I installed Windows 8 Professional yesterday and worked on loading drivers and my typical applications. When I loaded Google Chrome and ran it for the first time, it recommends reading through a help page that explains how Chrome as a Windows 8 app works, and how it doesn’t.
I had understood some of these problems before with my test of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Internet Explorer 10 as a Windows 8 app and as a desktop application were two separate entities and didn’t tie together as one might expect them to (shared bookmarks, history, cookies). As the Chrome help page explains, some common tasks are not quite obvious and there are still a handful of known issues.
Not necessarily obvious tasks:
- With Chrome launched as a Windows 8 app, you can pin a site directly to the Start Screen as a tile.
- Use the Window Switcher icon in the top-right corner of Chrome’s Windows 8 app to switch between Chrome windows. This includes Incognito windows which are launched from the Chrome menu button (3 horizontal bars instead of the wrench now).
Known issues:
- Browsing data, such as bookmarks and browsing history, is different between Windows 8 app and desktop app. You can use Chrome’s sync feature to keep the two synchronized though.
- Not all plug-ins are supported. Only those using Chrome’s Pepper API, such as Flash, Native Client, and Chrome PDF Viewer, will function properly as a Windows 8 app. Details from Microsoft’s plug-in free browsing approach.
- New users can’t be added when Chrome is launched as a Windows 8 app.
- Pinch to zoom doesn’t work.
- Voice chat and Hangout don’t work in Gmail.
You can read the details and keep up to date on the known issues’ status from the Launch Chrome as a Windows 8 app help page.