How to Set Up Chrome for Maximum Productivity When Working From Home

When you work from home, Chrome is often your office, your meeting room and your break room. A little setup keeps work and home apart and saves time every day.

1. Separate work and personal profiles

Click your profile picture in Chrome → Add to create a work profile. Each profile has its own bookmarks, history, passwords, extensions and signed-in accounts, so personal tabs stay out of screen shares and work stays out of your evenings. Give each a different color theme to tell them apart.

2. Start the day with the right tabs

• Settings → On start-up → Open a specific page or set of pages: add your email, calendar and main work tools.
• Or choose Continue where you left off to reopen yesterday's tabs.
• Pin always-open tabs, such as email and chat (right-click → Pin).

3. Organize tabs and bookmarks

• Tab groups: right-click a tab → Add tab to new group. Name groups by project and collapse ones you're not using. Saved groups can be reopened later.
• Bookmarks bar: one folder per project or client. Right-click a folder → Open all to load a whole project at once.
• See tab strategies for remote workers and organizing bookmarks for remote work.

4. Learn a few shortcuts

• Ctrl + Shift + T: reopen the last closed tab.
• Ctrl + 1 to 8: jump to a tab; Ctrl + 9: the last tab.
• Ctrl + L: jump to the address bar.
• Ctrl + Shift + A: search open tabs.

On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.

5. Fewer interruptions

• Block notifications from sites that don't need them: Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Notifications.
• Use your system's Focus or Do Not Disturb during deep work.
• Turn on Memory Saver (Settings → Performance) so lots of open tabs don't slow your video calls.

6. A few extensions that help

• Meeting Cost Calculator shows the live cost of a meeting from the number of attendees and their average salary, a useful reality check on long calls.
• Sticky Notes Anywhere keeps quick notes on web pages and in a sidebar notepad.
• Modern Dark Mode or Blue Light Filter for evenings.

Keep the list short: each extension uses some memory. More ideas in extensions for remote workers.

7. End the day cleanly

Close or save your work tab groups and switch to your personal profile. It's a small signal that work is over. For better meetings, see running a productive remote meeting.