Chromebooks are a great affordable way to get stuff done. However, that doesn’t mean they’re bereft of cool features you can check out. In fact, you should find a brand new key on your keyboard the next time you pick up a Chromebook, and it may just help you save time when getting your work done.
The New Quick Insert Key on Chromebooks
In an announcement on Google’s official blog The Keyword, where the company goes into detail as to what this new key does. It’s called the “Quick Insert” key, and by its description and diagrams, it seems to live on the same key as the Caps Lock key:
The new Quick Insert key delivers instant help where you need it. With a tap of the dedicated keyboard button, a menu instantly gives you access to everything you might need from editing what you’re writing, instantly adding a URL link or quickly finding the perfect emoji or GIF.
So, if it’s on the Caps Lock key, and tapping it invokes Quick Insert, how do you invoke Caps Lock? Unfortunately, Google doesn’t go into detail as to how you toggle Caps Lock, but it’s likely now activated by holding down a key (likely the Function key) and pressing Caps Lock.
So, what does this new Quick Access menu do? There are a few features in this menu, such as easy access to Gemini’s “Help me write” feature. This lets you ask Gemini to generate some text based on a prompt, which can be useful when you’re not sure what to say.
The menu also adds some emojis and GIFs for quick access, a list of your recently visited websites, uploading images to your Google Drive, and some handy math tools to get simple tasks done. This special key will make its debut on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus, but if you don’t have one, you can still open the Quick Access menu by pressing the Launcher key + F.
Other Cool AI Features Coming to Chromebooks
Quick Access isn’t the only thing getting added to Chromebooks. Chromebook Plus models get access to some handy AI tools to help with productivity. For example, “Help me read” can break down really long documents into brief summaries to make them easier to digest, and Live Translate uses AI to automatically translate any text or audio in a different language. As such, there are plenty of reasons why your next laptop should be a Chromebook.
