What you need to know
- Google is testing a faster way of sharing in Chrome.
- It's called the Chrome sharing hub and will highlight all the various sharing options built into Chrome once invoked.
- As it exists now, it's currently limited to Canary builds of Chrome 92.
Google is testing a new Chrome feature known as 'Desktop Sharing Hub' or 'Chrome Sharing Menu.' In essence, the company wants to streamline all the many ways you can share content from Chrome and place it into one simple interface.
As spotted by Chrome Story, once this new hub is enabled, you'll be able to do actions like generating a QR code, sharing to devices, casting a tab, and other actions that revolve around sharing the current page to another person or device from a centralized location.
You can't use it just yet. It currently exists just behind a "sharing-hub-desktop-omnibox" flag in Chrome Canary and can only be used on Chrome 92. If you're itching to use it on stable Chrome, you'll have to wait till July at the earliest. As with all Chrome flags, it's also not guaranteed to make its debut when its canary build hits stable, so you may find yourself waiting a while yet.
While Chrome had been more or less stable prior to 2020 (barring user interface updates), Google has been working on improving productivity features in its more recent releases. Things like renaming windows, tab groups, and now sharing hub will go a long way in making Chrome the browser to use. The company will also be bolstering its Chromebook offerings with any Chrome updates like this Chromebooks recently gained a "phone hub" feature. Another hub-like tool to enhance productivity will likely find a welcoming reception among Chrome OS's steadily growing userbase.
Would you be interested in a sharing hub when it launches, or prefer the current way of doing things? Let us know in the comments below.
