How to Share a Webpage in Google Chrome?

Earlier days Website owners used to add social sharing icons on their webpages. It helped readers to quickly share the content they like on Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms. Later, smartphone browsers and apps come with in-built sharing options making social icons on the webpages redundant. However, till recently desktop browsers do not have any in-built option for content sharing. The latest version of Google Chrome resolves this problem by allowing users to share the webpage. In this article, we will explain how to share a webpage in Google Chrome using mobile app and with Windows and Mac versions.

Traditional Social Icons and Smartphones

Below is an example of a website showing social icons for sharing purpose. Remember, these are sharing icons and not for following or liking the profile. Depending upon the layout, websites show these icons below the title, after content or even as a floating widget that is always visible with scrolling.

Once these social sharing icons are darling of website owners as it is an effortless way to get additional traffic for free. However, things have been changed recently thanks to Google’s page speed experience update. Since loading of these icons and resource files in the backend directly impact the page loading speed, many websites simply avoid using social icons nowadays.

Share a Webpage in Chrome Mobile Apps

Chrome mobile app in Android and iPhone offers a share icon which you can tap and share the content on your favorite platforms. For example, you can find a share icon in the address bar of Chrome iPhone app.

Simply tap on the icon and you will see the default iPhone sharing options with frequently shared apps and people list. You can customize these sharing options as part of iOS, copy the URL or generate a QR code if required.

The best part of sharing is that when you view tap switcher, you can press and hold the tab to share it without opening the webpage.

How to Share a Webpage in Google Chrome Desktop?

Sharing a webpage on desktop devices was always a problem as Chrome did not offer default sharing option. Due to this reason many websites still show social icons primarily for the desktop users. Otherwise, you manually need to copy and paste the URL on the social platform where you want to share the page. Finally, Google added a sharing icon in Chrome desktop version to solve this problem. This is a good option for website owners as well so that they can completely get rid of the sharing icons. There are multiple ways you can share the webpage in Google Chrome desktop version.

Using Share Icon

First update your Google Chrome to the latest version. Open any webpage and click on the share icon showing at the right end of address bar.

At this moment, you have the following options for sharing the webpage in Google Chrome:

• Copy link – copy URL of the webpage you are viewing and paste anywhere in chats, Teams conversations or emails.
• QR Code – click this to generate a QR code for the page you are viewing. You can share the code with anyone instead of sharing the URL.
• Cast – use Chromecast to share the page.
• Save page as… – download the entire page offline to your computer so that you can read it later offline.
• Share link to – select the platform to share the webpage. Currently you have Facebook, Twitter, reddit, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Clicking on any of this option will open that platform and you can login to share the content. You will see Email option when you are signed into your Google account in Chrome.

Right Click and Share Content

The above option is the best way to share the webpage in Google Chrome. However, you can right click on the content area and use the options available from the menu. Right click anywhere on the text content and select “Create QR Code for this page” option.

It will generate a QR code and show from the share icon on the address bar. You can scan the code using your mobile or download it as a picture and share with anyone.

Instead of generating QR code for the entire webpage, you can also right click on an image and generate code only for that image.

For hyperlinks on a webpage, you have an option to copy the link address from the right click context menu. Learn how to preview links in Google Chrome.

Sharing Option in Chrome Mac Version

You have all the above options for sharing in Chrome Mac version. However, Mac has a top menu bar hence you can also use the menu item to share your content. Go to “File > Share” menu to view the list of options available for sharing the webpage. Like iOS sharing options, this is a default sharing feature in macOS. You will see default Mac apps along with a “More…” option to customize the share menu. Click on “More” to go to preferences section where you can choose the apps that you would like to see in the Chrome and other app’s share menu. In this way, you can keep the frequently used apps in the menu list and use quickly whenever needed.

Share menu in macOS is useful feature for creating your own list of webpages. You can create a folder in Notes or Reminders app and start collecting relevant webpages in that folder for referring them later.

Sharing Webpages with Annotation

If you use Microsoft Edge, you can easily take the full-page screenshot of a webpage and annotate the content for taking notes. Though you can take screenshot in Chrome, you need a third-party extension for annotating and sharing. Go to Chrome Web Store and install “Annotate: Web Annotations with Screen Sharing” extension in your browser. You need to register for a free account to use this extension in Chrome. After that you can annotate on your webpages and share it with anyone.