If you want to disable showing the Favorites or Bookmarks bar in Google Chrome on a Windows 11/10 computer, then this article can help you. Once you have applied that tweak, the bookmarks bar will not show on the new tab page or any other tab of Chrome browser. Also, the options (including the hotkey) to show the bookmarks bar won’t work. You can make this change permanent or even get back the bookmarks bar whenever needed.
Do note that even if you have applied this trick, you can still access all the bookmarks saved under the bookmarks bar using the Bookmark Manager of Chrome. Also, you will be able to add new bookmarks as well as delete saved bookmarks stored under the bookmarks bar. This trick is helpful only to permanently turn off the bookmarks bar from appearing/showing in the Chrome browser.
Hide Bookmarks Bar in Google Chrome in Windows 11/10
For disabling the bookmarks bar of the Chrome browser, there is a simple Windows Registry tweak that you need to apply. There is also a Local Group Policy setting available for the same, but that doesn’t work. Therefore, Registry tweak is helpful. However, before using the Registry tweak, it is good to create a system restore point, so that you can overcome any unwanted change to your system. Once you’ve done that, follow the steps mentioned below:
- Open Registry Editor
- Go to the Policies Registry key
- Create Google name Registry key
- Create Chrome name Registry key
- Create BookmarkBarEnabled DWORD value
- Relaunch Google Chrome browser.
In the very first step, you have to launch Registry Editor. Simply write regedit in the Search box of Windows 11/10 and use the Enter key to launch it. There are many other ways to open Registry Editor.
Now go to the Policies Registry key available in the Registry Editor window. You can access that key using this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies
After this, create a Registry key under Policies key, and name it Google. In the same way, create Chrome name Registry key under the Google key.
Proceed further and create a BookmarkBarEnabled DWORD value under the Chrome key. For creating this value, first, right-click on an empty area (as visible in the screenshot below), access the New menu, and select the DWORD (32-bit) Value option. When the new value is created, rename it to BookmarkBarEnabled.
That’s it! You can now close the Registry Editor window.
Now open or relaunch Chrome browser (if the browser is already opened) and you will see that the bookmarks bar is gone. And, all the options to show the bookmarks bar will be greyed out/disabled.
To enable showing bookmarks bar again in Chrome browser, just follow the above steps, and delete the BookmarkBarEnabled value. Finally, relaunch the Chrome browser to apply the changes, and you will be able to show/hide the bookmarks bar once again using the available options.
How to hide Bookmarks Bar in Google Chrome using Group Policy
To hide Bookmarks Bar in Google Chrome using Group Policy, follow these steps:
- Search for gpedit.msc in the Taskbar search box.
- Click on the search result.
- Navigate to Google Chrome in User Configuration.
- Double-click on the Enable Bookmark Bar setting.
- Choose the Disabled option.
- Click the OK button.
- Restart the Google Chrome browser.
To learn more about these steps, continue reading.
First, you need to open the Local Group Policy Editor on your computer. For that, search for gpedit or gpedit.msc in the Taskbar search box and click on the individual search result.
Then, navigate to this path:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Google > Google Chrome
In the Google Chrome folder, you can find a setting named Enable Bookmark Bar. You need to double-click on this setting and choose the Disabled option.
Finally, click the OK button to save the change and restart the Google Chrome browser to get the change.
Note: If you want to revert to the factory defaults, you need to open the same setting and choose the Not Configured option.
How do I make the bookmarks bar not show in Chrome?
There are multiple ways using which you can hide the bookmarks bar of Google Chrome. Here are some of those ways:
- You can use Ctrl+Shift+B hotkey to show/hide Chrome’s bookmarks bar. It is the simplest and fastest way to do so
- You can right-click on the bookmarks bar and uncheck the Show bookmarks bar option to hide it
- Click on the three vertical dots icon available on the top right corner, access the Bookmarks menu, and uncheck the Show bookmarks bar option to hide it
- Access the Settings page of the Google Chrome browser by clicking on the three vertical dots icon and clicking on the Settings option. After that, scroll down the Settings page, and turn off the button available for the Show bookmarks bar option.
How do I hide the address bar in Chrome?
If you want to hide the address bar in Chrome, then press the F11 hotkey. This will make the browser full-screen. However, you need to exit the full-screen mode and use the full-screen mode again if you have to access some other webpage or site. Alternatively, open a webpage in Chrome, use the three dots icon, access More tools, and select Create shortcut option. In Create shortcut pop-up, select the Open as window option, and press the Create button. This will open that webpage separately with no address bar.