Chrome is bringing downloads icon to toolbar

silversurfer

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Google is working to redesign the downloads interface for the Chrome browser. The company may be shifting Downloads from the shelf at the bottom to the toolbar on top. As of now, it added a downloads icon to the toolbar. You’ll find the downloads experience and UI similar to the new Microsoft Edge and Firefox. [...]

The UI has not been updated for years, Google is now overhauling the downloads interface in Chrome.

Chrome new downloads toolbar button

Enable new Downloads toolbar button & UI in Chrome browser​

  1. Visit chrome://flags
  2. Find “Enable download bubble“, select Enabled
    Enable download bubble
  3. Restart the browser.
Note: We’ve been following the development of the feature since December, by running Chrome Canary with a command line shortcut --enable-features=DownloadBubble
 
Last year, Google began work on changing the download experience for Chrome and Chromium users. The web browser displayed downloads at the bottom of the screen by default and Google decided to move the entire experience to the top of the browser instead.

One idea behind the change was that the old behavior occupied part of the Chrome window, which meant that the view on the active website was obstructed somewhat.

The new download behavior in Chrome moves all downloads behind a single Downloads icon in the main browser toolbar. The icon displays an animation when downloads are in progress, which indicate the progress of the download.
 
Well, I certainly won't be returning to the old downloads UI. Every time Google changes something, they leave option in chrome://flags for returning to how it was before. But after a month or so, they remove flag(s) completely, leaving you without options to revert the changes and you're stuck with new option anyway. So, the sooner I get used to it, the better.
 

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