Chromebooks are one of the best inventions in the time when people want devices that are portable. If you are looking for a work laptop, on which you just want to check your emails and enjoy a browsing experience, without a doubt Chromebooks are the best alternatives for you against other laptops or PCs. Moreover, Chromebooks are not that expensive as well, therefore you don’t have to worry about their affordability either.
In this guide, we will be giving a rundown on how to turn off touch screen on Chromebook along with techniques to disable the touchpad as well for all the brands that produce Chromebooks. So regardless of any brand you choose, you will be covered.
You might be wondering, why would you need to turn off the touch screen of your Chromebook. Well, as we get through this guide, we will answer all your queries one by one. However, before we give you reasons for disabling your Chromebook touch screen, let us give you an overview of the Chromebooks.
What is a Chromebook and why is it a better alternative to PCs?
First things first, as we mentioned above, if you require a portable laptop that is suitable for light work and browsing, Chromebooks are your best bet. These are a hybrid of laptops and tablets that Google has created by collaborating with the big Laptop brands. Instead of Windows, Chromebook runs on Linux-based OS technology and has all the Google applications pre-installed in it. Therefore, if you are a student or a professional who doesn’t require heavy applications and software, you can use Google suite for all your regular work and entertainment.
Read More: What is the best gaming laptop brand? Top three gaming laptop choices
The first Chromebook was introduced in 2011, but back then these laptops were not as tech-savvy as they are today. With time, Google worked on its product, and today these portable tablet/laptop hybrids are useful enough for those who require it for browsing experience or are in any industry or career where writing is their primary task.
Initially, these Chromebooks were only simple laptops like any other. However, soon Google realized that people need an upgraded version of it and thus, all the newer models are a hybrid.
If you are looking for a Chromebook that is advanced than its predecessors, then the newer versions would be the best option for you. However, if you want to keep your cost low, you can opt for the older versions as well.
Apart from that, you must also know that internal storage in Chromebooks is relatively less as most of the work that you do on it is saved on the cloud. However, it is still a good choice if you are looking for a portable, lightweight, and stylish device for browsing and entertainment along with some lightweight work, then a Chromebook is the right device for you.
Being said that, let us give you a glimpse of what we think about Chromebooks
| Reasons we like Chromebooks | Reasons we don’t like Chromebooks |
| Portable and convenient | Not suitable for heavy tasks |
| Lightweight | No Office suite |
| Affordable | Limited internal storage |
| Cloud Storage |
Now that you know what are the main features of a Chromebook and why people prefer it. Let’s discuss the pointers that are the base of this article – Why you would want to disable a touch screen and how to disable the touch screen of your Chromebook.
Why would you want to disable the touch screen
Starting with the why, although the touch screen is one of the features that made you buy a Chrome book, in certain situations, a touch screen can become difficult to tackle. Therefore, you might want to disable your touch screen feature from your Chromebook for the time being.
Talking about it in detail, let’s assume that you have to clean the screen, or you are using it while your children are around. You would definitely want to turn off the touch screen feature because if not, it can get difficult for you to work around. However, it could also be your personal preference not to use the touch screen.
Regardless of whether you want to turn off the touch screen or not, or you want to keep your options open, we have given a detailed step-by-step guide to turning off the touch screens in Chromebooks. This guide includes all the major brands that manufacture Chromebooks. Thus, if you own an HP Chromebook, or a Dell one, you can refer to this article whenever you wish to turn off your touch screen.
Step-by-Step guide on turning off touch screen on Chromebook
Turning off touch screen in Lenovo Chromebooks
Step 1: Open your Chrome browser on your Lenovo Chromebook.
Step 2: Type or copy and paste “//flags/#ash-debug-shortcuts” in Chrome’s search bar
Step 3: Find “debugging keyboard shortcuts” and toggle it to enable. Keyboard shortcuts are disabled by default in Chromebooks.
Step 4: Find the “relaunch now” button and click on it.
Step 5: Wait for your Chromebook to restart. Once restarted, log in to your account.
Step 6: Now you can use the keyboard shortcut to disable your touch screen on a Lenovo Chromebook. Press “Search+Shift+T” to complete the action.
Read More: When Your Chromebook is not turning on
Note: You can use the same buttons on your keyboard to enable the touch screen as well.
Turning on and off the touch screen on Dell Chromebooks
Step 1: Open your Chromebook and log in to your account
Step 2: Find “My Computer” on the desktop and click on it
Step 3: Here you’ll find “Device Manager,” click on it
Step 4: Now click on “properties to human interface devices”
Step 5: Here you’ll see an option for “touch screen,” click on it
Step 6: Select the “Disable” option to turn off your touch screen on a Dell Chromebook
This was the process to turn off the touch screen. In case, at any time you feel the need to turn it back on, just follow the above steps and change “Disable” to “Enable.”
All the Chromebooks that are manufactured by Samsung, Acer, and HP have the same process to turn off and on the touch screen. Find below step-by-step.
Enabling and disabling Touch screen on Acer, Samsung, and HP Chromebooks
Step 1: Open your Chromebook and log in to your account
Step 2: Next, find “shortcuts,” and click on it.
Step 3: Here, type or copy/paste “/flags/#ash-debug-shortcuts” in the search bar there.
Step 4: Open the page and find “Debugging Keyboard shortcut” and enable the feature
Step 5: Restart your Chromebook
Step 6: Touch your screen to check if the touch screen is disabled.
Note: To enable, follow the same process.
Now that we have covered all the methods of turning off and on the touch screen in the Chromebooks manufactured by all the major brands, let us also brief you on how to disable your touchpad, if you are used to using a physical mouse.
Enabling and Disabling Chromebook touchpad
As we have enabled Keyboard shortcuts in all the Chromebooks manufactured by different brands, you can use this simple keyboard shortcut on any Chromebook and you’ll be able to successfully disable or enable the touchpad.
The keyboard shortcut for it is: “Search + Shift + P.” Use the same shortcut for both enabling and disabling.
As for now, we have given you a comprehensive rundown on how to turn off the touchscreen on Chromebook. We hope that this would come in handy whenever you wish to enable or disable the touch screen. Apart from that, we have also given you a shortcut for enabling and disabling the touchpad on your Chromebook.
Before we conclude this article, let us also tell you, if you are wanting to disable your touch screen or your touchpad on Chromebook for more performance and battery life, then know there is no evidence found as of yet that suggest disabling your touch screen or touchpad would be helpful in any of these situations.
FAQs about Chromebook asked along with how to turn off touch screen on Chromebook
How to bring the Chromebook screen back to normal?
To bring the Chromebook display to normal you can use this keyboard shortcut: Shift+Ctrl+Refresh. If you want to enable keyboard shortcuts, refer to our article above.
How to get rid of the floating bar on the Chromebook?
Start by finding an extension of the “toolbar.” Next, find a check box near “Enable.” Uncheck that box. However, if you want to delete the toolbar, then click on the “Trash can” and to save your changes, click on “Confirm”.
