Tech

Re-enable classic Google image search in Chrome

Published

1 year ago

August 20, 2022

Re-enable classic Google image search in Chrome

Some readers who use Google Chrome as their browser may have noticed this a long time ago: Google no longer has the classic Google image search in the context menu. Instead, you take the detour via Google Lens, which is becoming more prominent as you also want to show shopping search results. The company uses Google Lens to recognize image content and wants to display the user’s links and products accordingly. It has probably been discovered that users want it (or not, you do it to generate higher income). At least I’m not one of them and missed the direct Google image search.

So what to do to bring back the classic Google image search in Google Chrome? On the one hand, there’s “Search by Image”, an extension that combs through a whole bunch of (image) search engines. It is not only available for Chrome but also for other browsers.

On the other hand, it is also currently useful to disable Google Lens in the advanced settings, called Chrome flags. The following call via the address line should be set to “off”, i.e. disabled, and after a restart, Google Chrome will have image search again in the context menu:

chrome://flags/#enable-lens-standalone

Google Chrome allows some settings to be adjusted in an experimental area. How to enter: Enter chrome:flags in the address line of the browser and confirm with Enter. Values that are active after restarting Google Chrome can be changed in the interface that now appears. Experiences can be searched for in a search field. The area to the right of the “Reset all to default” search field is also important here. If something doesn’t work the way you want after making changes, you can completely undo the changes made to the experimental settings here.

This post appeared in its first version in February 2022. Due to the new selection of flags, we have decided to re-publish the post and adjust it.

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