Chrome will soon let you remove the Bookmarks bar from the New Tab page

Google is testing a long-overdue feature that lets users fully remove the bookmarks bar from Chrome’s New Tab page. The change is currently live in Chrome Canary, the browser’s experimental testing channel where the company previews features before wider release.

Right now, Chrome forces the bookmarks bar — the strip of saved links that sits just below the address bar — to appear on new tabs even when users have turned it off in their main settings. That inconsistency frustrates users who prefer a clean, uncluttered screen when opening a new browsing session.

How the New Setting Works

The update replaces Chrome’s simple on/off toggle with a three-option dropdown menu. Users can choose to show the bar everywhere, display it only on the New Tab page, or hide it completely. Windows Report first spotted the change.

Enabling it requires a manual step for now. Users running Canary can type chrome://flags into the address bar and search for the NTP Simplification Bookmark Bar flag. Setting it to enabled and restarting the browser swaps in the new dropdown menu, which then appears under Chrome’s Appearance settings.

One Known Bug

The new setting breaks the keyboard shortcut that normally toggles the bookmarks bar on and off. The key combination does nothing once the experimental flag is active. Google will need to resolve that before the feature moves to Chrome’s stable release channel, which serves the general public.

Part of a Broader Redesign

The bookmarks bar change fits into a larger Chrome interface overhaul. Google is also testing individual side panel alignment for its Gemini AI assistant and bookmarks. The company recently previewed a floating “Everywhere Omnibox,” a redesigned address bar that functions like a standalone desktop search tool.

Many of these changes appear connected to Chrome’s expanding AI capabilities. The Chrome team is also preparing Gemma 4, Google’s on-device AI model, to power the browser’s built-in AI tools. Cleaner base layouts may be a deliberate step before those features add complexity to the interface.

Google has not announced a timeline for rolling the bookmarks bar option out to All Users. The feature is currently functional in Canary across Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS.