Google Chrome is one of our favorite web browsers for Windows. One of the reasons we like it is that it updates automatically in the background. You won’t receive any annoying notifications about updates or pop-ups asking you to restart your browser. Everything happens quietly and as expected.
The same behavior also applies to Google Chrome extensions. There are tons of Chrome extensions that add functionality to your browser, giving you another reason to use Google Chrome. You have great extensions to improve Gmail, save YouTube videos, and even block cricket and other web topics you don’t like.
Mozilla Firefox also does most of the functionality, but there’s one big difference. Chrome extensions simply update themselves in the background, unlike many add-ons in Mozilla Firefox, which require you to restart the browser to manually apply the latest updates.
As with most things in life, automatic updates for extensions don’t always work. Recently, one of our favorite YouTube Google Chrome extensions – Streamus – stopped working. An update to YouTube code causes Streamus to crash. It turns out that the developer has discovered and fixed the problem and released an updated version of Streamus, but the latest update is awaiting review by Google.
Even after the extension was approved, for some reason the automatic updates didn’t start. Chrome updates extensions on its own schedule, and if an extension is broken, you don’t want to wait for the update process to begin. Thankfully, there is a solution for this situation.
Here’s how to manually update Google Chrome extensions:
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Open Google Chrome on your computer.
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Enter in the address bar chrome://extension. Alternatively, you can go to the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) in the upper right corner > set up. Click now Expand on the left sidebar.
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At the top of the extension page, check Developer mode. This is the one next to the big one Expand The text is at the top.
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Click Update extension now below Developer mode.
This will use Chrome’s Extension Updater process to manually update all extensions to the latest versions available. However, you can also manually update individual extensions by downloading them directly from the developer’s website. Please follow these steps:
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Download the expansion file from the developer website (should end in .CRX). When you try to download it, Chrome will warn you that such files can be used to harm your computer. Click Keep continue.
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Open the extension page and enable developer mode in Chrome as described above. Click the trash can icon on the right and then click eliminate.
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Find the .CRX file you downloaded and drag and drop it into the extension page.
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You will be asked to confirm the installation. Click Add to. Just like that, the new version will be installed.
This process can also be used to add third-party extensions to Chrome, but we generally recommend against using third-party extensions that are not verified by the Chrome App Store as they can be used to spy on your entire internet usage and otherwise harm your computer.
For more tutorials, visit our how-to section.
