The Latest ChromeOS Update Is All About Customization

Google officially dropped the ChromeOS 123 update this week, and it's a good one. If you have a Chromebook, you now have four different ways to customize your experience. Plus, the update adds two other key features worth checking out.

ChromeOS 123 gives you more control

ChromeOS 123 is all about customization, and that's a good thing. The best part of the personal computing experience is customizing the operating system to fit your workflow, so the more ChromeOS can behave like Windows or macOS in this way, the better.

Create custom keyboard shortcuts

First up, you can now create custom keyboard shortcuts. This is a fantastic addition, since you'll no longer need to rely solely on the shortcuts Google thinks are best for everyone. If you have a specific shortcut you like to use on a traditional Mac or PC setup, you should be able to port it over to accomplish a similar function on your Chromebook.

Custom keyboard shortcuts aren't enabled by default in ChromeOS 123, but you can activate them from a feature flag. Head to chrome://flags, then search and enable both #enable-shortcut-customization and #enable-shortcut-customization-app (courtesy of Chrome Unboxed). From here, reboot Chrome, then head to Settings > Device > Keyboard > View keyboard shortcuts. Here, you'll be able to click on the pencil icon to adjust it. Google says this option will be the default once ChromeOS 124 rolls around.

Customize mouse actions

You can also customize mouse button actions, if your mouse supports it. This one's enabled by default: If you head to Settings > Device > Mouse > Customize mouse buttons, you can assign one of eleven actions to the extra buttons on your mouse, not counting the left or right mouse buttons. If you want one button to play or pause media, one to pull up the emoji picker, and one to take a screenshot, you can.

Set language preferences for specific apps

Finally, Google added the option to adjust language settings on a per-app basis. This is a great feature found for anyone who speaks multiple languages, and is commonly found in other OSs. You can set the language you prefer to use for any given app, without needing to constantly change your language for your whole machine.

Other features in ChromeOS 123

This latest ChromeOS update isn't just about customization. In addition, you can now use your Chromebook as a hotspot for your other devices—provided you have T-Mobile. If you do, head to Network Settings, then enable Hotspot.

You'll also find that ChromeOS 123 has more natural-sounding text-to-speech voices, all of which work offline. You have your choice of voices in 31 different languages.