[Tip] How to Hide or Remove “Apps” and “Reading List” Buttons from Chrome Bookmarks bar

In Google Chrome web browser, if you turn on or enable the Bookmarks bar (also known as Favorites bar), you might have noticed that it displays 2 additional items along with your bookmarks. These 2 extra unnecessary items are:

• Apps
• Reading List

Following screenshot shows Apps and Reading List items displaying in Bookmarks bar in Google Chrome web browser:

In Google Chrome, you can quickly show or hide the Bookmarks bar by pressing Ctrl+Shift+B keys together. Pressing this hotkey toggles the Bookmarks bar appearance. You can also show or hide the Bookmarks bar in Chrome by clicking on the main Chrome 3-dots menu, going to Bookmarks menu and selecting/deselecting “Show bookmarks bar” option.

As soon as you enable Bookmarks bar, it automatically shows “Apps” shortcut and new Reading List button/icon which might annoy a few users if they don’t need these 2 extra shortcuts.

Apps shortcut opens chrome://apps/ page where you can check installed apps and uninstall/remove them.

Reading List is a new feature in Chrome similar to Microsoft Edge‘s Collections feature. It allows users to arrange and organize their favorite webpages in a single bookmark list to read later.

In this article, we’ll tell you how to get rid of Apps shortcut and Reading List button from Google Chrome toolbar if you don’t need them.

Previously, it was not possible to hide or remove Reading List button from Chrome bookmarks bar as there was no option provided to disable it. We needed to modify a hidden preference/flag to completely deactivate and disable Reading List feature in Chrome to remove its button from bookmarks bar.

Related: [Tip] How to Disable or Enable “Reading List” Feature in Google Chrome

Now Chrome team has added a new option to easily hide or remove Reading List button from Chrome bookmarks bar without any need of changing hidden flags.

If you also want to hide or remove Apps shortcut and Reading List button from Chrome bookmarks bar, following steps will help you:

If you have enabled Bookmarks bar in Chrome, right-click on the bookmarks bar to access its context menu.

Now look for following 2 options in right-click menu:

• Show apps shortcut
• Show reading list

Both options should be present at the bottom of the context menu as shown in following image:

If you want to hide “Apps” shortcut button which is displayed at the left corner of bookmarks bar, uncheck “Show apps shortcut” option.

If you want to hide “Reading List” button which is displayed at the right corner of bookmarks bar, uncheck “Show reading list” option.

That’s it. It’ll immediately remove “Apps” shortcut and “Reading List” buttons from Chrome bookmarks bar.

In future, if you decide to restore these shortcut buttons on Chrome bookmarks bar, again check or enable the options in right-click menu and it’ll re-add the buttons to bookmarks bar.

Also Check:

[Tip] How to Hide Bookmarks Bar on New Tab Page in Google Chrome

[Tip] Always Show or Hide Bookmarks Bar or Favorites Bar in Microsoft Edge

[Tip] Always Show or Hide Bookmarks Toolbar on New Tab Page and Everywhere in Mozilla Firefox