Sometimes Google does something awesome. Other times, not so much. For example, the “new tab” page in Chrome has long been a great tool where people can easily access recently closed tabs, open tabs on other devices, and frequently visited websites. But now that Google has rolled out a new design of the “new tab” page, recently closed tabs and other devices are a little less accessible.
Luckily, the old design is accessible just by changing a flag under the hood:
- Navigate to chrome://flags in the Chrome omnibar.
- Find the Enable Instant Extended API flag.
- Select Disable in the dropdown menu – this will enable the old design.
- Click the button on the bottom of your screen to restart the browser or the OS (if you’re running Chrome OS).
If you are open-minded enough to get the new design a try for a while, you can still access recent tabs; it just requires a few more clicks. Simply press the three-hotdog menu button, and hover over Recent Tabs. Otherwise, enjoy the old design!
