Google is rolling out a new design for the downloads panel (pane, bar) in the Chrome web browser. Google is replacing the downloads shelf (bar) from the bottom with a flyout menu at the top right as part of the redesign. The redesign makes the implementation similar to the one found in Microsoft’s Edge and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers. The downloads menu pops up as and when a download starts and it goes off the moment you click elsewhere. There is also a dedicated Downloads button in the toolbar to quickly access the downloads pane/menu. Google calls it Download bubble and it will become the default UI for most users on new versions of Google Chrome.
Here’s a visual comparison between the old and new designs of the downloads panel in Google Chrome. Use the slider to view more of an image.
I find the change a welcome one as it makes the experience a little consistent among the different web browsers. It also avoids the use of a fixed bar at the bottom of the screen every time a new download takes place. However, each user has his likes and dislikes. That’s why some users will love the redesign while some will hate it whereas most users will accept the change and go with it without developing a strong opinion.
Google is testing the new design on some users, hence not all users experience the new downloads bubble yet. Now, if you have not received the new design and want to use it, then you can use the steps below to enable it. Or if you have received the new design and absolutely hate it, then you can also follow the steps below to go back to the old design.
Enable or disable the new downloads design using Chrome’s experimental features settings
Google Chrome’s Experiments feature is the place where you can test out new experiments available for the browser. It houses a number of options that are not directly offered to the users in the Settings menu. The option to enable or disable the Downloads bubble in Google Chrome is available in the experimental options. Here’s how to use it.
- Open Chrome’s experimental features
Type
chrome://flagsin the address bar and press Enter to open the experimental (advanced) options in Google Chrome.
- Search for download bubble
The new style of Chrome’s downloads panel is called Download bubble. Search for the same in the search bar to quickly find the “Enable download bubble” option.
- Change the value of “Enable download bubble”
Change the value of the field from Default to “Enable” or “Disable” as per your requirement. The feature enables the download bubble instead of the download shelf in Mac, Windows, Linux and Lacros.
- Relaunch Google Chrome
You need to restart or relaunch Google Chrome to load the new flags. Press on the Relaunch button that appears on the lower right side of the screen to perform a relaunch.
You will now get to experience the new design or get rid of the new design as per your choice during the steps above. You can inverse the changes at any point by setting the value of the flag to “Default”.
You can click on the Download icon in the toolbar to open the flyout. The flyout will list the recent downloads. You can then press the “Show all downloads” option at the bottom to open a new tab that displays all downloads. You can also access the same by pressing Ctrl + J.
Do you like the redesign? Yes? No? Key in your opinion in the comments section below.
Just FYI….as of the latest Chrome update, one cannot get the download shelf any more. I have gone in to the flag option & disabled the flyout window option but it still offers that and not the shelf. Very inconvenient and a multiple of steps needed now to save downloads, rename them and organize them in folders. I have hundreds of these to do every week. I am not happy.
Hi Betsy, which version of Chrome are you running right now? I tested it with Chrome Beta 116.0.5845.82, and it still works as expected. I am unsure if the early-stable release pushed by Google to some users has any changes, but it is unlikely. Did you restart Chrome after setting the flag to “disabled”? Here’s a screenshot.
Thank you for this easy “repair” to the new “bubble” rollout. The new bubble was a terrible idea.
I certainly don’t like the “new” layout. I regulary have to extract (excel) data from our financial system.
It may take some time to produce these reports. When I’ve to make i.e. 5 or 6 different reports I use Chrome in 5 or 6 diferent windows (not tabs!). I start the different reports, and after I’ve started the last one, the first ones are finished. The filenames of the downloads are generated by our financial system and differ only in a kind of date and timestamp in the filename indicating the moment the download is finished. Since, depending on the report, the downloadtime differs, not always first started is first finished. The presentation in the bottom bar gives the download by window. In the new layout I only get a list of all the downloads and I don’t know which download belongs to which query…
Many many thanks for the description how to get the classical view back. I bookmarked chrome://flags/#download-bubble-v2 to get it back! I certainly hope Google stops this flyout, or gives a simpel choice in the settings whicjh way to present the downloads. Up to now I preferred Google Chrome above Edge, just because of this “classical” presentation of the downloads in a bottom bar by window!
Thanks!!! This was the easy fix I needed!!
I hate the new design and followed your instructions and I am still not getting the downloads on the bottom of my screen. This is absolutely terrible.
Hi Martin, I just checked the setting on the latest stable release of Google Chrome, and it works as expected. Please ensure that you set the value of “Enable downloads bubble” to “Disabled“. And then, you need to relaunch Chrome either by using the “Relaunch” option that appears when you change the option’s value or by manually closing and opening Chrome.
No. It’s terrible and now takes extra steps to move documents to different folders. 0 out of 10.
it`s hideous, it’s arduous, complicated download many items, slow and frustrating
Thank you for having the only correct answer to this issue!!!
Thanks for this tip! This new feature is really annoying for those needing to download multiple things at different tabs. It DIRECTLY blocks the browser when I have to click to download the next file. This new feature is really inconvenient.
Horrible, this new download panel was forced upon me yesterday. I can´t stand it, it covers part of the page I am reading. Horrible solution. I have followed the instructions to return to the old style. Why change things which are working perfectly well?
Thanks for the tip! I can’t stand this new design. The old bar was more convenient. And over anything, the new “bubble” feature is buggy on MacOS, it keeps switching to Chrome from any other app when there is an event related to downloads: start or end. Really annoying.
Thank you for these steps! We were actually trying to find out how to turn the downloads bubble OFF, and we followed these steps and simply disabled the downloads bubble. Very quick, but never would’ve discovered how to do that without your instructions. Appreciate it!