Fix: Google Chrome Most Visited Thumbnails Not Showing

Google Chrome’s most visited thumbnails are the thumbnails that show up on a new tab. The most visited thumbnails can also appear whenever you open your browser (only if you have enabled the settings). This is a very useful feature that a lot of users use but this feature broke after the latest Google Chrome update. A lot of users are either not seeing any at all or seeing a couple of thumbnails when opening a new tab. This issue appears out of nowhere and you cannot rectify the issue by a simple restart of the browser.

What causes the Most Visited Thumbnails to Disappear?

Here are a couple of things that can cause your most visited thumbnails to disappear from Google Chrome.

Alternative (3rd Party extension)

Unfortunately, Google has decided to remove all the thumbnail support for speed dials. On top of that, they have disabled all the flags that were used to recover thumbnails for speed dials as well. So we can’t do anything but start using a 3rd party extension to bring back the same functionalities we had before. We suggest you use this extension named as SpeedDial which will definitely be really useful for you if you miss the old speed dial.

Method 1: Change Google Search Engine

Changing the default search engine has solved the issue for a considerable amount of users. Although we aren’t sure why it solves the problem it might have to with a conflict between the thumbnails and the search engine text box. And the issue appears only when you have the Google search engine. So, if you don’t mind using a different search engine, anything but the Google search engine, then follow the steps given below.

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Click the 3 dots on the top right corner
3. Select Settings

4. Scroll down and you should be able to see a section named Search engine
5. Select any other search engine from the drop-down menu of Use Search Engine option

6. Relaunch browser

This should bring back the most visited thumbnails.

Method 2: Reset Settings

Resetting the settings of Google Chrome should be your last resort. This has worked for a few users but keep in mind that this will reset everything and clean the entire history. So, apply this solution only if you are ok with getting rid of your history, saved password, and several other things (the things that will be erased and reset will be mentioned in the confirmation dialogue).

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Click the 3 dots on the top right corner
3. Select Settings

4. Scroll down and click Advanced

5. Click Restore settings to their original defaults. This should be under Reset and clean up

6. Click Reset settings

Once done, reboot the browser and check the thumbnails. They should be working fine now.