There’s an additional Chrome setting you can toggle that allows you to view a website’s certificate more easily, instead of going to the Inspector > Security > View Certificate panels.
By default, if you click on a certificate in the address bar, it looks like this;
There’s no way to click through to the certificate. That “learn more” link takes you to a Google webpage explaining browser security, but nothing to see that certificate.
Note (2026): the steps below were needed in 2017, but you can skip them now. The flag was made the default in Chrome 63 and the chrome://flags/#show-cert-link flag no longer exists. In any current Chrome, click the icon in front of the address (the old padlock), then Connection is secure → Certificate is valid to open the certificate dialog. The rest of this post is kept for historical context.
To enable that, do;
- Open a new tab and go to chrome://flags/#show-cert-link
- Enable that setting
Now, restart your Chrome.
Next time you click on the Certificate in the address bar, it looks like this.
The new “Certificate” link is added, which if you click it, opens the certificate dialog box immediately.
Much easier!