QR codes have become one of the widely accepted mediums for data sharing. The technology can store up to 4,296 alphanumeric characters or 7,089 numbers in a frame, making it easy to share data easily. While there are many QR code generator platforms in the market, Google Chrome has a built-in QR code generator to help users easily generate and share QR codes of URLs. If you’ve never heard of this feature, here’s everything you need to know to enable and use it.
Generate QR Codes for URLs Using Google Chrome
You can generate QR codes on both Chrome desktop and mobile devices. As there are minor differences in the QR code generation process, we have covered the methods in separate sections, so read through to the end to learn how to use the feature on both platforms.
Make QR Codes on Google Chrome Desktop
1. While Google Chrome has been working on QR code sharing for a while, the feature is still experimental and is hidden behind a Chrome flag. To enable it, open Google Chrome and Search for ‘enable share page with QR Code’. Select ‘Enabled’ from the drop-down menu and restart the browser. To find the flag, you can alternatively paste the following URL into the address bar: chrome://flags/#sharing-qr-code-generator
2. When enabled, you will see a new ‘Generate QR code for this page’ option Note, however, that this will not work if you right-click on URLs inside a page. Another way to access this option, Click on the QR button that appears when you highlight the address bar.
3. You will see the generated QR code as soon as you click on it. In this interface, you can choose to change the URL of the QR code and Download it to your machine by clicking the download button.
4. As you can see below, I just generated the QR code of a URL using Google Chrome. You can now use any QR code scanner app or a supported camera app to scan the QR code.
Make QR Codes on Google Chrome Mobile
1. Unlike Chrome web, you don’t need to use Android Chrome flags to access the QR code feature on Chrome mobile. Open the browser, visit the page where you want to generate the QR code and tap Share. Tap on ‘QR Code’ from the private share sheet that now appears.
2. Another difference in Chrome mobile is this: you can long press any URL on a web page to generate a QR code specifically for the target link. To do this, long-press a link, tap “Share link” and select “QR Code”.
3. You can now download the QR code of the web page you used in the previous step. Chrome also has a QR code scanner to help you easily scan QR codes. Access it from the Scan tab on the same page.
Use Google Chrome to Generate and Share QR Codes
Google’s decision to add a QR code generator has simplified the QR generation process and can come in handy when you need to generate a QR code. If you found this helpful, be sure to check out the list of Google Chrome tips and tricks we’ve compiled to help you use the web browser to its fullest.
