The Console in two places: “Panel” “Drawer” – Console features reference | Chrome DevTools | Chrome for Developers
Posted by jpluimers on 2026/02/17
I always forget nomenclature, so in my mind the terms for the two consoles in the Chrome web development tools (official nomenclature: Chrome DevTools) are these:
- The primary console in a separate tab of the DevTools
- The secondary console at the bottom lf all tabs in the DevTools
I did know that you can close the secondary console by pressing the cross on its top-right corner.
I did not know how to reopen, apart from it occasionally reopening by itself.
So I did digging, found the official nomenclature, and more importantly that the Esc key toggles the secondary console.
Official nomenclature in the same order are above from [Wayback/Archive] Console features reference | Chrome DevTools | Chrome for Developers:
- Console panel
Press Control+Shift+J or Command+Option+J (Mac).
- Console drawer
Press Escape or click Customize And Control DevTools
and then select Show Console Drawer.
Note that the console drawer (my term: primary console) will automatically minimise when the console panel (my term: secondary console) is the visible tab of the web development tools, and remaximises. That was the other confusing bit (and if I remember correctly, was not always present in past versions of Chrome).
Queries:
- chrome re-show second console pane – Google Search (could not be archived)
- [Wayback/Archive] chrome re-show second console pane at DuckDuckGo
--jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
Leave a comment