Chrome may introduce Toast notifications for Reading List

Google Chrome’s Reading List on the desktop is about to get even more convenient with the addition of toasts and notifications. This new feature is designed to provide users with timely updates and feedback, making it easier to manage and interact with saved articles.

Chrome allows you to save and read articles offline with a simple click. Your reading list is synced across all your Chrome devices, so you can access your saved articles from anywhere.

Google is working to add toasts to the Reading List in Chrome as WindowsReport Spotted respective flag, commit message, and a meta bug.

. “Enables the use of toasts to present confirmation of user actions” the “Top Chrome Toasts” flag description reads.

In case you don’t know, toasts are small, temporary notifications that pop up on your screen. They’re often used to provide quick feedback or confirmations.

In the context of Chrome’s reading list, toasts could be used for the following:

• When you add current page to reading list
• When a user copies a link or image from a saved article, a toast will appear with a visual highlight, confirming that the link or image has been copied successfully.
• When you save an article to your reading list, a toast could appear briefly to let you know it’s been saved successfully.
• If you’ve subscribed to certain websites or feeds, toasts could alert you when new articles are available in your reading list.
• Toasts could also display information such as the number of unread articles, recent additions, or other relevant details.

How to enable Toast Notifications for Reading List in Chrome

1. Launch the latest Chrome Canary
2. Visit chrome://flags/#top-chrome-toasts in address bar
3. Select “Enabled” from the dropdown
4. Restart Chrome for the changes to take effect.

Toasts will include buttons that allow users to take immediate action or dismiss the notification. As you can learn from the flag, the company is testing to show toasts for reading lists for 8 seconds, 10 seconds, and 12 seconds.

For instance, when you have the side panel open with the reading list and you copy a link or image while reading a story, Chrome will likely display a toast notification to confirm the action.

Apart from the Reading list getting Toast support, Chrome PDF Viewer and Picture in Picture are getting a new look and consolidated Controls, Additionally, Chrome Reading mode now supports Google Docs.