How to turn Chrome’s address bar into a notepad with one line of text
data:text/html, <html contenteditable> That’s pretty much it. Now you can use that page as a no-frills word processor. It’s handy to have it when you want to write notes while working, take a phone call, or, in my case, jot down ideas and thoughts while writing.
The best thing about this DIY notepad is that it works in most modern browsers. I’ve tested it in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, but it should work in pretty much every browser you might be using, no matter how obscure it is. You aren’t limited to desktop browsers either. I tried taking notes in the Android versions of Chrome and DuckDuckGo, and I managed to turn them into notepads just by copying the command into their address bar and opening the page.
You can bookmark the page and open it in a second when you’re working and want to write down something your coworker or boss said, or jot down a quick note or two during a phone or video call. When you’re in an online meeting and get a great idea but have to wait for your turn to speak, you can immediately write it down instead of opening a separate app.
I occasionally use this browser-based notepad when working on an article or doing research. It’s great for capturing fleeting thoughts I might otherwise forget, jotting down subheading ideas, pasting useful links, or using it as a temporary note-taking space I can simply close and forget about once I’m done.
This browser notepad works great as a dead-simple note-taking app, but the fact that it’s just a tiny code snippet also means you shouldn’t expect a slew of features. You can’t adjust the font size, spacing, margins, or any of that fancy stuff. Your notes also won’t be saved automatically when you close the browser or reload the page. The only way to save them is by saving the entire page using the “Save page as…” option.
You get the default font, can press Enter to insert line breaks, use basic keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+I, Ctrl+B, Ctrl+U), and copy and paste text—and that’s about it. There’s no support for Markdown or any other advanced feature.
If this hack sounds intriguing but you find the default version too barebones, check out this Medium article and paste the code shared there into your browser’s address bar. You’ll get a nicer-looking yet still dead-simple note-taking space you can customize to your liking. You can adjust margins, change the background, and more by tweaking the code. The downside is that this version won’t save your work either, but at least it looks much better than the original.
If you want an even more powerful browser notepad that automatically saves what you write, head over to this Reddit post and follow the instructions (the code should work fine in most browsers). In a minute or so, you’ll have your own browser notepad you can bookmark and use whenever you want to jot something down, with the added benefit of everything being saved automatically. You can edit the font size and many other elements directly in the code—just open the .htm file you created with Notepad and go wild.
While they’re as simple as possible and will never replace proper, robust note-taking apps, these browser-based notepads are neat to have. Sometimes, we just want to write something down in a hurry, and being able to open one with a single click can be handy.
Also, sometimes I just want to jot something down while working or browsing the web, use that info a few minutes later, and then simply close the page and forget about it. Not every note needs to be formatted or saved.
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