Earlier this month, Google rolled out a bunch of new updates to its Chrome browser. One of the changes introduced with this update was a redesign of the Chrome download experience. While this update is sure to give the browser a much neater look when downloading content, many users miss the legacy download experience that Chrome offers on the desktop. So, in this article, I will show how you can restore the legacy download notification at the bottom of the screen.
What Does the New Chrome Download Section Looks Like?
Right now, whenever you download a file in Chrome, the download status is shown next to the address bar in a drop-down UI with a download icon. You can click on this icon to view your current download status, which shows individual progress bars. Here is a quick example of the redesigned download UI in Google Chrome:
Get the Old Chrome Download Notification Bottom Shelf Back!
Now, if you are not a big fan of the new download UI, you can go back to the clunky, space-hogging download notification UI at the bottom of the screen. We need to use Chrome Flags for this task, so follow the steps listed below.
- First, head over to the chrome://flags page in your Chrome browser.
- Here, search for the “Enable download bubble” flag, which is set to default.
- Click on the drop-down menu next to this flag and set it to “Disabled.”
- You will be greeted with a prompt “Your changes will take effect the next time you relaunch Chrome.”
- Click on “Relaunch” at the bottom of the screen to successfully restore the bottom download notification in Chrome.
- From now onwards, when you download a file in Google Chrome, you will be greeted with the same old download notification UI at the bottom of your screen.
However, we suggest laptop users stick with the new Chrome download UI and save some precious screen space when downloading files in their browser. Additionally, much like this Chrome flag, there are some other amazing Chrome flags that can help enhance your browsing experience in 2024.
