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    How to get the old on-screen Chrome OS keyboard shortcuts back

    Kevin TofelBy 12 Comments2 Mins Read

    Recently, Google has modified the keyboard shortcuts help screen and some folks don’t care for the look. You’ll know if you have the new, searchable shortcuts helper if you see this when pressing ctrl + alt + / on your hardware keyboard:

    The old, original keyboard shortcuts helper showed a virtual keyboard on your screen and would dynamically change when you pressed a modifier key, such as shift, ctrl, or alt to name a few. I found it pretty useful although the ability to search for shortcuts in the new version is admittedly helpful for new users.

    It turns out that if you preferred the old, original keyboard shortcuts overlay, its not really gone. At least not yet. To see it, just type chrome://keyboardoverlay in your browser and it will appear, complete with the dynamic changes for the modifier keys.

    I’ve actually bookmarked it so I don’t have to keep typing it when I want to see it.

    For a more permanent change, there is currently an option to disable the new shortcuts display. Type chrome://flags#ash-enable-keyboard-shortcut-viewer in your browser and change the setting to Disabled. This will use the original shortcut viewer instead of the new one. You can always revert back to the current shortcut helper by setting this flag to Enabled or Default.

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    After spending 15 years in IT at Fortune 100 companies, Kevin turned a hobby into a career and began covering mobile technology in 2003. He writes daily on the industry and has co-hosted the weekly MobileTechRoundup podcast since 2006. His writing has appeared in print (The New York Times, PC Magazine and PC World) and he has been featured on NBC News in Philadelphia.

    12 Comments

    1. JB on

      Great tip Kevin… But… Seems like the keyboardoverlay doesn’t like Launcher key on my Pixelbook. Once pressed it gets stuck and you can’t go back to seeing all shortcuts. Flag still works the best….

      • Kevin C. Tofel on

        Argh! I think that’s Google’s way of telling us to use the new shortcut method. 😉

    2. John Kershaw on

      You CAN clear it by pressing Alt-Search.

      Pressing the Search key ALONE highlights the search key, but the OS also passes the keypress through to the Launcher pop-up. Pressing it again hides the Launcher, but the Search key remains lit in yellow.

    3. Jane on

      Hey, Google! Bring back the shortcuts keyboard overlay! A list is great for looking for a particular shortcut, but the overlay is far superior for teaching AND learning. Sincerely, Jane

    4. David Henderson on

      Well it seems the virtual keyboard is gone for good now. I miss it. I used it a lot. Why did they do this for? Why is it when something is good and working someone has to come along and try to ‘improve’ it only to mess it up. I am not happy about this. Is there any way to get it back? An app maybe or something. I would even settle for an online version. Please fix chrome://keyboardoverlay/

    6. bill hilly on

      Please bring back the shortcut screen overlay. I found it to be more helpful. chrome://keyboardoverlay/

      • David Henderson on

        Why did they remove this in the first place? I so much want it back. How can we get them to put it back?

    7. Pete O. on

      Also really want to have this back. Wow. Why would they do this? It was so much more intuitive using the old overlay.

    8. Jonathan Goddsworth on

      GOOGLE! LOOK HERE! If you did, than can you please bring back ? If not, than can you add a setting in Chrome OS settings to revert to this old virtual keyboard? It would be AMAZING! Thx for reading (if you did) :]