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I'm using the latest Google Chrome (14.0.835.35) on a Mac (10.6.8)

There are quite often instances where the address bar has focus and I'd like to get back to the main page (so I can use arrow keys and all my Vimium shortcuts) without having to use the mouse and manually clicking somewhere on the page... (pressing Escape would be the obvious shortcut but it doesn't work)

Is there a way round this?

William Turrell
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12 Answers12

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This has annoyed me very much too. Using tab is not always desirable, for example when you're reading a large document. Tab could move away from where you were reading to the first link on the page.

I have found a work-around for the missing hotkey inspired by some of the answers from here: In Mac Chrome, how can I return focus from the address bar to the page?

Typing "javascript:" (without quotes) and then enter will move focus back to the page. OK, so that's one solution. That's however not very nice as you would have to do a lot of typing. Now what you can do is add a new search engine with a short keyword, like "u", and set the search string to be "javascript:". Then you can type in "u" and then enter to move focus back to the page without jumping around.

Edit: Apparently this still gets upvotes. If this really bothers you please let the chrome devs know here: http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=92885

Community
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ReyCharles
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    Thanks for this (& sorry for delay in acknowledging.) I've used 'j' as my shortcut. – William Turrell Sep 25 '11 at 17:20
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    Also see this issue on vimium: https://github.com/philc/vimium/issues/226 – ReyCharles Nov 23 '11 at 17:58
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    It's 2014... is there really still not a "right way" of doing this on OS X Chrome? – Max Cantor Aug 02 '14 at 22:36
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    On the bug page you linked: "Only users with EditIssue permission may comment". Woot! – Gerry Jun 12 '16 at 07:38
  • Such a shame there's no native way of doing such a basic thing. Thanks for the workaround, it works nicely. I've assigned the javascript: search engine to the "l" (lower case L), so I can jump from Developer Tools to the page with "cmd+l l enter". – Rangi Robinson Jun 27 '16 at 12:35
  • Nice workaround, although it feels a little wrong but I have set it up because this irritates me all the time as I lose access to vimium constantly. – GTF Nov 30 '16 at 12:12
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    Weirdly enough, if I actually type `javascript:` into the address bar, it Googles that query. _However_, if I add a search engine `javascript:` as the `Query URL`, it works correctly. – ijoseph Oct 29 '19 at 02:54
  • Weirdly for me, if I type `javascript:` in the address bar, I get a Google query for that string. However, if I add a search engine as described, then typing the keyword (`u`) and hitting enter tries to load the url `http://javascript/` which is obviously invalid and results in an error page. This is on Chrome 91.0.4472.114 – Travis Northcutt Jul 09 '21 at 13:59
  • Follow up to above comment: apparently the first time I saved the custom search engine, it saved it as `http://javascript:`. I just now edited it in the list of search engines to remove `http://` and it works correctly now. Thanks, @ReyCharles! – Travis Northcutt Jul 09 '21 at 14:31
  • Adding `javascript:` as a search engine works beautifully! This had been bothering me for very long, but lately my workflow changed such that I started hitting this more often, so decided to finally look for a solution and I am glad that Google got me to this post quickly. – haridsv Feb 16 '22 at 13:52
  • The simplest workaround is to use ⌘+F then press Escape button, the focus is back on the body. See the answer by mcint: https://superuser.com/a/1690289/26006 – haridsv Feb 10 '23 at 10:33
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On Windows at least, I've been using F6 to switch between the URL bar and the rest of the page, also for the purpose of using Vimium. I am not sure if this works on OSX or Linux.

F6 cycles between keyboard accessible panes such as the URL bar, bookmarks, the page itself, and downloads. I generally keep downloads and bookmarks hidden, so F6 acts as a toggle. It's not nearly as clean of a solution as a dedicated "focus to the page" button would be, but I've found it workable.

Flimm
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Warrior Bob
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    Does nothing in OS X. – William Turrell Dec 16 '11 at 21:00
  • Doesn't work for me on Windows 7 64 bit using Chrome 17.0.963.78 m. Where did you find out about this? – Myer Mar 13 '12 at 14:26
  • @PeterNore Works great for me on Windows 7 64-bit, although at the moment I'm running Chromium 19.0.1043.0. I don't remember where I first read it, but I [was able to find it on Google just now](https://www.google.com/search?q=chrome%20keyboard%20shortcut%20focus%20page). Looks like it cycles between bookmarks and downloads too, but I apparently have those hidden. – Warrior Bob Mar 13 '12 at 14:55
  • Seems to be working for me today - strange! – Myer Mar 14 '12 at 16:31
  • Doesn't seem to work on Linux, although I can get to my bookmark bar this way. – Zamicol Mar 09 '15 at 20:35
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    Shift-F6 works better. Pressing F6 moves the focus to the bookmark toolbar, if it is enabled. (This is about Windows only.) – Alex Quinn Aug 06 '15 at 20:53
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    This worked for me on Firefox on Linux, using F6. – Flimm Jul 06 '21 at 16:25
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The best way for me is never using Chrome's URL bar, and always use Vimium's open URL hotkey, which is O by default.

BurnetZhong
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I'm using Shift+F6.

I mapped Ctrl+Shift+L to Shift+F6 so now I focus on the address bar with Ctrl+L and unfocus with Ctrl+Shift+L.

I'm using Ubuntu so I've mapped those keys with autokey

Eyal Levin
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I think the best way is ⌘ (Command)+, (comma), then ⌘+w.  It will open "chrome://settings/" and then close it.  And the focus will get back to your page.

G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica'
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XC.xc
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⌘ + L

⌘ + Option + Down

P.S. :-) might not work as I don't have any Mac and had to ask a friend to test this :-)

mdy nnl
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cmd + p, then ESC.

This will set the focus to the webpage.

alandawkins
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Summarizing suggestions on the page, and normalizing them into a table for easy reading and comparision:

Action Normal role Note Kind
⌘+F, then Esc Find in page Fast / light incidental work for the browser Key combo
⌘+P, then Esc Print Key combo
⌘+, / ⌘+w Open settings & close Key combo
in url (⌘+L): javascript:+Enter Script execution Fast / light incidental work for the browser. Also try: a search alias. Add search engine, e.g. keyword :u, search url javascript: at about:settings/searchEngines Browser scripting
F6 Cycle between Accessibility Panes (Focusable Areas) Direct & intended use of keyboard shortcut. May require repeated use for desired selection. (Windows, not macOS) Key combo

macOS Accessibility settings used to support a select better all fields, I don't see where it is now.

mcint
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    The simplest workaround is to use ⌘+F then press Escape button, the focus is back on the body. – haridsv Feb 10 '23 at 10:32
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not a true "focus to the page" hot-key solution, but works as needed on both firefox and chrome:

use "ctrl+l" to move focus to address bar, then hit "enter". page will reload with focus given to page.

nick
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If using Windows, the following AHK script will do the job:

#IfWinActive ahk_exe chrome.exe
  !a::Send +{F6}
#IfWinActive

To verify:

  • Focus Chrome address bar.
  • Press Alt+A.
  • Now the webpage should be focused.
Wenfang Du
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The best way I've found is using a hotkey-triggered Keyboard Maestro macro that simulates a mouse click on the bottom-left corner of the window.

SSharan
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  • As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Jan 22 '22 at 08:54
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You can overcome a lot of chrome omnibar limitations with Fauxbar extension. It allows you to open a pop-up addressbar which you can close with escape key. That is besides the fact that it uses firefox algorithm for url lookup, which is awesome and WAY more usable then what omnibar offers.

vangop
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