Quick fix: restore Chrome download notifications to the bottom of the page

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Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

The issue

Suddenly, Chrome downloads are no longer showing at the bottom of the window.

Quick fix

Change a download flag.

The full story

Earlier this month, Google made some changes to its Chrome browser, one of which was switching the download notifications from a bar at the bottom of the browser window to a drop-down icon at the top right of the address bar. Some users may like this new way of finding downloads — certainly, it’s neat, out of the way, and lets you quickly see all of your downloads from the last 24 hours.

However, I found it rather disconcerting. I’ve got a lot of muscle memory invested in clicking on the download links at the bottom of the Chrome screen, and while I may eventually get used to the new download tray, just now, I find it to be an inconvenience.

The full fix

I found this fix in the Google Chrome Help site, and it worked for me. However, it came with a warning that “this is a experimental flag and Google may remove it in the future.”

• In your Chrome address field, type (or copy and paste) chrome://flags/#download-bubble

Use the drop-down menu to restore your downloads bar.

• At the top of the screen, you’ll see Enable download bubble highlighted. The drop-down menu on the right will probably be set to Default.
• Click on the drop-down menu and select Disabled.
• Click on the Relaunch button that is now at the bottom of the screen.

After Chrome relaunches, the downloads icon at the top right will be gone, and when you download a file, the download bar will appear at the bottom of your window, just as it used to.