The best ChromeOS tablets, along with the best Chromebooks with a touchscreen have a nifty accessibility feature. Similar to what you’ll find on the best laptops, ChromeOS has a feature known as tap dragging, where you can double-tap on your screen using your finger to start dragging windows and other objects around, instead of having to hold it once and then drag it with another finger. The feature isn’t on by default, so here’s a look at how you can enable tap dragging on your Chromebook.
How to use tap dragging on a Chromebook
To enable tap dragging, you’ll have to go into the ChromeOS settings app under the Device section. Here’s what you need to know to get there.
- Click on the time at the bottom right of your screen.
- Click on the settings cog.
- Choose Device in the sidebar of the settings app.
- Choose Touchpad.
- Make sure the toggle switch for Enable tap dragging is blue and turned on.
Simple as that. Now that tap dragging is turned on, you can easily see this feature in action in a spot like the Files app, where there are a lot of things you might want to move around on the screen. It’s just one of the many features that you can enable, too. From the same settings page, you can tweak the speed that your trackpad moves, reverse your scrolling (if you’re more familiar with a MacBook), and enable a feature like tap-to-click, so you don’t need to click on an object to select it.
Of course, ChromeOS is home to a lot of other accessibility features beyond just tap dragging. You also can try out a reading mode to make webpages easier to comprehend or try high contrast mode to increase the legibility of things on the screen. Touchscreen ChromeOS tablets even have button navigation to help make moving between menus easier.
And for those who need a screen reader, there’s even ChromeVox, which can read a page out loud, supporting keyboard shortcuts. ChromeOS is quite an extensive operating system, not just a web browser. Whatever your accessibility needs might be, Google has you covered.
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