Chrome OS 74 Is Here: PDF Annotation, Assistant Search Integration, Recent Apps And More

With Google I/O on the horizon, developers have officially launched Chrome OS 74 and the update is rolling out to select devices as we speak. As with most releases, a number of older Chromebooks will receive the update with the majority of new machines updating in the coming days and week.

So, before we get into the details of the latest version of Chrome OS, here is the list directly from the proxy server that sends the updates to your Chromebook. These are devices that have officially landed the update to Chrome OS 74 in the Stable channel. If your’s isn’t on this list, be patient my friend. It’s coming.

Chrome Devices On Chrome OS 74

*Note: List will be update as more devices receive 74

What’s New In Chrome OS 74

There are a lot of new goodies to enjoy in the latest update to Chrome OS and likely some that we will have to dig around to find. While we’re hunting, here are the features we know about from the Chrome Release blog.

• Send system performance profiling data along with feedback reports
• Linux apps can output audio
• USB camera support for the Android Camera app
• Removal of deprecated supervised users
• [Accessibility] ChromeVox developer log options: There are now a number of developer options available within the ChromeVox Options page which enable developers to turn on logging for speech and other items
• Support for new files and folders under the “My files” local root
• Users can quickly access their most recent apps and Google searches by clicking on the search box
• Annotate documents from the Chrome PDF Viewer

One of the more notable list items for many users is definitely the PDF annotation capabilities for the Chrome PDF viewer that has been in the works for a few months now.

For the organized types, a long-awaited addition has finally come to the Files Folder. Until now, adding folders was only allowed if they were nested under the Downloads folder. Starting with Chrome OS 74, users can now create multiple folders in the local My Files or “root” folder.

These new folders can also be set as the default download location.

On the Google Assistant front, the smart helper is now integrated into the launcher’s search box and will offer suggestions much as you would see on your mobile device. These could be based on web searches, local apps and storage as well as contextual results.

Speaking of apps and mobile, the search box will now show a list of recently used apps when you click into said box. This includes Android, web apps and Linux apps.

Along with these changes, Chrome OS 74 also brings external camera support to the Android camera app and the end of any remaining supervised users not removed when the platform was shuttered. Linux apps have also added the ability to output audio which will be a much-needed feature as the Crostini project continues to move forward.

Lastly, for now, SafeSetID has been added to the Linux kernel and by default, Chrome OS. Here’s what it does:

It allows system services to safely manage the users under which their programs run without requiring powerful system privileges. This improves security in the event there is a vulnerability in the system service that can be exploited.

You can learn more about SafeSetID on the Linux Kernel’s information page.

I’m sure there are some other great features we can unearth in this update but for now, I’m headed out to film a quick video for you guys. Check back soon to see a new trick we learned from one of our readers that can give your Chromebook a feature we didn’t even know was possible.

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