How to Show the Bookmarks Bar on Top in Chrome

The bookmarks bar in Chrome always appears directly below the address bar. There is no setting to move it above the address bar or to any other position. Chrome locks the bar in that location, and no extension or flag can change it.

If you searched for "bookmarks bar on top," you probably want one of two things: to make the bar always visible, or to give it a more prominent role in your browsing. Both are doable.

Make the bookmarks bar always visible

By default, Chrome may hide the bookmarks bar or only show it on new tabs. To keep it visible on every page:

Keyboard shortcut (fastest)

Press Ctrl+Shift+B (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+B (Mac). The bookmarks bar will appear below the address bar. Press the same shortcut again to hide it.

Chrome settings

1. Go to chrome://settings/appearance.
2. Find the Show bookmarks bar setting.
3. Select Always.

This keeps the bar visible on every page you visit. It will not disappear when you navigate away from the new tab page.

For a more detailed walkthrough, see How to Show Bookmarks Bar in Chrome.

"Always show" vs. "New Tab page only"

Chrome offers three display options for the bookmarks bar:

• Always keeps the bar visible on every page. This uses a thin strip of vertical screen space on every tab.
• New Tab page only shows the bar when you open a new tab but hides it once you navigate to a site. This is a good middle ground if you want easy access to bookmarks when starting a task but do not want the bar taking space while you browse.
• Never hides the bar completely. Your bookmarks still exist. You just need to use Bookmark Manager or search to access them.

To change this setting, go to chrome://settings/appearance and choose from the dropdown.

Why the bar cannot move above the address bar

Chrome's interface layout is fixed. The tab strip is at the top, the address bar (omnibox) sits below it, and the bookmarks bar goes below that. This order is built into Chrome and cannot be rearranged. No browser flags, extensions, or Chrome settings offer a way to change it.

Other Chromium-based browsers (Edge, Brave, Vivaldi) follow the same layout. This is not a Chrome-specific limitation but a design choice across the Chromium platform.

What to do if the bar is not enough

If the bookmarks bar feels too small or limited for your needs, there are a few ways to get more out of it:

Use favicon-only bookmarks

You can remove the text label from bookmarks on the bar so they display only the site's small icon. This lets you fit many more bookmarks in the same space.

1. Right-click a bookmark on the bar.
2. Select Edit.
3. Delete everything in the Name field.
4. Click Save.

The bookmark shrinks to just its favicon. For a full guide on this and other bar-editing tips, see How to Edit the Bookmarks Bar in Chrome.

Use folders on the bar

Create folders on the bookmarks bar to group related bookmarks under one label. Right-click an empty spot on the bar and select Add folder. Drag bookmarks into the folder to organize them.

Use the address bar to find bookmarks

Instead of relying only on the bookmarks bar, you can search your entire bookmark library from the address bar. Type @bookmarks followed by a space and your search term. Chrome filters results to bookmarks only.

You can also open Bookmark Manager (Ctrl+Shift+O on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Option+B on Mac) and search from there. For more search methods, see How to Find Bookmarks in Chrome.

Quick reference

If you find the bookmarks bar too limiting, TrueBookmark's Quick Find popup gives you instant access to any bookmark in your library without needing to keep it on the bar. You can open it from any page with a keyboard shortcut, search by name or URL, and jump to the result in one step.