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I'm trying to use my computer using the keyboard exclusively, without touching the mouse. When browsing the web it can get hard. I use Tab to select links, but there are often dozens of links on a webpage. I can use Chrome's text search (Ctrl-F) to home in on a piece of text in no time; But I can't figure out how to use it to click on a link.

For example, let's say there's a link on a webpage with the text "Swedish Furniture". I can easily find it by typing Ctrl-F s w e d, and then Chrome marks the link as found, but is there any way to follow the link after it's found without tabbing through all the links on the page?

Ram Rachum
  • 4,450

6 Answers6

70

To follow a link after it's found in search, press Esc followed by Enter.

Chrome Search Cheat Sheet

  1. Ctrl+F to open the search box.
  2. Ctrl+G or Enter moves through all highlighted results.
  3. Ctrl+Shift+G or Shift+Enter reverse move through all highlighted results.
  4. Esc closes search box, turns off all highlights, selects the focused text/link
  5. Enter to follow a link after highlights are off.

Use Cmd instead of Ctrl on Mac.

No extensions required.

Diogo
  • 30,792
nsolent
  • 861
53

Another method is Control + Enter (after highlighting in search).

Brian Koser
  • 1,034
5

I have used vimium.
By installing its extension in chrome, you will be able to click any links on the page with shortcut f
For more information, you can refer to https://vimium.github.io/

y4h2
  • 161
2

Here's a simple, easy to use chrome extension that solves this exact problem:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grep-click-type-button-te/ciokdkmjfdaidmcjmdmpjedgdflbfhng?hl=en-US&gl=CA

It's basically a control-f enhancement that lets you search for text of clickable elements on the page, cycle through results, and click on things.

Mark Hamilton
  • 21
-1

Why not use an extension to solve your problem? Try Keyboard Navigation; it should do what you want without any problems.

alex
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-1

I have tried Keyboard Navigation but it's pretty bad.

Eventually, I found a plugin that works for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It's quite good. Its also scriptable-- you can add custom selectors to pages you access often.

gleeBox

http://thegleebox.com/manual.html

What works well for links (No plugin, on a Mac running Chrome): Command + F, highlight the text in the page, then hit escape then enter.

Nick Woodhams
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