Make Chrome's Address Bar Work for You

Introduction

Google Chrome's address bar, also known as Omnibox, can do a bunch of things you'd be amazed at, and all of this without actually performing a full Google search. These are shortcuts I've been using for some time and I'd like to share them with you all. Let's dive right in.

What's the weather like?

While you can get the answer to this question by looking out of the window, if you're too comfortably seated on your couch in front of the laptop with or without a bag of chips, you can instead type in weather and the city in the address bar and you should instantly see the weather pop in the results. Add the word tomorrow to see tomorrow's weather.

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Temperature and other conversions

So, Google gave you the weather in Celsius but you needed it in Fahrenheit. Ouch! Don't worry, you can use the same address bar to quickly convert the temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit.

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In fact, there's a whole bunch of conversions you can try like centimetres to meters, feet to inches, etc.

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Who likes Math?

From conversions to calculations. Next time you need something calculated, instead of opening the calculator app, simply type in the value in the address bar and you should almost instantly see the results of your calculation.

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Surprisingly, you can also do slightly complex Math problems from the address bar itself, like percentages, and sin and log values. How amazing is that!

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Up-up, down-down

Probably you're a casual investor otherwise you'd have an app for this or multiple screens with an insane amount of text and charts going up, down and God knows where. No judgement here. For all you casual investors, you can simply type in the ticker symbol of the company and you should instantly see the results pop in below.

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How much, again?

You may be a casual investor or intend to send money to friends or family, either way, if you want to quickly check how much value of another currency you can get for what you have, then Chrome has your back. Use Chrome's address bar to quickly convert an amount from one currency to another.

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Excusez-moi?

If you come across a word that you're unfamiliar with or are learning a new language, then you can quickly look up the translation for that word in Chrome's address box — all of this is powered by Google Translate.

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When's dinner time?

It seems like hours have passed since you last checked the time and you suspect it's already time to go home now. But you look at the clock at it has been only ten minutes! Say what now?

You feel like fast-forwarding the rest of the day but unfortunately, in our version of reality this isn't possible (or, is it?), so the best you can do is check what time is sunset so that you can day-dream about dinner for the rest of the day. Luckily, you're in front of a computer and can type in the keywords sunset and the city you're in to immediately get the local sunset time. For those early birds, there's an option to check the sunrise time, too.

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What did you say, again?

Have you been in a situation where you listen to a person and they're speaking brilliantly but the words they're uttering— my gosh — are beyond the realm of your understanding? Imagine how awkward it is to Google the words when they're standing less than a foot away and looking directly at you! Oh, did you think I was talking about listening to a person on a podcast? Ha!

Any-who, for those unawkward situations, Google Chrome's address box can help you. Type in the word you're unfamiliar with and the keyword meaning to instantly see the definition for that word come up.

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When is the next holiday?

When isn't it a good time to look up the next public holiday? Never! Simply type in the holiday you're looking forward to in the search box and instantly be delighted to see the results. This also works for quickly looking up the next daylight savings date.

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For all other knowledge needs

Google has your back with all your other information needs. All you have to do is just ask. How tall is the Eiffel tower? You got it. Current President of America? Check. Current Prime Minister of Australia? Also, check. Capital of a country? Chrome got you covered, my friend.

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That's it. Thanks for reading!