Google’s AirDrop alternative, Nearby Share has been out for a while on Android devices. However, it had been missing in action on Chromebooks thus far. Fortunately, the company has been testing this feature, and it’s already available to test in Chrome OS 87. If you want to use AirDrop on Chromebook, this is the closest you’ll get, and here’s how to enable Nearby Share in Chrome OS.
As I mentioned above, Nearby Share in Chrome OS isn’t ready for primetime yet. When it does, it should be enabled by default. However, if you can’t wait, or if you just want to test it out to see how well it works, you can enable Nearby Sharing right now on your Chromebook.
- Turn on Nearby Sharing
- Use Nearby Share in Chrome OS
Turn on Nearby Sharing
There are just a few steps you’ll need to follow.
- Now, search for ‘Sharesheet’ and enable that flag as well.
Now that the feature is enabled on your Chromebook, here’s how to use it. You can use Nearby Share to share any file from your Chromebook.
- Click on it, and your Chromebook will search for, and show, other devices with Nearby Share turned on. You can then choose the device you want to share your file with and that’s all.
Our tutorial will work with all of the following Chromebooks. It is not an exhaustive list and is only here to serve as an example.
Easily Share Chromebook Files Wirelessly
Nearby Share is a great feature to have on your Chromebook. It lets you share files at a faster speed than Bluetooth, and you don’t need to constantly email files to yourself. If you haven’t used Nearby Share yet, you should definitely try it out now that you know how to enable it and use it on your Chrome OS device.
