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Last week as ChromeOS 132 rolled out to users and shortly after, official release notes arrived to give us the scoop on what was new. One of the things I didn’t expect to see listed was the new onboarding checklist that I actually stumbled on a couple weeks ago in the Developer Channel of ChromeOS 133. Though I knew this feature would show up in the coming weeks, I didn’t expect it to roll down to ChromeOS 132.
To be fair, it’s only an announced change for the time being. As the ChromeOS team is wont to do from time to time, this is one of those “new features” that isn’t actually there just yet. I think it could appear at any point thanks to the fact that it is part of the Explore app and the vast majority of the features in that app are delivered via the web. So that makes all of this both easier and faster.
What to expect with the new onboarding checklist
This new feature does exactly what you’d expect, giving you a checklist of things to do when you first get up and running with a new Chromebook. From connecting your Android phone to screen lock settings to adjusting your text size, the new onboarding checklist assures that new users are getting things aligned to have the best overall experience with their new Chromebook.
The one thing I’d love to see this list do is dynamically know whether or not you made any of the various adjustments on your device already. For instance, once I log into a new Chromebook, my profile reverses my mouse scroll, connects to my known Wi-Fi networks and more. It would be a nice touch if this new checklist understood this and checked those items off for me right off the jump.
Still, this is a useful addition for those new to ChromeOS. Like Pixel phones do during the initial setup phase, this checklist simply serves as a place to showcase many of the features users wouldn’t otherwise see at the start and get them all set up before too much time elapses. For those of us who are a bit more seasoned as Chromebook users, it’s not a huge deal. But for those new to these devices, this is a helpful feature for sure.
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