How to Add Shortcut to Google Chrome Homepage

We all have favorite websites we visit often, and constantly typing their addresses can be annoying. Luckily, Google Chrome lets you add shortcuts to these sites on its home page, making access easier. If you're tired of typing in website addresses on your computer or phone, it's time to learn how to create shortcuts in Chrome.

Adding Shortcut to Chrome Homepage on Desktop

There are two ways Google Chrome lets you have shortcuts on the homepage. First, you can either self-curate and add the shortcuts to the specific websites you want, or Google Chrome will curate a list based on the number of your visits to websites. Let’s explore both options here.

First, launch Google Chrome on your Windows or macOS device either from the taskbar or your dock respective of your device.

Next, from the Google Chrome homepage, click on the ‘Customize Chrome’ option situated at the bottom right corner of the screen.

After that, head to the ‘Shortcuts’ tab present on the left section of the overlay pane.

Now, to self-curate your website shortcuts, click on the ‘My shortcuts’ tab otherwise to let Chrome curate the list for you, click on the ‘Most visited sites’ option.

Once you have chosen your preferred option, click on the ‘Done’ button from the bottom right corner of the overlay pane.

If you chose the ‘Most visited sites’ option your list will be automatically populated by Google Chrome. If you have chosen the self curation option to add shortcuts in Google Chrome, you will be able to see empty shortcuts tile on the Google Chrome homepage.

Note: At present Google Chrome only supports a maximum of 10 such website shortcuts on the Homepage.

To add shortcuts manually, click on the ‘Add shortcut’ tile present on the homepage of Google Chrome.

After that, give an appropriate name for the shortcut you wish to create and then either type the URL or paste the URL in the space given by copying it from another tab’s address bar.

Next, click on the ‘Done’ button from the bottom right corner of the pane to add the website to your Google Chrome homepage shortcut.

Editing Shortcuts on Chrome Homepage on Desktop

Since there is only a limited number of shortcuts you can have on the Google Chrome homepage, there can be situations when you don’t need a created shortcut anymore and want to replace it with a shortcut for a different website.

To do so, click on the kebab menu (three vertical dots) from the existing shortcut tile.

Next, click on the ‘Edit shortcut’ option from the overlay menu.

Now, change the name for the shortcut and enter the new URL of the website you wish to replace the shortcut.

Once all the details have been entered, click on the ‘Done’ button from the bottom right corner of the overlay pane.

After clicking on the ‘Done’ button, you will be able to see and use the now changed shortcut on the Google Chrome Homepage.

Adding Shortcuts to Chrome Homepage on Mobile

Shortcuts for websites on mobile devices behave a bit differently than the shortcuts present on the desktop. Where you had the option to self-curate the shortcuts for the specific websites, the option is mysteriously not present on the mobile device.

That basically means the only way you can have shortcuts on your mobile devices is by letting Chrome curate it for you on the basis of your frequency of visits to the websites.

One more thing to add to the no manual control over the shortcuts is, you can only have 8 of such shortcuts on the mobile devices instead of 10 when compared to the desktop devices.

However, to provide some relief to this bizarre situation, Google does provide a folder of shortcuts namely ‘Top sites’ containing a majority of shortcuts to websites belonging from categories such as ‘Social’, ‘Entertainment’, ‘Games’, ‘Sports’, ‘News’, ‘Shopping’, ‘Banking’, ‘Travel’, ‘Education’, to even ‘Jobs’.

Though the ‘Top sites’ folder shortcut does not feel as much handy as self-curated website shortcuts, but strictly from having the ‘shortcuts’ perspective, it is a pretty decent addition to fulfill the needs of users.