Tired of the shortcuts and icons and doodles and search box and links and what not you get by default when you open a new tab in Chrome? Wish to start with a clean, fast and fresh slate instead? Find out here how to use a blank new tab page (akin to about:blank) in Google Chrome.
First, Remember the Place Where the Coffee Is Sweet
Caffeine, is, of course, a neurotoxin plants carry to ward of pests.
Why would they put it in nectar then, designed to attract insects (and a few mammals) for pollination? To help pollination, it seems.
For just enough caffeine not to be bitter to a honeybee’s taste does for it what it probably also does for you: improve memory. So, the bee remembers the sweet reward and boosts the flower’s chance of pollination.
Now, where were we? Ah, want a new tab page that does not remember anything and just starts out entirely blank every time?
How to Use a Blank New Tab Page in Google Chrome (about:blank)
Using a Local Extension
Time needed: 10 minutes
To create your own extension that sets up new tabs in Google Chrome (on Mac, Windows and Linux) to appear with an empty page:
- Create a new folder on your computer.
No matter: It matters not where you put it or how you name it; something like empty_ntp in your Documents folder works fine.
- Now create a plain text file called manifest.json in it.
Here’s how: Start a new file in Notetab, FileEdit or Vim, for example, and save it as manifest.json in the folder just created.
File extension: Make sure the file extension is .json, not .txt. - Enter the following minimal information in the manifest.json file:
{
"name": "Blank New Tab Page","version": "1.0.0","chrome_url_overrides":
{"newtab": "blank_page.html"},"manifest_version": 3
}
- Create another plain text file in the same folder called blank_page.html.
- Enter the following minimal HTML code for a blank page to serve as your new tab page.
<html>
<head>
<title>New Empty Tab</title>
</head>
<body>
</body></html>
- In Chrome, select the three dots Customize and control Google Chrome button in the toolbar.
- Select Extensions | Manage Extensions from the menu that has appeared.
- Turn on Developer mode.
- Click Load unpacked.
- Highlight and select the empty_ntp extension folder in which you created the two text files.
Download: You can also download a (slightly expanded) version a version: truly_blank_ntp.zip.
Other browsers: The extension works as is (also from the Chrome Web Store; see below) in other browsers using Chromium (such as Edge and Brave) with one notable exception: you cannot replace the new tab page in Opera browser.
Installing a Blank New Tab Chrome Extension
To spare yourself the effort and have the blank new tab page added to all your Google Chrome automatically:
Install the Truly Blank New Tab Page (Light/Dark) extension from Chrome Web Store.
The extension accomplishes the same as the minimal code above with support for both light and dark mode as well as internationalization.
The extension is trivial, and others with essentially the same function exist including Blank New Tab Page, Blank New Tab, Bruce’s Blank New Tab, Blank New Tab Page – White Smoke, etc.
How to Use a Blank New Tab Page in Google Chrome (about:blank): FAQ
Can I make the new tab page use the Chrome theme color?
No.
There is no way for Chrome extensions to access information about the current browser theme.
(How to use a blank new tab page tested with Google Chrome 120, Edge 120 and Brave 1.61; updated December 2023)