Chrome may add a search bar to its crowded settings menu

Chrome's settings menu may soon get a search bar. A tester spotted it in Chrome Canary, an early version of the browser where Google tries out new features. Typing the name of a setting could take you straight to it, with no hunting through menus.

What was spotted

An X user, Leopeva64, posted a short video and several images of the test. The search box sits at the top of the menu and stays pinned so it is always visible. Chrome's settings have grown into many nested submenus, which are menus inside menus. Search could save the time spent clicking around and trying to remember where something lives.

Google is also testing a few layout changes to the 3-dot menu. The scroll arrows are removed, a scrollbar is added, and the footer is pinned in place.

Other tests in Canary

• Tiles that group similar menu options, for faster access to the settings you use most
• A Manage Skills submenu to keep extensions organized and remove ones you no longer need
• A Google Lens submenu called "Ask Google about this page," for searching items across a whole page, not just one image

What is not known yet

Google has not said when these features might reach the regular version of Chrome. All of them remain in testing, and no general release has been announced. ZDNet reached out to Google for comment and had not received a response at the time of writing.