Chromebook sync may be getting turbo-charged with ‘Floating Workspace’

In my opinion, Chromebooks are the best when it comes to syncing all your stuff. Between apps, Wi-Fi passwords, browsing history, and more, when I sign into a new or powerwashed Chromebook for the first time, I’m generally up and running in just a few minutes. Compared with the lengthy setup process involved in other platforms like Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android, I’ve become spoiled with the ability to quickly switch between Chromebooks without much friction.

I’ve always wanted things to go a step farther, though. With everything being so synced between my Chromebooks, I’ve always wished that even my desktop layout and setup could follow me from device to device. Many times, I have the Chromebook I’m reviewing on my desk and when I’m at home, I’m using a different machine. I’d suppose this is a growing trend for many other users, too, as more people have Chromebooks they use at work or school that may stay put when they leave. While it’s not a big hassle to re-open all my stuff to get set up, it sure would be nice if my entire session was synced as I move from one device to another.

Enter ‘Floating Workspace’

Thanks to a big of digging by 9to5 Google, it turns out one of my long-standing wishes may be coming true. A new feature called ‘Floating Workspaces’ is just now beginning development, and it may bring the exact type of sync I’ve been wishing for for years. In a commit for this new feature, the following explanation is given for what it will do for users in the future:

Ideally, what this means is the tabs and windows you have open on one device will restore automatically if Chrome OS realizes you were active on another machine previously. Obviously, if it is the same device, the restore process would not fire. In a perfect world, that means the 4 tabs, 3 chat clients, Gravit, YouTube Music, and Google Analytics that I have open right now would all be there waiting for me on the Chromebook in my bag when I got home.

There are certainly some caveats, here, and all that will have to be worked out before this very new feature is released. For instance, I may not want all the windows I have open on my multi-monitor setup to open on my single screen at home. I may have different workflows for a tablet device versus a Chromebox. For those scenarios, Google will surely need to include a way for the user to disable this feature.

It is still very early days on this one, however, so we’ll be keeping an eye on it. I did a bit more digging and there are precisely zero other commits for ‘Floating Workspace’ at the moment, so I’m not fully convinced it will make it out of the testing phase. I sure want it to, though. A deeper sync between perhaps a Chromebox on the desk and a Chromebook in my bag is a very, very intriguing proposition.