Google's new Chrome OS touch gestures make navigation easier

Chromebooks’ touch capabilities are getting a boost, thanks to the new gestures Google is rolling out for the platform’s tablet mode. One of the new gestures coming to 2-in-1 Chrome OS devices is an easy way to get to the tablet’s Home screen — simply swipe up from the bottom to minimize all your open applications. If you just want to see all your open windows and apps, though, hold the screen a bit when swiping from the bottom to access an overview of everything that’s currently running on your device.

Google has also redesigned the Quick shelf with all your pinned apps and programs to be more compact and leave more space for the tasks you have open. Plus, you can now quickly summon Quick shelf by making a small swipe from the bottom of the screen.

The tech giant has also built new gestures for web browsing, such as the ability to go back to the previous page by swiping from the left side of the screen. Chrome tabs will soon be easier to manage in tablet mode, as well. You’ll be able to open a new tab simply by tapping a big button, reorder tabs by dragging them around and close tabs by swiping up. Those Chrome features will initially be available on the Lenovo Chromebook Duet when it comes out in the next few months.

Finally, picture-in-picture now works for all Play Store apps on Chromebook. That means you can minimize, say, a video on YouTube and continue watching it while doing another thing on another open app or window.