The Intrusive Downloads Panel
In recent updates, Google Chrome changed how it handles file downloads. Instead of a small, unobtrusive bar at the bottom of the screen, Chrome now features a “Downloads Tray” icon near the URL bar. Every single time you click a download link, a large menu aggressively pops down from this icon, displaying the progress of your file and remaining on screen until you manually click away. If you are rapidly downloading a batch of PDFs or images for a project, this constant pop-down animation becomes incredibly distracting and physically blocks your view of the browser tabs underneath it.
How to Disable the Automatic Pop-Down
You cannot revert completely to the old bottom-bar interface natively, but you can configure the new tray icon to stay quiet, ensuring it only opens when you explicitly click it.
1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the window.
3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
4. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Downloads.
5. Locate the toggle switch labelled Show downloads when they’re done.
6. Click this toggle switch to turn it Off.
The New Download Experience
With this setting disabled, clicking a download link will simply cause the small tray icon (the downward-pointing arrow) to briefly turn blue and display a tiny circular progress ring. The massive panel will no longer automatically drop down to interrupt your reading. When you are finally ready to view your files, you can simply click the arrow icon once to manually expand the tray and see your completed downloads.