Users of Google Chrome versions 89.0.4389.0 and later have reported a novelty that is somewhat disruptive. Without doing anything, the browser added a new Reading List entry to the right of the favourites bar. Having this feature helps you remember to read your notes or articles later. However, a lot of users find this function to be very bothersome. I will thus describe how to disable or remove the Reading List from Google Chrome in this post.
How to Remove Reading List from Google Chrome (2022)
Without offering consumers many options, Google Chrome added a new feature called Reading List. It can be found in the favourites bar, which is frequently overflowing with websites that the user values highly. In fact, it can take up valuable real estate, especially on screens that support low resolutions.
In other words, not everyone is interested in the Reading List, and many users might desire to reclaim that space from someone else without having a choice. Additionally, the process for turning off the new feature is not very clear; there isn’t even a dedicated setting in the Settings. The Reading List can, however, be deleted from Chrome’s bookmarks bar. This is how to go about it.
Steps to Disable Reading List from Chrome browser
Unfortunately, as we’ve already mentioned, Google does not provide an obvious option to erase the Reading List from Google Chrome. However, there is a very quick way to do this; just follow the instructions below:
- Launch Google Chrome on your device.
- Access the chrome://flags/#read-later page through the Chrome address bar, as if it was a web page.
- You will be immediately directed to the Reading List item (already highlighted in yellow color).
- Click on the drop-down menu on the right of the Reading List item and select the Disabled item
- Restart Chrome from the Relaunch button at the bottom to make the change effective.
- Finally, when the browser is restarted, the Reading List item should disappear from the bookmarks bar, thus restoring the Chrome state prior to the last update.
Of course, you can simply follow the steps outlined above and select the Enabled option under the Reading List to re-enable the Reading List capability in Google Chrome.
You now have all the information you need to disable Reading List in Google Chrome. Check out our other articles on the Best Dark Mode Extensions for Chrome and How to Set Google Chrome as Default Browser on Windows 11 while you wait.
