Google Chrome May Soon Alert on Data-Heavy Pages, Allow Downloads Renaming

Google is quite regular with updates to its Chrome browser, bringing in a steady flow of new features. The team behind Google Chrome is now reportedly working on two new features that will enhance the way users download content, and will also give options to save data while browsing. New features like Download Home and Heavy Page Capping have been spotted in the canary and developer channels, indicating that they will be launched in the near future.

First up, the latest activity in the Chromium Gerrit indicates that the Google Chrome app for Android is working on letting users rename and choose a folder for your downloads. When users download something on Chrome, it automatically starts downloading, with the file automatically getting saved in the downloads folder. However, a new feature is in the works, which now lets you rename a file and select which folder to save it in, before it starts to download. This feature is enabled by default, and can be disabled with the DownloadHomeModern flag. Also, do note that this feature is still being tested in the developer channel, so it could be buggy. XDA Developers reports that the option to choose the folder to save downloads isn't working for them right now. There is no clarity on when it will reach the stable version of Android.

Photo Credit: XDA Developers

Another feature that is a work-in-progress has been spotted by Chrome Story, and it sort of alerts you when more data is being used by a website to load. This feature dubbed as Heavy Page Capping enables an InfoBar on top that alerts users on data-heavy pages. This feature is enabled by default, and there are two options to choose from - the standard one simply alerts you of high data usage, while there is a "Low" mode that will reduce the triggering threshold to 1MB. This feature is supported in the canary and developer channels of Google Chrome for Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, and Android. It is in early stages of development, so it may be a while, before it rolls out commercially. The report also states that this feature is limited to pages that allow "pause sub-resource request" for now. Whenever it rolls out, this feature will be very useful for mobile users with data caps.

Google has been releasing several small updates recently, in the run-up to the launch of possibly its biggest redesign ever. The Canary build has seen some big changes, inspired by Material Design, including the tab shape, single tab mode, omnibox suggestion icons, and more new features.