Google is always thinking of ways to make working with Chromebooks easier Chromebooks run Chrome OS — and what was once nothing more than a web browser operating system has become a lot bigger With the latest iterations of Chrome OS, you’d be hard-pressed to call it anything other than a full-fledged operating system
Take, for example, a feature that was added to Chrome OS in 2022. The feature is called Quick Files, which replaces the short-lived Tote. Quick Files resides in your system tray and allows you to pin files to that location, so you don’t have to open the file manager and search for the file you want to access. This is a much more efficient way of working with frequently used files. It’s also a great place to temporarily pin a file, so you can remember to deal with it sooner rather than later.
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Quick Files makes working with Chrome OS more efficient than ever, so chances are pretty good you’ll want to take advantage of this feature.
And, like almost everything within Chrome OS, working with files is quick Show me.
How to use Quick Files
What you will need: All you need for this feature is a Chromebook with an updated version of Chrome OS, a valid Google account, and files to add. That’s it. Time to get to work.
Log in to your Chromebook and open the My Files app. Navigate to a file you want to add to Quick Files from local storage or even Google Drive Once you’ve located the file you want to pin to Quick Files, tap it with two fingers (or right-click on it if you’re using a mouse), and select Pin to Quick Files.
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You can quickly add as many files as you need to Files You can add files from both local storage and Google Drive. Once you’re done, you can close the My Files app.
You can compress the file from this menu by selecting Choose Zip. Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZdNet
Once you pin the files, you should notice circular thumbnails of some of the images appearing on the shelf. If you tap on that section, a new popup will appear, listing both your pinned files and recent screenshots you’ve taken.
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To open any file listed, all you have to do is tap and the corresponding application will open the file, so you can work with it.
You’ll find both pinned files and screenshots in a quick file popup. Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZdNet
If you tap (or right-click) one of the Quick Files entries with two fingers, you’ll notice an unpinned entry in the popup menu. Click on that entry to remove the file from Quick Files. Note that unpinning the file does not delete it from your Chromebook and only deletes it from the Quick Files feature
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Another way to delete a file is to tap (or right-click) the file with two fingers in the My Files app and select Unpin from Quick Files.
You can quickly move files from files here or through the My Files app Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZdNet
And that’s it for using the Quick Files feature in Chrome OS. This feature is one of those additions to Chrome OS that makes using your Chromebook more efficient