How to enable Google’s clever new Chrome Reading Mode now

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Look, this is a little embarrassing, but I’m not going to sugarcoat it: reading things on the web these days can be quite a painful experience.

You know what I’m talking about, right? (Insert awkward pause here.) On most modern websites, you’re bombarded with an army of over-the-top pop-ups, promotions, and other assorted ads every time you try to open an enticing article. (Insert awkward glance here.) Media is a business, of course, but still: As a mere mammal trying to ingest interesting information, it can get a bit much at times. (Insert forced awkward smile here.)

The business side is what makes this whole thing especially tricky because, for better or for worse, online publications and the humble Internet scribes who power them rely on the revenue from all that advertising to exist. This means that if you use some sort of aggressive ad-blocker, you’re hurting that company’s chances of survival and potentially jeopardizing the content creators’ ability to earn a paycheck as well.

But don’t worry, my friend, because Google has a great new answer for us. It’s a clever system that allows you to view a sane, sensible, and dare I say even entertaining version of whatever web page you’re viewing. It will be free of ads and other distractions and optimized for easy reading. It will also be customizable, if you’re feeling inventive and want to take control of exactly what fonts, colors, and spacing settings are in there. And despite all this, it will technically still allow ads to be displayed and the full original form of the page to load at the same time, whether you are actively viewing it or not.

Best of all? It’s available on any computer running Chrome this second if you know where to look.

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Google’s secret Chrome reading mode switch

In a strange but all too Googley twist, Google actually announced Chrome’s new Reading Mode feature nearly two months ago in March. But the version of Chrome that includes it hasn’t been widely rolled out yet, meaning most of us are still stuck waiting.

That version of Chrome is currently scheduled to start making its way to the world next Tuesday, May 30, for most desktop operating systems and following Tuesday, June 6, for Chromebooks.

But come on: we’ve already waited two months for this. Who wants to wait any longer?!

Here’s the secret to enabling Chrome’s reading mode this second, no matter what type of computer you’re using:

Open Chrome on your computer. Do a lively jig and/or yodel happily beforehand. Type chrome:flags in your browser’s address bar. Type reading mode into the search box at the top of the screen that opens. See the line labeled “Read Mode”? Click the box next to it and change its setting from “Default” to “Enabled”. Click the blue Restart button at the bottom of the screen.

And that’s it, you did it! I told you it was easy, right?

Now, once Chrome has restarted, here’s how to find your new elegant reading setup:

Open any article-style web page with lots of text like, you know, this. Look for the little side panel icon in the upper right corner of Chrome. It’s a box with a dark bar on the right side, and should be on the far right of the address bar area, between the puzzle-shaped extension icon and your charming profile picture. Click that son of a gibbon and click good! Now, in the panel that opens, click on the small drop-down menu at the top. (It probably says “Reading List” to start.) Select “Reading Mode” from the list that appears.

And hey, how about that? You have a neat, distraction-free, well-formatted version of whatever page you were viewing right in front of you next to the original.

JR

Wait, though: before you gallop off with joy, we have some important points for you to consider within your new reading panel. Um:

First, you can make the panel wider by hovering over the line between it and the main web page area and dragging that divider to the left. JRS Secondary, you can change the font from its standard default option to something more visually pleasing by clicking the “Standard Font” drop-down menu at the top edge of the panel. JRE Finally, you can adjust the text size along with the color scheme, line height, and even letter spacing to create a delightfully customized view by monkeying with the other options in that same area. JR

And there you have it: You can now view any article on this rusty old interweb in a way that doesn’t make you want to gouge out your eyes or feel guilty. And all it takes is a quick click to make it happen.

But wait: what about Android? Oh, yeah, we should mention: Google’s new Chrome Reading Mode panel isn’t currently available on the Android front. But that doesn’t mean you have to suffer.

Android actually has its own read mode setup, and that’s even more impressive. It’ll work in any app on your phone, not just Chrome, and it even includes a text-to-voice option that lets you effectively turn any article anywhere into your own on-demand podcast.

The only problem is that it’s incredibly out of the way and is rarely ever promoted, so you really have to go out of your way to find and install it. Once you do though, your reading experience on Android will be improved immensely.

So take two minutes to get Google’s official Android reading mode working. You will not regret.

And if you want even more Googley knowledge beyond that, be sure to sign up for my Android Intelligence newsletter. You’ll get three new things to try delivered to your inbox every Friday, and more than a few tasty extras.

Ah progress. Isn’t that great?!

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