Chrome Web Store is a central repository where all approved extensions and themes are available. It is like the Google Android App Play store. This repository lists all available apps, extensions, and themes. You can also apply filters based on Categories and Features.
You can also search using the Search the store available on the left-hand side top corner. The front page also shows good extensions and themes as per categories like Extensions Starter Kit, Personalize Chrome, Writing Essentials, etc.
Some of the categories are,
- Accessibility
- Blogging
- By Google
- Developer Tools
- Fun
Let’s cover each section in detail.
Extensions
Extensions are small software or plugins built on web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS that extend or add functionality to the Chrome browser. There are a lot of useful extensions available e.g. Awesome Screenshot, Google IME, Grammarly, Boomerang, and more on the Chrome store.
This is a really nice feature provided by the browser e.g. below extensions add features that are not available to core Chrome.
- Awesome Screenshot – allows you to Screencast, record screen as video, Screen capture for a full page, annotate, blur sensitive info, and share.
- Google IME – Input Tools lets you type in the language of your choice(regional).
- Grammarly – Enhance your written communication, and provide on-the-fly suggestions.
- Boomerang – The ultimate email productivity tool – Send/Schedule email, track responses, and help to write better emails.
You easily add and remove extensions in the chrome browser.
Add Extensions
Open the web store and search for the required extension in the search box given on the left-hand side e.g. Awesome Screenshot. The result screen displays all the matching extensions.
Click on Add to Chrome button on the result page to add an extension to the Chrome browser.
This opens a popup to get your confirmation and shows what an extension can do and the permission it has on the data as shown below e.g Awesome Screenshot can “Read and change all your data on the websites you visit. Capture content of your screen“.
Click on the Add Extension button. You get a confirmation pop-up saying the extension is added to your chrome browser.
The extension adds a small icon on the upper-right-hand side-address bar. It is the launcher for the extension. This extension becomes available on chrome across devices/computers if sync is turned on.
Remove Extensions
Open the Chrome browser and right-click on the extension icon. This opens a popup with a different option.
- Options – This opens the settings window for the extension.
- Remove from Chrome – Click to remove it.
- Hide in Chrome menu – Click to hide it. This does not remove it but just hides it from the Chrome menu.
- Manage extension – It opens a window to manage the extension. It shows detailed information of the extension like description, size, permission, version. It also provides a control button to hide, disable/enable it.
Select Remove from chrome…
Click the Remove button on the confirmation pop-up and you are done. The respective extension will get removed from the Chrome browser.
Extensions offer good features but these consume more system memory (RAM) and slow down your computer. We advise you not to install too many or keep them disabled as explained in the manage section above.
Would you like to design your own? Just click on this link to learn it.
Below are some of the articles on Google’s site to deep dive further.
Themes
Google Chrome browser supports themes that allow you to personalize the default look and feel of the browser as per your preference.
The default appearance of the chrome browser is plain, clean, and easy on the eyes. Some of you may not like it and want to change the default Chrome theme. You may prefer a dark theme, background with an image, different font, etc.
So let’s see how to add and remove themes in the Chrome Browser.
Add Theme
Go to the Chrome store and click on the Themes link on the right-hand side toolbar. This displays all the available themes on the left-hand side. Search the required theme using the search box or just select the themes category on the right-hand side.
Select Material Incognito Dark Theme or any other theme you like.
This opens a page that displays detailed information about the theme. Here you will find the overview, additional description, version, size, reviews, support, etc
Just Click Add to Chrome button on the upper right-hand side corner to add the selected theme to the chrome browser.
There is no need to restart the browser as it takes effect immediately.
Remove Theme
If you are not happy or want to try some other theme, you can simply search and add a new theme using the procedure mentioned above or remove it using the below method. You can’t have more than one theme installed at the same time.
If you want to go to default mode by removing the currently active theme, follow this procedure.
Open Google Chrome. Navigate to Tools –> Setting -> Appearance . This shows the currently active theme. Just click on Reset to default button to remove the chrome theme.
This should change the appearance of the chrome browser to the default one.
There are a lot of themes available in the Chrome Store and those are free and safe. Unlike Extensions, they don’t contain JavaScript or HTML code. Go ahead, search, and install the theme as per your preference.
Summary
The Chrome Web Store is a browser-based marketplace for web apps, extensions, and themes. It’s an ever-evolving marketplace that offers new apps and extensions every day. There are also many websites that offer reviews of these products, but not all of them are trustworthy or up-to-date with the latest offerings.
This article provided you with all the information you need in order to be able to find quality software in this store. We took a look at what types of software there are available on the store, how to find them, how much they cost, and how to install them properly on your computer.