How to Stop the Shelf from Hiding on a Chromebook

What you need: A Chromebook that you have signed in to, with its built-in touchpad. The shelf, the row of small pictures of apps, is hidden and slides up from the bottom of the screen only when you move the pointer there.

Steps

1. Move the pointer to the very bottom edge of the screen and keep it there until the shelf slides up.
2. Move the pointer onto an empty part of the shelf, not on any picture, such as the space just to the right of the last picture. Press the touchpad with two fingers together, then lift them. A menu opens.
3. Click Always show shelf.

Expected result: The shelf stays visible when you move the pointer away from it.