I'm using the latest Google Chrome (14.0.835.35) on a Mac (10.6.8)
There are quite often instances where the address bar has focus and I'd like to get back to the main page (so I can use arrow keys and all my Vimium shortcuts) without having to use the mouse and manually clicking somewhere on the page... (pressing Escape would be the obvious shortcut but it doesn't work)
Is there a way round this?
This has annoyed me very much too. Using tab is not always desirable, for example when you're reading a large document. Tab could move away from where you were reading to the first link on the page.
I have found a work-around for the missing hotkey inspired by some of the answers from here: In Mac Chrome, how can I return focus from the address bar to the page?
Typing "javascript:" (without quotes) and then enter will move focus back to the page. OK, so that's one solution. That's however not very nice as you would have to do a lot of typing. Now what you can do is add a new search engine with a short keyword, like "u", and set the search string to be "javascript:". Then you can type in "u" and then enter to move focus back to the page without jumping around.
Edit: Apparently this still gets upvotes. If this really bothers you please let the chrome devs know here: http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=92885
javascript: into the address bar, it Googles that query. However, if I add a search engine javascript: as the Query URL, it works correctly.
– ijoseph
Oct 29 '19 at 02:54
javascript: in the address bar, I get a Google query for that string. However, if I add a search engine as described, then typing the keyword (u) and hitting enter tries to load the url http://javascript/ which is obviously invalid and results in an error page. This is on Chrome 91.0.4472.114
– Travis Northcutt
Jul 09 '21 at 13:59
http://javascript:. I just now edited it in the list of search engines to remove http:// and it works correctly now. Thanks, @ReyCharles!
– Travis Northcutt
Jul 09 '21 at 14:31
javascript: as a search engine works beautifully! This had been bothering me for very long, but lately my workflow changed such that I started hitting this more often, so decided to finally look for a solution and I am glad that Google got me to this post quickly.
– haridsv
Feb 16 '22 at 13:52
On Windows at least, I've been using F6 to switch between the URL bar and the rest of the page, also for the purpose of using Vimium. I am not sure if this works on OSX or Linux.
F6 cycles between keyboard accessible panes such as the URL bar, bookmarks, the page itself, and downloads. I generally keep downloads and bookmarks hidden, so F6 acts as a toggle. It's not nearly as clean of a solution as a dedicated "focus to the page" button would be, but I've found it workable.
The best way for me is never using Chrome's URL bar, and always use Vimium's open URL hotkey, which is O by default.
I'm using Shift+F6.
I mapped Ctrl+Shift+L to Shift+F6 so now I focus on the address bar with Ctrl+L and unfocus with Ctrl+Shift+L.
I'm using Ubuntu so I've mapped those keys with autokey
I think the best way is ⌘ (Command)+, (comma), then ⌘+w. It will open "chrome://settings/" and then close it. And the focus will get back to your page.
⌘ + L
⌘ + Option + Down
P.S. :-) might not work as I don't have any Mac and had to ask a friend to test this :-)
cmd + p, then ESC.
This will set the focus to the webpage.
Summarizing suggestions on the page, and normalizing them into a table for easy reading and comparision:
| Action | Normal role | Note | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⌘+F, then Esc | Find in page | Fast / light incidental work for the browser | Key combo |
| ⌘+P, then Esc | Key combo | ||
| ⌘+, / ⌘+w | Open settings & close | Key combo | |
in url (⌘+L): javascript:+Enter |
Script execution | Fast / light incidental work for the browser. Also try: a search alias. Add search engine, e.g. keyword :u, search url javascript: at about:settings/searchEngines |
Browser scripting |
| F6 | Cycle between Accessibility Panes (Focusable Areas) | Direct & intended use of keyboard shortcut. May require repeated use for desired selection. (Windows, not macOS) | Key combo |
macOS Accessibility settings used to support a select better all fields, I don't see where it is now.
not a true "focus to the page" hot-key solution, but works as needed on both firefox and chrome:
use "ctrl+l" to move focus to address bar, then hit "enter". page will reload with focus given to page.
If using Windows, the following AHK script will do the job:
#IfWinActive ahk_exe chrome.exe
!a::Send +{F6}
#IfWinActive
To verify:
The best way I've found is using a hotkey-triggered Keyboard Maestro macro that simulates a mouse click on the bottom-left corner of the window.
My solution is to save javascript: as a bookmarklet and activating using a hotkey. This works instantaneously without having to have windows and things opening and closing (as required by some other solutions).
In a chromium browser's bookmarks manager add bookmark to bookmarks bar with url javascript:. I saved it under the name 'Bookmarklet - Focus Webpage'.
Bind to hotkey that activate bookmark from the menu bar (Bookmarks->Bookmarklet - Focus Webpage). I tried using the built-in keyboard shortcuts via system settings but could not get it to work. I'm personally using Keyboard Maestro but I'm sure there are numerous other ways. for e.g. activating the menubar item via applescript and binding to hotkey through appleshortcuts, fastscripts, etc.
You can overcome a lot of chrome omnibar limitations with Fauxbar extension. It allows you to open a pop-up addressbar which you can close with escape key. That is besides the fact that it uses firefox algorithm for url lookup, which is awesome and WAY more usable then what omnibar offers.
