How to get a ‘Real Box’ or a real search box on Chrome New Tab Page

Google Chrome has a “fake box” on the new tab page. A fake box as the name indicates is a box that looks like a search box. When you click or start typing, this box moves the cursor to the address bar (aka Omnibox).

Omnibox is the real search box on Chrome’s new tab page. Chrome recently changed this for accessibility reasons. You can now use a real search box on the new tab page.

A real box or real search box does not move the cursor when you start typing. Here is how to enable this feature. Currently, this feature requires a Chrome Flag to use. This will change in the future when Chrome makes the real box the default search.

Enable Real Search Box

Before we do this, make sure that you are using the latest version of Google Chrome. Here is how to update Chrome.

To enable the realbox:

1. In Google Chrome on the desktop, go to chrome://flags/
2. Search for “Real search box in New Tab Page”.
3. Click the drop-down box and select “Enabled.”
4. Restart Chrome.
5. Try searching using the search box on the new tab page.

This currently works only when Google is set as your default search engine. Read this article to know how to change the default search engine.