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How to Open and Use the Chrome Task Manager

Use Shift + Esc or Chrome’s More tools menu to inspect task memory use and close an unresponsive tab or extension.
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Press Shift + Esc in Chrome to open its built-in Task Manager. You can also open the Chrome menu and choose More > More tools > Task manager. From there, sort tasks by memory use and end a stuck tab or extension if needed.

Open Chrome Task Manager

Use either of these methods:

  • Keyboard shortcut: Press Shift + Esc.
  • Chrome menu: Select More > More tools > Task manager.

These instructions apply to Chrome on ChromeOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux. The exact tasks and columns shown can vary by platform and Chrome version; Google’s help documentation establishes the Memory sort option, but not a universal column layout.

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Find tasks using the most memory

In Task Manager, select the Memory heading to sort the list by memory usage. This helps identify which listed tasks are using more memory than others. A high value by itself does not prove a tab or extension is malfunctioning; use it as a clue alongside symptoms such as a page that is frozen or repeatedly unresponsive.

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End a stuck tab or extension

  1. In Task Manager, select the task you want to close. It may be a tab, window, or extension.
  2. Select End process.

Ending a task closes it, and any unsaved work in that task will be lost. Save what you can before ending it.

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This is useful when a tab or extension is not responding and cannot be closed normally. If End process is dimmed on a managed work or school device, an administrator may have blocked users from ending processes; Task Manager can still open, but you may not be able to use that control.

If memory pressure keeps returning

For Chromebook tabs that refresh repeatedly, Google recommends closing unused tabs, restarting the Chromebook, using Task Manager to close unused apps or windows, and considering turning off extensions you do not need. These are Chromebook-specific recommendations, not a universal diagnosis for every Chrome installation.

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When to use your computer’s process manager

Chrome Task Manager is for inspecting and ending browser tasks. If you are diagnosing broader Chrome process behavior or high CPU use on Windows, Google’s managed-browser guidance points administrators to Windows Task Manager or another operating-system process manager, which can help identify Chrome’s processes. That is a separate troubleshooting step from ending an individual tab or extension in Chrome.

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