How to hide your bookmarks bar in Chrome
Press Ctrl+Shift+B on Windows and Linux, or ⌘+Shift+B on a Mac. The bar toggles off immediately. The same shortcut brings it back.
That is the answer to the literal question. If you are here because something on that bar was nearly seen by someone else, the shortcut is not really the answer, and the rest of this page is about why.
The four ways, and what each is actually for
1. The keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+B, or ⌘+Shift+B on a Mac. Instant, free, nothing to install, and it is the right tool if what you want is a cleaner window while you work.
It is the wrong tool for a screen share, for one reason: it depends on you. It has to be pressed before the share picker opens, on every call, forever — and the one call where it matters is the one where you were already late, already talking, and already sharing.
Worth checking on your own machine: Chrome has long kept showing the bookmarks bar on the New Tab page even when the bar is toggled off. Open a new tab after you hide it and see what yours does before you rely on it.
2. The setting
Settings → Appearance → Show bookmarks bar. The same toggle, in a place you can find without remembering a shortcut. It persists, which makes it the honest choice if you have decided you simply do not want the bar — but it also means living without your bookmarks the rest of the time, which is why most people turn it back on within a week.
3. A separate Chrome profile for calls
Make a second profile with an empty bookmarks bar and present from it. This genuinely works, and it is the only option here that also hides your tabs, your history and your extensions. The cost is that you have to switch to it before the call, sign in to whatever you are demoing, and keep two profiles in step. It is a real answer for anyone who demos for a living. It is a lot of ceremony for a Tuesday stand-up.
4. Have it happen on its own
The last option is to stop relying on remembering. An extension can watch for the moment a screen share starts and clear the bar before the first frame leaves your machine, then put it back when the share stops. Nothing to press, nothing to switch to, and no way to forget it.
Side by side
| Way | Effort per call | How it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Keyboard shortcut | Remember it, every time | You forget once |
| The setting | None, but it stays off | You turn it back on and forget you did |
| Second profile | Switch profiles, sign in | You present from the wrong one |
| Automatic | None | Only covers Chrome — see the limits below |
One thing that helps whatever you choose
Share a tab, not your whole screen. When you share a single tab, the bookmarks bar is not part of what is captured — the browser chrome around the tab simply is not in the picture. Google Meet and Zoom both offer it and both suggest it by default. It is the cheapest protection available and it costs nothing to make a habit.
Where Skrim comes in
Skrim is a free Chrome extension that does one thing: it watches for a screen share starting and takes your bookmarks bar down before the first frame goes out, then puts every bookmark back at the exact position it came from when the share ends. There is nothing to remember and nothing to press.
It makes no network requests of any kind — no server, no account, no
analytics — and that is a claim you can check rather than one you have to
take: the extension is source-available, and one grep for
fetch across the code comes back empty.
What it does not cover
- Desktop apps. The Zoom desktop client, the Loom desktop app, OBS and QuickTime capture outside Chrome entirely, where no extension can see them.
- Chrome's own share picker preview. On a site that asks for your screen the instant it loads, the thumbnail Chrome draws inside the picker can still show the bar for a moment. Google Meet and Zoom on the web both preview clean, but it is a limit of the picker, not something an extension can reach.
- Anything other than the bookmarks bar. Not your tabs, not your notifications, not your desktop. One bar is the whole job.
Have it happen on its own
Skrim is in review for the Chrome Web Store. One email when it ships, and nothing else.
We store your address and the date, and use it once — to tell you Skrim is out. See the privacy policy.