Creating new tab in Chrome when typing into address bar

Solution 1:

You can accomplish that by typing your search or your URL in the address bar and then click Alt+Enter -instead of just Enter-, so you don't need to install any add-on that probably will consume more resources than you need to perform that simple thing...

By doing that, Chrome will automatically open a new tab in background with your search, or with your URL if you typed an URL...

Note: in OSX it's Cmd+Enter.

Solution 2:

I can't imagine what's wrong with pressing 2 buttons, but if you reeealy want this, you can try writing an AutoHotkey script that would do Alt+Enter when you press enter, if and only if the Chrome process is open. That should do the trick.

#NoEnv
#IfWinActive ahk_exe chrome.exe
Enter::
Send {LAlt down}{Enter}{LAlt up}

Solution 3:

I second @MegaBluejay's answer, but that answer isn't good because it will affect pressing Enter anywhere in Chrome, not just the address box, so if you press Enter it will send Alt+Enter which has different behavior in some instances like in Google Sheets. I'd suggest mapping a key you don't use (like CapsLock) to do what you want. Also, instead of {LAlt down}{Enter}{LAlt up}, you can just use !{Enter}. Here's a working example:

#NoEnv
#IfWinActive ahk_exe chrome.exe
CapsLock::Send !{Enter}
#IfWinActive

Of if you use Caps Lock and want to use a different key that you don't use, you could use AppsKey if your keyboard has it. This is the menu-looking key which brings up a right-click menu. I've usually seen it located between the right Ctrl and Alt keys.