A Chromebook is amazingly quick to set up, but there's a difference between setting a laptop up and really settling in with it. I've been working full-time from a Chromebook for three years and after leapfrogging from review unit to review unit last year, I think I've gotten it down to a science. If your new Chromebook feels new and awkward and not as fun as you were expecting, let me help you make this your new computing home.
Adjust your scroll and function keys
This first tweak is going to sound a little weird, but bear with me for a minute. See, when you're using a touchscreen and a touchpad on a Chromebook, it can be helpful for scrolling to work the same on both devices. Unfortunately, the default way of scrolling on laptops is inverted from using your finger to scroll on the trackpad.
We can solve this on Chromebooks by swapping the trackpad's scroll style from Traditional — swipe up to move down — to Australian — swipe down to move down. I like Australian scrolling because it matches the touchscreen on my Chromebooks and scrolling on my phone. Not everyone will like it, but it's something I encourage trying out at least once.
How to invert your scroll direction
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down to the Device section and tap Mouse and Touchpad.
- Under scrolling, tap Australian.
While you're here, you can also adjust the trackpad speed if you want, but the average setting works pretty well for most folks.
Another tweak I recommend making first thing involves the way the Chrome OS keyboard is laid out. The caps lock key is a Launcher key by default, but if you're willing to forgo some of the advanced keyboard shortcuts, you can set this key back to caps lock and YELL ALL THE THINGS!!!!!!
How to get back a Caps Lock key
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down to the Device section and tap Keyboard.
- Tap the drop-down menu to the right of Launcher.
- Tap Caps Lock in the drop-down options.
While you're here, you can remaps some of the other function keys if you want. If your Chromebook has an Assistant key, you might want to remap that to Caps Lock or Shift if you don't want it triggering on accident, but the Launcher key is the only essential remapping you should need.
Enroll Smart Lock
No one really likes having to put in their password every single time they wake their Chromebook up, and with the beauty of Smart Lock, we don't have to! After you pair your phone to your Chromebook and go through the initial setup, the only time you'll have to put in your password is when you first turn on your Chromebook so long as your phone is unlocked when you wake the Chromebook up.
It takes a few seconds for your phone and Chromebook to talk to each other when you wake up a Chromebook, but it's about as long as it would take me to put in my password anyway and since my watch keeps my phone unlocked via Smart Lock, Smart Lock keeps my Chromebook unlocked for 95% of the day, too.
