Enable Customize New Tab Page Options in Chrome Side Panel

Newer versions of Google Chrome web browser (version 111 and later) allow users to customize New Tab Page (NTP) options right from the Side Panel. By default, this feature is disabled or hidden but advanced users can enable the new feature using the instructions given in this article.

When you click on “Customize Chrome” button given on the New Tab page in Chrome, it opens a fly-out or dialog box containing several options to customize the look-n-feel of New Tab page such as background wallpaper image, change theme color and enable/disable most visited website shortcuts.

Now Chrome allows users to customize all these options right from the Side Panel or the built-in sidebar as shown in following screenshot:

When you click on the “Customize Chrome” button present on the New Tab Page, Chrome opens the customization options in Side Panel. You can use all settings such as change image, theme color and turn on/off website shortcuts using the side panel page.

Google Chrome 111 and later versions come with this hidden secret feature to access Customize Chrome settings page in Side Panel. As we mentioned in the beginning of this article, this functionality is disabled by default and interested users can activate and enable it by modifying a hidden secret preference/flag.

If you also want to enable Customize New Tab Page options in Side Panel in Chrome, following steps will help you:

1. Open Google Chrome web browser and type chrome://flags/ in address bar and press Enter. It’ll open the advanced configuration page.

2. Now type customize in the “Search flags” box.

Look for following option in the results:

3. To activate and enable the Customize Chrome in Side Panel feature, select Enabled from the drop-down box for the above mentioned option.

4. Google Chrome will ask you to restart the browser. Click on “Relaunch now” button to restart Google Chrome.

That’s it. You have successfully enabled the hidden secret feature in Chrome. Now open New Tab page and click on “Customize Chrome” button and you’ll be able to access all options inside the Side Panel.

BONUS TIP:

There is another preference/flag “Customize Chrome Color Extraction” (#customize-chrome-color-extraction) available on Chrome://flags page which can be enabled to force Chrome to automatically change the browser theme color based on the color of the background image selected using Customize Chrome page.

PS: In future, if you decide to restore default behavior in Chrome, select “Default” option from the drop-down box for above mentioned option and restart the browser.

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