Chrome OS 87 rolling out w/ Tab Search, Bluetooth device battery levels, new wallpaper, more

Following a big desktop update two weeks week, Chrome OS 87 started rolling out on Thursday after a brief delay. There are a handful of usability enhancements in this release, which will be available in the coming days.

Tab Groups help people better manage (and collapse/hide) tabs, but it doesn’t always reduce the number open. Google is now introducing Tab Search to let users find what pages they have open across all windows.

Tapping the circular dropdown button in the top-right corner — also accessible with Ctrl+Shift+A — first shows a list of everything open. It includes the favicon, page name, and domain, as well as an individual close button. This feature is first rolling out to Chromebooks before coming to desktop browsers.

Chrome OS 87 will list the Bluetooth battery levels of accessories in Settings and Quick Settings. Just navigate to the Bluetooth menu. This feature is primarily meant for wireless headphones and will show a notification with the current level in the bottom-right corner of your screen upon connection.

Chrome OS 87 also adds 36 new backgrounds created by four different artists. To set, right-click on the desktop or shelf and select “Set wallpaper.”

To explore the creative potential of Chromebooks, our team worked with Dutch artist Rick Berkelmans, who runs a design studio in the Netherlands and recently began exploring digital illustration on Chromebook. Rick used the built-in Chrome Canvas app with a stylus to design wallpapers just for Chromebooks, using a Chromebook. 

Google

Other features in this release include:

• Saving to Google Drive has been updated with the ability to rename the file and selecting what folder to store it in
• Chrome OS devices now support switch accessibility devices
• Google has updated language settings to be easier for multilingual users to navigate
• The Alt+Tab window switcher now supports mouse, touch screen, and stylus input
• Version 87 makes visual improvements when renaming Virtual Desks and Launcher folders