We have an application published in G Suite marketplace and it has suddenly disappeared.
We guess the problem is related with the migration from Chrome webstore, but we have updated the manifest following the steps in the documentation and the application is still not listed in any of them. However, we cannot find the app by url in G Suite marketplace but we can find it by url in Chrome webstore, what seems pretty strange.
Google Marketplace SDK is enabled and configured in Google Cloud Platform.
I read in the documentation that "Chrome Apps must use manifest version 2", so I don't know if we need to set this to version 1 for G Suite applications.
We are using the same manifest as the documentation, but including "GOOGLE_DRIVE" in the container:
{
"manifest_version": 2,
"name": "Welcome Aboard",
"version": "0.0.0.1",
"description": "a plain text description",
"icons": {
"128": "icons/128x128-icon.png",
"16": "icons/16x16-icon.png"
},
"container": ["DOMAIN_INSTALLABLE","GOOGLE_DRIVE"],
"api_console_project_id": "428464274542",
"app" : {
"launch" : {
"web_url" : "http://www.example.com/morepath/"
}
}
}
Are we missing something?
Thank you in advance!
The problem is solved. We guess the manifest was old and needed to be reuploaded, after that it's just a matter of time because Google needs to validate it.
Anyway we created a support ticket for Google and they didn't mention anything about that. In fact they didn't clarify what was the problem. Maybe they have accelerated the validation process after we contacted them.
JV: Adding link to Google Support Thread
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/71747494
From Chrome Apps to the Web
Update on December 5, 2017:
Chrome Apps will be removed from Chrome Web Store search & browse
functions in mid-December 2017. Existing apps will continue to work
and receive updates. The Chrome browser will continue to load
packaged and hosted apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux beyond the
previously announced deprecation timeline. Another update will be
posted here when a new date for the Chrome Apps EOL on Windows, Mac,
and Linux has been finalized.
Related
I am working on a Chrome extension running on Chrome OS.
The extension needs the enterprise.hardwarePlatform permission to be able to get hardware information about the device.
The question is: How can I test my extension?
After installing the extension manually, the API to get the hardware information will not work as it needs the extension to be forced-installed by the enterprise policy.
But how to force-install the extension if it is not published in the Chrome Web Store?
Google Workspace seems to allow to refer only to published extensions in the enterprise policy. But obviously I do not want to publish the extension under development. Also I didn't find a "Web Store for development" where I could upload the extension and then refer to it from the policy.
So how to do this?
I found this question:
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/thread/107510644/how-do-i-develop-a-chrome-extension-with-enterprise-permissions?hl=en-gb
However, did not find the answer in any of the provided links. All information seem to point to publishing on Chrome Web Store first. But then would it be impossible to manually test a feature like this before publishing?
Thank you for your answers in advance.
I've been really getting frustrated with this, so am hoping someone has come across something similar and might be able to give some good advice to how I can proceed.
I developed a Google Chrome Add-In that is a bookmark tool for our company. When installed the user has the latest links (in interactive drop-down menus), for our company. It has already been published on the Chrome store to internal users only, with about 6 major updates already done.
Backend:
-HTML & CSS -No JS or anything complicated, a very simple add-in
Problem:
- I recently updated and added a few new bookmark links to the html file and some small design changes as well.
- I uploaded the latest packaged version in the developer dashboard and tried to Publish it.
- Every time I try to publish it goes into a "Pending" state. I am used to this, however, it is going for what I believe is a manual review (takes about 3-7 days each publish), and gets rejected with this statement:
Your item did not comply with the following section of our Program Policies:
"Spam and Placement in the Store"
Items should work and provide some functionality upon installation.
Items should provide the promised functionality that aligns with the description of the item.
Please review your item and make necessary changes so that it provides the function/service included in >the item’s description.
It's been rejected 3 times now. The first time I went through my code and made sure it was clean. Second and third times I've been adding to the description in the store and alternating the description in the manifest. As well this last time I went through the manifest again to make sure it is compliant, and it looks to be so. It's odd for me though because the description has never been an issue before, so not sure why I am being flagged.
Has anyone come across this and have any suggestions to make this pass? I am so scared to publish again as they suspend accounts that re-publish to often.
P.S. Contacted Google many times but have not heard back (not surprised)
Just in Case, store page listing information:
Name: CompanyName My Department's Bookmarks
Short name: Not specified in manifest
Manifest Description: Navigate throughout "departmentnames" core sites and have access to the Latest > News Spotlight.
Detailed Description: The "department" Bookmarks tool is a Google Chrome extension which has the "department" experience in one central area.
Why have the extension?
The "department" Bookmark tool saves you time and effort! Don't spend your time hunting for information any longer!
Key Components: - The entire "department" experience in one central area. - Latest news Spotlight: View and submit the latest "department" news for your fellow colleagues to see.
Description lists all the content within.
Manifest:
{
"manifest_version": 2,
"name": "Company My Dept Bookmarks",
"version": "1.81",
"description": "Navigate throughout Dept core sites and have access to the > Latest News Spotlight.",
"icons": { "default_icon": "icon.png" },
"browser_action": {
"default_icon": {
"icon": "icon.png"
},
"default_title": "Dept Bookmarks",
"default_popup": "popup.html"
},
"content_security_policy": "script-src 'self' https://ajax.googleapis.com; object-src 'self'"
}```
I've had a similar experience with a corporate-only chrome extension, though for slightly different reasons. The extension required elevated permissions and interacts heavily with the UI's of the web apps the employees use.
I'll share a few tips that we used to get the extension approved, though it always undergoes a review that takes about 5 business days to be approved.
Since the extension is only for corporate employees, it's "unlisted" in the chrome store. Using a Group Policy, we download the extension from the Chrome store and install it on employee's machines.
We added screenshots containing our company logo and text that explains the extension is intended only for employees of our company and is not for use by the general public.
In our manifest we explain what the extension does and reiterate that it is intended only for employees of our company and not for public use.
Those items seemed to satisfy Google for our scenario. That said, there are alternative distribution methods you could explore. Details are here: https://developer.chrome.com/apps/external_extensions
Best of luck!
Posting an answer to my problem because I did manage to get it back up in the Chrome Store!
Before publishing this latest update I did some cleaning of the files in my package and removed my "icon.png", which was referenced in the manifest file. I didn't think of this as being an issue because when posting to the Chrome store you are required to upload the icon separately. But this was cause the issue! I put it back in and it loaded in fine (something so small creating it to not work!).
I hope this answer can help anyone else having a similar issue, check all your files in your package to ensure they are present if they are noted in your manifest.
i've published a new chrome extension to the google chrome's web store, to my company account.
we already have few extensions there.
the extension's upload was completed successfully
and its status is "published"
uploaded it 3 days ago
in addition, I examined the manifest multiple times, and seems like I have all the relevant properties set there.
BUT, I can't see my extension available in the Web Store, nor find it in the search
any idea on what could be the problem ?
Make sure that your app is published as public to be visible to everyone. I think it usually takes a week for the app to be visible. You can also reach out to the Chrome team through their support page.
We have created a Chrome Extension that is a companion to web sites that we host for our customers. These web sites are hosted under our domain name and interact with the extension using external messaging and relying on the sites being configured in the manifest similar to the following (abcdefg.com is a ficticious domain name):
"externally_connectable": {
"matches": [ "http://*.abcdefg.com/*", "https://*.abcdefg.com/*"]
}
This works great in these cases. However, we have a subset of customers that prefer to host the website themselves under their own domain. The problem is that we do not want to update the extension manifest for the published extension to include all of these sites.
Is there any option of distributing a version of the extension (on Windows) where the "externally_connectable" site list can be set upon installation?
Thanks to kzahel for highlighting the obstacles I was facing and thanks to wOxxOm for providing a solution that will work.
Rather than trying to find a way to override the "externally_connectable" matches configuration upon installation, we found the easiest alternative was to avoid external messaging and use messaging via a content script instead.
The following is a copy of the solution posted above by wOxxOm:
chrome extension - alternative to externally_connectable?
Unfortunately there's no way to do this. You'll need to create a custom extension for every customer with their own domain name. Luckily, there is an API for updating the extension, so you would be able to at least update multiple extensions without too much difficulty. However, the 20 extension limit per account would be a little annoying. I think you can get more extension allowed per account by creating a publishing group and assigning the extensions there.
You could if you are willing to have customers install this in developer mode. That would bypass the 20-extension limit.
I developed a chrome extension Hyperbook saver that works with Google Drive to save images and texts. How do I enable "Works with Google drive" feature for it.
I couldn't find any flag in developer Dashboard or manifest.json file. Please help.
In your Chrome extension manifest, you just need to make sure you have:
"container": "GOOGLE_DRIVE",
"api_console_project_id": "your developer console project number here",
See this manifest as an example: https://github.com/googledrive/zipextractor/blob/master/cws/zipextractor/manifest.json