Being a Chrome Drag Queen or King

Google’s Chrome browser was made to be as simple and intuitive as possible. The designers appear to be a big fan of the “drag and drop” method of user input and have worked this method into many aspects of Chrome. Here are a few things you can do in Chrome with drag and drop:

Drag and drop-based functions in Chrome

1. Highlight text and drag it to the search/address bar to search on the topic highlighted.
2. To bookmark links, drag them to the bookmarks bar or the Other bookmarks folder.
3. Drag the star icon (bookmark icon) to the tab bar to duplicate the tab you’re on.
4. Tabs can be rearranged in order and merged into the same window or split into different ones simply by dragging and dropping.
5. Bookmarks and bookmark folders can be re-ordered and sorted from the bar to folders by dragging.
6. Extensions can be re-ordered in the bar above in a similar manner.
7. Drag a link up to the tabs bar to open the link address in a new tab.
8. Dragging a link to the address bar will open the link in your current tab.
9. Drag a link to your email client to open a new message with that link in the body.
10. Alternatively, drag the link to an open application such as Word to create a text link.
11. Drag a bookmark to your desktop to create a shortcut to that page.
12. Links made into shortcuts can be dragged onto the bookmarks bar to make a new bookmark.

In the image above, regions of a Chrome window that are amenable to drag and drop are outlined in red. If drag and drop is allowed, a “+” sign and a dashed box will appear next to the mouse pointer. If it is not allowed, a circle with a diagonal line will appear. Being a PC user, I cannot comment on how these tips would interface with a Mac using Chrome. Many critics of Chrome have complained that the interface is too bare bones, but methods such as these listed above have shown that a lot of utility lies beneath Chrome’s simple surface.

Are there any drag and drop tips for Chrome not listed here? What one do you find the most useful? Let us know in the comments section.