For administrators who manage Chrome policies from the Google Admin console.
As a Chrome Enterprise admin, you can pin the latest version of a Chrome app or extension to control when they are updated to a newer version.
Before you begin
- To make settings for a specific group of users or enrolled Chrome browsers, put the user accounts or browsers in a group or organizational unit. Only user accounts can be added to groups. For details, see Groups and Add an organizational unit.
- Only for Chrome apps and extensions that are force-installed for Users & browsers or Managed guest sessions. For details, see Automatically install apps and extensions.
- There is a limit of 500 for the total number of apps times the number of groups.
- If the Chrome app or extension is published to the Chrome Web Store, version pinning might not be supported and you will see an error message. The following conditions prevent version pinning:
- Visibility is set to Unlisted.
- Visibility is set to private for Trusted Testers.
- Requires payment to install.
Pin Chrome Web Store apps and extensions
You can only pin the latest version from Chrome Web Store or a version that is currently available in an organization unit.
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Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
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In the Admin console, go to Menu
Devices
Chrome
If you signed up for Chrome Browser Cloud Management, go to Menu
Chrome browser
- Click the type of app or extension you want to pin to a specific version:
- Users & browsers—For ChromeOS devices with version 89 or later
- Managed guest sessions—For ChromeOS devices with version 98 or later
- (Users only) To apply the setting to a group, do the following:
- Select Groups.
- Select the group to which you want to apply the setting.
- (Optional) To apply the setting to a department or team, at the side, select an organizational unit. Show me how
- Find the app you want to pin.
- Under Version pinning, choose the version that you want to pin.
For apps and extensions that you’re pinning for the first time, you can only pin to the latest version available. For apps and extensions that you’ve already pinned, you can continue pinning to the version that’s currently pinned. Or, if a newer version is available, you can pin to the latest version.
Note: To prevent apps or extensions from being pinned to a specific version, select Not pinned. - Click OK to confirm.
Pin self-hosted apps and extensions
-
Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
-
In the Admin console, go to Menu
If you signed up for Chrome Browser Cloud Management, go to Menu
- Click the type of app or extension you want to pin to a specific version:
- Users & browsers—For ChromeOS devices with version 89 or later
- Managed guest sessions—For ChromeOS devices with version 98 or later
- (Users only) To apply the setting to a group, do the following:
- Select Groups.
- Select the group to which you want to apply the setting.
- (Optional) To apply the setting to a department or team, at the side, select an organizational unit. Show me how
- Find and click the row of the app that you want to pin. A side panel opens where you can see additional details and configure policies.
- Go to Deployment settings.
- For Installation URL, enter the app or extension’s custom URL that you used when you added the Chrome app or extension. Make sure that the URL you enter starts with https://, not http://.
- For Update URL, choose an option:
- Installation URL (see above)—Always use the installation URL (manifest file) for version and installation.
- UpdatecheckURL provided in the extension manifest—Use the URL that’s specified in the app or extension's manifest for updates.
- Click Save.
Additional information
- If you forget to unpin versions, apps and extensions can fall behind on critical security and compatibility updates and miss out on new features.
- Apps or extensions that are outdated have an information icon letting you know that a newer version is available.
- If an older version of an extension is force installed, ChromeOS devices do the following;
- Install the older version if the extension was not previously force installed on the device.
- Rollback to that older version for ephemeral users sessions, managed guest sessions, or extensions on the login screen.
- Do not rollback for non-ephemeral user sessions; the newer extension is kept.