The feature is now available on the Chrome OS Dev channel

Nov 29, 2017 18:21 GMT  ·  By

Google's Chromium evangelist François Beaufort shares today with us a new feature for Chromebooks, the ability to take Android-like screenshots in Chrome OS.

Discovered last month via a commit in the Chromium Gerrit repository, the Android-like screenshot functionality has landed today in the Chrome OS Dev channel and you can enjoy it right now on your Chromebook if you enabled the developer channel.

Once you've enabled the Chrome OS Dev channel on your Chromebook, you'll be able to take screenshots in Chrome OS tablet mode using the Volume Down and Power buttons, just like you do on your Android smartphone or tablet device.

"In Chrome OS tablet mode, you can now take screenshots the same way you do on most Android devices by pressing the "Volume Down + Power" buttons at the same time in Dev Channel," said François Beaufort in a Google+ post. "No need to remember another hotkey - whoopee!"

Forget about keyboard shortcuts to take screenshots on Chrome OS

Until now, Chromebook users needed to use a weird combination of keys to take a full-screen or an area screenshot of their Chrome OS operating system. Also, taking screenshots in Chrome OS tablet mode required the use of third-party extensions.

That ends now as Google made it extremely easy to take screenshots on your Chromebook in tablet mode. You can forget about those complicated keyboard shortcuts and just do as you do on your Android phone or tablet, press the Volume Down and Power keys.

If you don't know how to enable the Chrome OS Dev channel on your Chromebook, check our in-depth tutorial. The feature should soon arrive for all Chromebook users next month when Google promotes Chrome OS 63 to the stable channel.

Take Android-like screenshots on Chrome OS
Take Android-like screenshots on Chrome OS