35

I'm trying to find a shell command that will open Google Chrome with specific x and y coordinates (so that I can set the position of the window when it opens.) Is it possible to do this using command line-arguments?

I need to modify the following command in order to achieve this:

google-chrome http://www.google.com/

Anderson Green
  • 27,734
  • 61
  • 179
  • 311

5 Answers5

45

When you're using Google's Chrome, there is a shorter way:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" 
     --profile-directory="Default"
     --app="data:text/html,<html><body><script>window.moveTo(580,240);window.resizeTo(800,600);window.location='http://www.test.de';</script></body></html>"

Pro:

  • Automatically opens the window
  • Avoids the popup-blocker
  • Opens multiple windows on different monitors (multi monitor setup, requires two or more Chrome profiles)

Con:

  • Only seems to work in "app" Mode
  • Not tested with other browsers
nitram509
  • 589
  • 4
  • 5
27

http://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/ says --window-position=x,y is what you're looking for.

Updating this years later to include a small shell script I wrote years ago (but after answering this question) that provides an example of how to start chrome with custom window sizes/position and has the ability to create 'fake' user data directories by name.

It may or may not still work, and has some dangerous options set, but you get the idea.. Do not use this verbatim, some of the flags may have been renamed or been removed entirely.. (like the socks proxy commands did)

#!/bin/bash -x

FAKEUSER="${1:-fake-chrome-user}"
CHROMEROOT=$HOME/.chromeroot/

mkdir -p ${CHROMEROOT}

export PROFILE="${CHROMEROOT}/${FAKEUSER}-chromium-profile"
export DISK_CACHEDIR="${CHROMEROOT}/${FAKEUSER}-chromium-profile-cache"
export DISK_CACHESIZE=4096
export MEDIA_CACHESIZE=4096

PARANOID_OPTIONS="\
        --no-displaying-insecure-content \
        --no-referrers \
        --disable-zero-suggest \
        --disable-sync  \
        --cipher-suite-blacklist=0x0004,0x0005,0xc011,0xc007 \
        --enable-sandbox-logging >/dev/null 2>&1
        "


/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome \
        --remember-cert-error-decisions \
        --ignore-certificate-errors \
        --ignore-urlfetcher-cert-requests \
        --allow-running-insecure-content \
        --window-position=2400,400 \
        --window-size=1500,1000 \
        --no-pings \
        --user-data-dir=${PROFILE} \
        --disk-cache-dir=${DISK_CACHEDIR} \
        --disk-cache-size=${DISK_CACHESIZE} \
        --media-cache-size=${MEDIA_CACHESIZE} \
        2>&1


#--proxy-server="socks4://localhost:30604" \
#--host-resolver-rules="MAP * 0.0.0.0 , EXCLUDE localhost" \
synthesizerpatel
  • 26,249
  • 5
  • 72
  • 89
  • Can it also be done for Firefox and IE? i posted a question here:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26626884/chrome-app-equivalent-in-firefox-ie – liorafar Oct 29 '14 at 09:56
  • 1
    Saddly this doesn't always work. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14592020/google-chrome-new-window-switch-ignores-window-position-and-window-size#comment30263659_14592020 – Greg Bray Mar 06 '16 at 03:03
  • 1
    It does work, @GregBray, but you need to set the `--user-data-dir` flag, too. – Frederik Krautwald Oct 06 '16 at 13:08
23

To build on @synthesizerpatel's answer, --window-position won't work on it's own.

You'll need to launch it as it's own new instance using --user-data-dir or --chrome-frame like:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"  --user-data-dir=XXXXXXXXXX --window-size=800,600 --window-position=580,240 --app="http://www.google.com/"
or
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --chrome-frame --window-size=800,600 --window-position=580,240 --app="http://www.google.com/"

Unfortunately for me, having it as a new instance means it doesn't carry over the session/cookie/etc info from other instances, so I've had to open it normally (with only the --app parameter), then have javascript in the page I open do:

window.moveTo(580,240);
window.resizeTo(800,600);

I guess if you were opening a webpage owned by someone else, you could open your own webpage that has the above js, and then navigates to their webpage.

Redzarf
  • 2,374
  • 4
  • 26
  • 39
4

I've used this:

google-chrome "data:text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1,<html>
    <head></head><body><script language=\"javascript\">
        window.open('http://perso.f-hauri.ch/~felix/svg/dustin_w_Clock_autonom.svg',
             'clock','toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,'
             +'resizable=1,width=600,height=600,top=100,left=120');</script>"

but google-chrome block popup windows, so this:

google-chrome "data:text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1,<html><head></head><body>
    <button onclick=\"javascript:window.open(
        'http://perso.f-hauri.ch/~felix/svg/dustin_w_Clock_autonom.svg',
        'clock','toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,'
        +'resizable=1,width=600,height=600,top=100,left=120');\"> clock </button>"

give a nice way to do this.

Nota: This work as well with firefox too.

F. Hauri
  • 58,205
  • 15
  • 105
  • 122
  • If you replace `onclick` by `onfocus`, this will work by simply hit `` key, in chrome but not in firefox... May be a security issue!? – F. Hauri Jan 11 '16 at 21:59
1

With my latest version of Chrome - I only needed the following. Everytime I closed the app, it remembered my window size and position.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --chrome-frame --app=https://mightytext.net/web8/?exp=1

This worked for me in Version 48.0.2564.48 beta-m (64-bit) and Version 48.0.2564.48 beta-m (64-bit)

Floern
  • 32,709
  • 24
  • 103
  • 117
BickiBoy
  • 33
  • 5
  • The problem is that it requires manually adjusting the position and size first; they cannot be incorporated into the launching command.com – Synetech Dec 28 '16 at 03:23