[Tip] Enable Pull or Swipe Down to Refresh Feature in Google Chrome on Desktop
This article will help you in bringing a very helpful feature present in Chrome app on Android devices to Google Chrome browser on Desktop PC.
If you use Chrome app in your Google Android smartphone, you might be regularly using its “Pull to Refresh” or “Swipe down to Refresh” feature to reload web pages. Whenever you need to refresh or reload a webpage, you can just tap and hold at the top of the webpage and then pull or swipe down the webpage and Chrome automatically refreshes the current webpage.
This feature is very handy but the same feature is missing in Chrome browser program on PC and laptops. If you have a touch-enabled device or 2-in-1 device, you can’t use this useful gesture in Chrome browser.
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Yesterday I found a hidden preference/flag in Chrome browser which allows users to activate and enable “Pull to Refresh” gesture in Chrome software program on Desktop. I don’t know when this flag was introduced but I found it yesterday while checking for vertical tabs feature in Chrome.
This secret flag can be used to bring Chrome Android app’s pull to refresh feature to Chrome browser on PC and laptops.
You can enable this feature in Google Chrome on Windows, Linux and Chrome OS.
If you are also using a touch-enabled device and want to turn on pull to refresh feature in Google Chrome web browser, following steps will help you:
NOTE: I checked this method in Windows 10 and latest version of Chrome 87 and it worked successfully.
1. Open Google Chrome web browser and type chrome://flags/ in addressbar and press Enter. It’ll open the advanced configuration page.
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2. Now type pull in the “Search flags” box.
It’ll directly go to following option:
Pull-to-refresh gesture
Pull-to-refresh gesture in response to vertical overscroll. – Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
#pull-to-refresh
3. To enable pull to refresh gesture in Chrome, select Enabled from the drop-down box.
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 activated and enabled pull to refresh feature in Google Chrome on Desktop. Now try to pull a webpage opened in Chrome from the top and Chrome will automatically refresh the webpage.
PS: If you decide to disable pull to refresh gesture in future, select “Default” option from the drop-down box for above mentioned option and restart the browser.
Also Check:
[New Working Method] Remove “Extensions” Menu Button from Google Chrome Toolbar
[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret Tab Preview Bar at Top in Google Chrome
Hi. The pull down refresh option is not handy or helpful, as it reloads and erases the entered page data, even if we want to scroll to the top to check something. This pull down reload/refresh option should be discontinued by Google chrome, as it becomes cumbersome to re-enter data on the reloaded page fields. It is even more frustrating when it reloads the pages during an online financial transaction, even with slightest overpull of the page when we reach the top. Please remove this unhandy pull reload feature. People need more stable and secure pages for their entered data, rather than a quick feature, which can always be availed through the three dots at the top. Thanks.