Customize & Configure
Turn on hidden toolbar tools
The bar ships with a focused set of tools turned on. A few extra utility actions and app shortcuts are built in but hidden by default — switch on the ones you want, any time.
Why some tools are hidden
To keep the bar clean out of the box, a handful of more specialized tools start off. They're not add-ons or upgrades — every one is already in the extension, private, free, forever. You just decide which ones appear on your bar.
Switch one on
Every toolbar action — shown or hidden — lives with the surface it appears on:
- Open Settings → Top bar and scroll to Bookmarks & tools on the bar. (The side panel and New Tab page have their own equivalent lists under Settings → Side panel and Settings → New Tab.)
- Find the action in the left list (utilities) or the right list (app shortcuts).
- Flip its toggle on.
- Drag it to reorder so your most-used tools come first.
Hiding a tool again is the same toggle, off. Nothing is ever removed — flip it back whenever you like. Because each surface keeps its own list, you can run a full toolbar on the bar and a stripped-back one in the side panel.
Hidden utility actions
These two utilities sit in the left list and ship hidden:
- Propose a meeting time across timezones — pick a date, time, and source timezone, and the tool builds a ready-to-paste list of that moment in every timezone you care about, with a one-tap Copy button. Add the timezones you schedule across first in Settings → Meeting timezones.
- HAR analyzer — opens Google's HAR Analyzer in a new tab so you can load and inspect a
.harfile. It pairs with Record a HAR file for support (on by default): record the file, then analyze it here.
Hidden app shortcuts
The right list holds one-tap shortcuts to the apps you use most. The common ones (Mail, Calendar, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Files) are on by default; these ship hidden and switch on the same way:
- Tasks, Notes, Contacts, Forms, Chat, and Meetings — the rest of the productivity suite.
- Google, YouTube, Maps, Translate, Photos, and Sites — single-app web shortcuts.
Shortcuts open the right destination for your provider — switch between Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 with the Productivity suite control on the same settings page.
Each shortcut also has an Adjust URL toggle (the link icon) that opens an inline editor for the address it opens. Suite apps get one field per provider, single-app shortcuts get one. Point Mail at your company webmail, or Spreadsheets at a specific workbook. Leave a field blank to fall back to the built-in URL, and Reset clears an app's overrides. Overrides are global, so an adjusted URL applies on the bar, the side panel, and the New Tab page alike.
Related guides
- Customize themes, link styles & toolbar — reorder and arrange every tool.
- Use the quick tools — what each everyday utility does.
- Back up & restore your settings — save your toolbar layout.