension.

In case of the extension that supports pause/resume shortcut, use the shortcut to toggle the extension on or off whenever you want. For this shortcut to work, you should always show the extension icon on the toolbar.

Points to Note:

Though using shortcuts is easy, remember the below points:

• Not all extensions support keyboard shortcuts, it depends on the developer to provide this feature.
• Many extensions will have only one shortcut option for activate extensions. Very few applicable extensions like Ad Blocker will have addition option for toggling pause or resume.
• Use unique shortcut keys so that it is not interfering with other Chrome keyboard shortcuts.

Related: Assign custom keyboard shortcuts for apps in macOS.