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There are two ways to enable Flash in Google Chrome.
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  • To enable Flash in Google Chrome, you'll need to manually allow it for every site you visit, or set it to "Ask First" mode.
  • Google Chrome automatically blocks Flash from running on every new site you visit, and will continue to do this until 2021.
  • On December 31, 2020, Google Chrome will stop supporting Flash for good, and you'll have to use an older browser if you want to run Flash.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Adobe Flash Player is going the way of the dodo. At the end of 2020, not only will most major web browsers no longer allow Flash, but Adobe itself will stop supporting the multimedia software.

Flash Player was once the foundation of the internet. Animations, browser games, advertisements, and even YouTube videos all once ran using Flash. 

However, as the years went on, Flash began to fall out of favor.

The beginning of the end was when Google declared that Google Chrome would begin to block Flash by default on any page you visit on the web. This declaration is also probably the reason you're here.

Once 2021 hits, you won't be able to run Flash in Google Chrome at all. Until then, however, you can re-enable Flash by going through Chrome's Settings menu.

Here's how to do it in two ways, using the official Google Chrome app for Mac and PC.

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How to enable Flash in Google Chrome

There are two ways to enable Flash in Google Chrome. You can enable it once for a single site, or set Google Chrome to automatically ask you if you want to run Flash.

To allow Flash for a single website:

1. Go to the website that you want to use.

2. When you see the "Plugin Blocked" icon pop up at the right side of your search bar, click the lock button on the left side.

3. In the pop-up window that appears, you'll see an option labeled "Site settings." Click it.

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If the "Flash" option appears in this menu — it won't always — you can also change the Flash setting from here.
William Antonelli/Business Insider

4. In the menu that appears, scroll down until you find "Flash" with a drop-down menu next to it. Click the drop down and change "Block (default)" to "Allow."

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Change the Flash option to "Allow."
William Antonelli/Business Insider

Return to the page where Flash was blocked and refresh. It should now allow you to run Flash.

Google Chrome doesn't allow you to always run Flash by default anymore, as a way of protecting your computer from viruses that run through Flash. 

However, you can set Chrome to automatically ask you whether you want to run Flash whenever you encounter a page that has it. Here's how to do that.

To make Google Chrome ask you to use Flash:

1. Go to the page you want to use that runs Flash.

2. Click the plugin blocked icon at the right side of your search bar.

3. In the pop-up window, click "Manage." This will take you to the Flash section of Chrome's settings.

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Click "Manage" to go to your Flash settings.
MS Paint Adventures/William Antonelli/Business Insider

4. There's a switch at the top labeled "Block sites from running Flash (recommended)." Toggle the switch to the on position to change it to "Ask first."

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Change "Block sites from running Flash" to "Ask First."
William Antonelli/Business Insider

Sites that use Flash will now automatically ask to run the software, until the end of 2020. 

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