Category: Browser Extension

Migrate Chrome Extensions to Manifest V3

Tim 1 Comment

Google has released a timeline for the upgrade to manifest V3, which will force all extensions to be converted to V3 by January 2023. This is frustrating for many developers like me who have several extensions that I rarely update but will require significant changes to move to V3. I have to decide whether to migrate them or let them be deactivated.

This frustration made me realize this could be a massive opportunity for anyone who does migrate their extension to v3, and the five other clones are deactivated because the developers forget to migrate them. Over the next couple of months, I plan to find potential extensions that have not been upgraded in years and have high user counts. There could be several opportunities to build a new version in v3 that users will be forced to migrate to when the old extensions are shut down. I was able to do this with my URL Shortener Extension when Google shut down their shortener service.

What extensions do you use daily that have not been updated in years?

 

How to Pin Chrome Extensions in the Toolbar

Tim 1 Comment

To pin an extension to the Chrome toolbar, click the extension icon on the toolbar and click the “Pin” icon next to the extension.

A couple of years ago, Google Chrome redesigned the way it shows extensions in the toolbar. By default, now extensions have to be “pinned” before they will show in the toolbar. In this video below, we will teach you how to pin a chrome extension to the toolbar.

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Adding New Permissions To Chrome Extension

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Wanted to share a quick tip to save you a lot of frustration if you are a Chrome extension developer. Never add a new permission to an existing extension that has “warnings” especially if you have a decent amount of users. If you do, your extension will be disabled for all users. They can reenable but you may lose some users that never reenable the extension. Here is a list of permissions that will disable your extension when updating.

This can be avoided by making the new feature optional and adding new permission updates to optional_permissions in your manifest file. Read More

Chrome Hiding Extension Icons By Default

Tim 5 Comments

Back in June 2019, Google Chrome started hiding extension icons by default when users first install a new extension. This can be very frustrating as a developer that users may not know how to “Pin” the extension to their toolbar. In my case, my Weather Extension, Link Shortener Extension, and Bitcoin Extension are all toolbar extensions that need to be pinned for easy access.

Instead of allowing extension icons to appear one after another to the right of the search box, the Chrome Extensions Platform team is trying out a design change that hides the graphical buttons in a menu accessed by a puzzle piece icon. Personally, I believe this is causing a lot of confusion and needs to be changed. If the extension has a click action, it needs to be pinned by default. This would allow the user to immediately see the extension and try it. Then they can always unpin it later. To me it’s strange to install something then it disappear into the menu. Read More