This wikiHow teaches you how to inspect the HTML source code of a visual element on any web page on Google Chrome, using a computer.

Steps

  1. 1
    Open Google Chrome on your computer. The Chrome icon looks like a colored ball with a blue dot at the center. You can find it in your Applications folder on a Mac, or on your Start menu on Windows.
  2. 2
    Click the three vertical dots icon. This button is located next to the address bar in the upper-right corner of your browser window. It will open a drop-down menu.
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  3. 3
    Hover over More Tools on the drop-down menu. A sub-menu will pop up.
  4. 4
    Click Developer Tools on the More Tools sub-menu. This will open the Inspector column on the right-hand side of your browser window.
    • Alternatively, you can open the Inspector with a keyboard shortcut. This shortcut is Option+ Cmd+I on Mac, and Ctrl+Alt+I on Windows.
  5. 5
    Hover over an element on the Inspector column. Moving your mouse to an element or a line in Inspector will highlight the selected element on the web page.
  6. 6
    Right-click an element you want to inspect on any web page. Your right-click menu will pop up in a drop-down box.
  7. 7
    Select Inspect on the drop-down menu. This will scroll the Inspector column up or down to the selected element, and highlight its source code.
    • You don't have to manually open the Inspector column to do this. Selecting Inspect on the right-click menu will automatically open the Inspector.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    How do I inspect elements on a Chromebook?
    Aidan Howarth
    Aidan Howarth
    Community Answer
    The instructions in the article should work on Chromebooks.
  • Question
    How do I inspect an element on Chrome with only my touchpad?
    Jack Atkinson
    Jack Atkinson
    Community Answer
    Place two fingers on your touchpad and the same options will appear; click on the Inspect option and on the right hand side there will be your Inspect Element.
  • Question
    Can I change my details permanently after inspecting elements on Chrome?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    No. You can only temporarily change details that are seen on your screen only. If you are to reload the page the correct words will be on the screen.
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About This Article

wikiHow Staff
Co-authored by:
wikiHow Staff Writer
This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 218,555 times.
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Co-authors: 13
Updated: November 24, 2022
Views: 218,555
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