How to show full URL in the Chrome address bar

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Sometimes it’s the little things, you know? Why does Chrome, by default, only show part of a website address in the address bar? I don’t know, but here’s how to fix that.

This one is pretty simple. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about here, just open Chrome and go to any website. As an example, we can visit my own website, ComputerTutorFlorida.com.

The actual, full website address is this: https://ComputerTutorFlorida.com. But this is what is shown in the address bar in Chrome:

Why doesn’t it show the full URL? I don’t know. But for me, I just like to have the full website address displayed there. I like seeing the https:// to clearly show that the site is secure, and if a site is not secure, I want to see the http:// (even though Chrome will show a message that says “not secure” on sites that don’t have a valid security certificate).

Fortunately, it’s easy to force Chrome to show the full address each time.

Type the following line into the Chrome address bar:

chrome://flags/#omnibox-context-menu-show-full-urls

Of course, you could just copy and paste it as well. When that text is in the address bar, hit Enter on the keyboard.

You’ll see some options come up in Chrome, and the first one listed will say “Context menu show full URLs”. Out to the right will be a drop down menu – in that menu, choose “Enabled”:

Now go to the bottom of Chrome and click on “Relaunch”.

When Chrome opens again, do a RIGHT click on the address bar, and choose “Always show full URLs”:

Now you’ll see the complete website address for any site you visit!