[Updated] Do you want to turn off the Google Chrome Reading List? Here’s how

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This is the crux of the article in video form:

New updates will be added at the bottom of this story …….

The original story (published March 16, 2021) follows:

The latest version of the Google Chrome browser has version number 89 and was merged with the stable branch at the beginning of this month. The update brings several new features.

For the uninitiated, the profiles module has received a major overhaul with the update, where each user can now customize their profile with a custom background and play with different themes and color schemes.

The update also implements support for WebHID, which in short is an API that allows web applications to communicate with Human Interface Devices (HID) such as VR controls, gamepads and joysticks.

google-chrome

And last but not least, there is the new Google Chrome Reading List feature that allows users to save things they find worth reading for later or maybe just for archiving purposes.

Before that, people relied on third-party plugins like Pocket for the same purpose, but now it’s great to see Chrome have its own built-in feature.

To add things to Chrome’s Reading List anyway, simply press the star icon in the address bar and then select “Add to Reading List”.

chrome-reading-list-ss

Such saved sites are then easily accessible from the left side of Chrome’s bookmarks bar, as shown in the image above.

However, this implementation was not well liked by everyone. Many now complain that the Reading List option takes up too much space on the bookmarks bar – space that could otherwise be used to keep extra bookmarks in view.

That’s why some users have looked for a way to hide it completely.

chrome forums complaint

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So this “reading list” just appeared next to my bookmarks and is taking up too much space that I need for my bookmarks. I wonder how I can get rid of it.
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How to Hide – Reading List from Bookmark. It annoyed me for God’s sake, just came out of nowhere today.
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Luckily for you, we managed to find a simple solution.

You may know that Google Chrome gives users a great deal of control over its features through its flags. And while most of the things below it may be experimental, it ultimately comes in handy for those looking for a way to customize Chrome beyond what it allows up front.

This feature is now going to help us remove reading list from bookmarks bar in Google Chrome by disabling it completely. Just follow the steps below for immediate results:

NOTE: If you want to know more about Google Chrome Reading List on Android, go here.

google-chrome-reading-list-flag

click to enlarge

1. Enter chrome: // flags / # read-later in the address bar and press Enter.
2. Select “Disabled” from the drop-down list next to the Reading List option.
3. Restart Chrome.

The above set of steps is of course completely valid for any desktop operating system – be it macOS, Windows or Linux.

Pretty simple isn’t it? Hopefully the workaround has done the job for you. If so, let us know in the comments below.

Update 1 (March 17th)

It’s worth noting that, as is usually the case with staged rollouts, the Reading List feature may not be available to everyone (as it has just started rolling out). The only way to get rid of it at this point is the one we’ve outlined above.

However, if you don’t want to walk that path but want Google to roll back the feature, it’s worth knowing that a rollback will only happen when a lot of users send negative feedback about the feature to the company. So it is best to send your opinion as feedback to the company.

Check out what a community product expert recently said about this (translated):

It’s not in my area
I think it will probably be applied sequentially or in the form of ‘distributed as a test to a small number of people’

As is often the case with Google, if you want to apply it to everyone at once
We can pre-request 5% or 10% of users to see the response in advance.
Ultimately, it will be applied to everyone
I think it will be withdrawn a small number of times if it is a fatal flaw or major unpopularity.
(Are there not many visible recordings?)

I think it is good to send “Jamada” as an opinion
I think it’s okay to send feedback and say, “I’m getting more and more annoying to the reading list. I want to get rid of it. ”

Update 2 (March 18)

For those of you who are naive, the flags will appear below the experiments until a feature becomes part of the stable update and is forced to all devices. That’s why sharing your feedback while the feature is still being tested is becoming increasingly important.

So if you don’t like the Reading List feature and don’t want to get stuck with it forever, make sure to share your thoughts with the developers. Check out how a community product expert explained this:

I would also recommend that if you don’t like the feature that you send your thoughts to the Chrome team on which aspect you don’t like or why you don’t like it:

  • Report a bug or feedback about Chrome – Google Chrome Help

    • It’s very important that you do this as these comments are received directly by the Chrome team (they don’t usually go through the Spanish forums). It’s also important because if this feature is set to the stable version for everyone, the flag will eventually be removed and there is no way to disable the option.

    Here’s a feedback sample from the expert:

    For example, what I don’t like is the fact that when I click on the bookmark star it asks me if I want to save it as a bookmark or if I want to save it to the reading list: I would rather have the dialog always appears, with an option to save it to the Reading List.

    Update 3 (March 19)

    We conduct a poll to understand whether or not users like the Reading List feature. So share your thoughts with us by voting below:

    Update 4 (March 20)

    One of the readers in the comments section shared that for some reason the “# read-later” flag is not working for them. Changing to “# reading-list” worked for them. So just in case you run into the problem, try this way.

    Update 5 (March 21)

    It seems that more and more users are now taking to the community to share their thoughts on the reading list feature. Sharing the same solution (as we did in this article) to disable the feature, a product expert at the Chrome community recently said:

    While many are delighted with Chrome’s Reading List, not everyone wants to keep it.
    Essentially, it’s Google’s answer to the Collections feature on Microsoft Edge.

    NoteThe following are some of our other articles in this series:

    PiunikaWeb started purely as an investigative tech journalism website with a focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories were picked up by Forbes, Fox News, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors and many others. Would you like to know more about us? Go here.

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