This app is just for you, though, so you’re free to name it what you like.įind an icon you’d like to use for your Chrome app. Replace APP NAME and DESCRIPTION in the new document with your app’s name and a short description. Paste the text below into a new document if your text editor allows rich text, make sure you’re in Plain Text mode. Open a text editor, like TextEdit on Mac or Text.app for Chrome. Only the assets for the app will go in the folder, so make sure each Chrome app you make gets its own folder. How It Works Step 1Ĭreate a folder for your new Chrome app shortcut. Here's how I made my 1Password vault shortcut in Chrome, and even if you don’t use 1Password, this tip can work for just about any web app. Because Chrome will open app shortcuts as standalone windows, my Chrome OS version of the Mac app will look just about the same and function pretty similarly to the original, too. Instead, I can create a web app shortcut to my 1Password vault in Dropbox. 1Password is available on just about any device, but because the 1Password Chrome extension requires the accompanying Mac or Windows app, it doesn’t work on Chrome OS. Relying so completely on an app makes it difficult to shift to an unsupported operating system.

I use 1Password, the password manager powerhouse, to manage just about everything, from the eponymous passwords to credit cards and secure notes. You may be wondering why I don’t just use bookmarks, but they're simply not always the best way to get to my web apps. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create Chrome app shortcuts on your own, and how to use them to streamline your workflow. That doesn't have to be a problem, though. The only problem is, not every web app has an app in the Web Store. There, I use web apps for much more of my work, and it's the most convenient to launch web apps that have apps from the Chrome Web Store. While I’ve got just about everything I want as native apps on my home Mac, things get more complicated on my Windows and Chrome OS netbooks.

Chrome app for mac