Google Chrome is making it far, far easier to share pages

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Google has made it incredibly easy to share content from Chrome in iOS and Android. Now the company is making sharing similarly simple for users of the desktop version of its browser.

The latest Canary build of Chrome sees hints at the impending arrival of the Sharing Hub. This is something that will already be familiar to mobile users, and while it is currently a work in progress, it seems that sharing is about to get a whole lot easier on the desktop.

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Ultimately, the Chrome Sharing Hub will be making its way to all desktop platforms – Windows, macOS, Linux and Chrome OS. For now, though, there are only signs of it for Apple and Microsoft's desktop operating systems.

While it's not currently clear exactly what form the desktop implementation of the hub will take, it should closely mimic the one found in iOS and Android, and will be accessible from both the three-dot menu and the omnibox in Chrome.

The desktop version is likely to be very similar to the mobile version of the Sharing Hub, but there will undoubtedly be some differences. The iOS and Android versions let users share links via any supported app that is installed, take a screenshot, copy a link to the clipboard, generate a QR code, share to another device signed into the same Google account, or print the pages. Not all of these options are appropriate for the desktop, but until the feature officially launches, we'll just have to guess at how Google will implement things.

To try out the new desktop Sharing Hub as soon as possible, you will need to be running the experimental – and potentially unstable – Canary build of Chrome. Once it's installed, you'll need to enable a couple of optional settings:

Launch Chrome Canary and visit chrome://flags
Search for Desktop Sharing Hub in App Menu and then use the drop-down menu to select Enabled
Repeat for the Desktop Sharing Hub in Omnibox setting
Click the Relaunch button to restart Chrome

Unfortunately, the feature is not available to test out just at the moment, but with these settings enabled in Chrome Canary, you will get access to it as soon as it is launched for testing.

Via MSPoweruser

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Sofia is a tech journalist who's been writing about software, hardware and the web for nearly 25 years – but still looks as youthful as ever! After years writing for magazines, her life moved online and remains fueled by technology, music and nature.

Having written for websites and magazines since 2000, producing a wide range of reviews, guides, tutorials, brochures, newsletters and more, she continues to write for diverse audiences, from computing newbies to advanced users and business clients. Always willing to try something new, she loves sharing new discoveries with others.

Sofia lives and breathes Windows, Android, iOS, macOS and just about anything with a power button, but her particular areas of interest include security, tweaking and privacy. Her other loves include walking, music, her two Malamutes and, of course, her wife and daughter.

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