For over a decade, whenever you downloaded a file in Google Chrome, a thick grey bar would appear across the absolute bottom of the browser window. This allowed you to easily drag-and-drop downloaded images directly into Photoshop or attach downloaded documents straight into an email without opening your file manager.
Recently, Google completely removed this bottom bar. Now, downloads are hidden behind a small “Download Bubble” icon next to the address bar at the top of the screen. If you hate this new interface and want the classic, easy-to-drag bottom download bar back, you can disable the bubble using Chrome’s hidden experimental flags.
How to Restore the Bottom Download Bar
Because this involves changing core browser UI features, you cannot find this setting in the standard menu. You must use the chrome://flags system.
- Open the Google Chrome browser.
- Click inside the address bar at the top of the screen.
- Type the following exact command and press Enter:
chrome://flags/#download-bubble - The browser will open the hidden Experiments page, with the “Enable download bubble” setting highlighted in yellow at the top.
- Click the drop-down menu next to this setting (which is likely set to “Default” or “Enabled”).
- Select Disabled from the list.
- A large blue button labelled Relaunch will appear at the bottom of the screen. Click it to restart Chrome.
When the browser reopens, try downloading any file from the internet. The new top-right bubble will be completely gone, and the classic, highly functional grey download bar will once again span the bottom of your screen.