How to hide the extension icon (jigsaw) in Google Chrome
An extension icon that looks like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle is displayed when you have at least one extension installed in Google Chrome. Google added the icon to the Chrome browser as an experiment initially but has now made it a permanent addition to Chrome.
Designed to improve the manageability of browser extensions, it is handy to hide and show individual extension icons, and to access other extension related functions such as opening the preferences of the add-on or removing it from Chrome.
While that is useful at times, it can also be of little use to others, especially if all extension icons are displayed on the main toolbar already.
Up until now, you could hide the extension icon of Chrome on the chrome://flags page. Google removed the option to do so however, and there is no option currently available in Chrome to hide the extension icon if you don't need it or want to use the space for something else.
Our Ask VG colleagues found a way to hide the extension icon in recent versions of Chrome. It requires running Chrome with a parameter. Here is what you need to do if you run Windows:
- Close Google Chrome.
- Locate the Chrome icon on the taskbar, Start Menu or desktop.
- Right-click on the icon on the desktop and select properties, or
- Right-click on the icon on the taskbar or Start Menu, and right-click again on the Chrome name when the menu opens, and then on properties.
- Add the following string to the end of the target field (without the quotation marks but with the space character): " --disable-features=ExtensionsToolbarMenu".
- The line should look like this afterwards: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --disable-features=ExtensionsToolbarMenu
- Select OK to save the new target string.
- Start Google Chrome. The extension icon should no longer be displayed.
You can restore the icon at any time by deleting the parameter again from the target field again.
I have tested the parameter in recent stable versions of Chrome and it works fine. Google might remove it at anytime though, but it is the only option currently to hide the extension icon in the browser.
Now You: Anything that you would like removed from the Google Chrome toolbar, or added to it?
>Designed to improve the manageability of browser extensions
Rather annoy users by removing icons again and again and make add-ons less discoverable. They first forced all add-ons to have icons, even useless one, to prevent add-ons to be hidden from user and now they hide icons by themselves.
I find the jigsaw handy. If you click the jigsaw and then Manage Extensions (bottom), you can update all extensions with one click.
Nice Fix! Thanks.
I only use Chrome at work for a couple critical tools that don’t work as well in other browsers. I’d like to see native options in the UI (like Firefox ESR) to customize the toolbar so it only has what I want on it. Otherwise I have no use for this “jigsaw” icon as well as the profile one, they just clutter up the toolbar! :(
How to hide the double arrows on FF that show the overflow menu. Such an annoyance.
Sick of these useless changes to the UI. How long until this flag is removed?
Is there a way to do this on a mac
I wouldn’t disable one of the best things added to chrome. It’s awesome and it reduces clutter. I also use brave and it’s nice they value the good stuff and have kept it too.
chrome://flags > Extensions Toolbar Menu > Disabled
11/28/2020 The flag is still there.
“Extensions Toolbar Menu
Enable a separate toolbar button and menu for extensions – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS”
11/28/2020 The flag is still there.
“Extensions Toolbar Menu
Enable a separate toolbar button and menu for extensions – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS”
btw, There are extensions with no launch or options that the jigsaw indicates can’t (or shouldn’t) be displayed on the toolbar.
God, I wish they would stop fucking around like this. All my extensions are hidden and I have the shitty jigsaw button showing now and now the flag is gone. Fucking google, stop fucking Chrome up!
This is my favourite Chrome Extension!
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-draft/nmfjkeiebceinkbggliapgfdjphocpdh?utm_source=marketing
Won’t work without admin permission, got another idea?
I hate it being there because it now gives me access to remove the Stayfocused extension I used to block distracting websites. It was working just fine for years and I set it up so once I blocked certain sites, I couldn’t undo it until time was up. But with that puzzle piece there, a loophole has been opened that sucks during times of weakness.
Quick update:
“–disable-features=ExtensionsToolbarMenu” is no longer working/deprecated since Chromium 91.x and there is currently no working method to hide this button. It also stopped working in Brave for me.
More info:
https://old.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/nlrfu3/chrome_910447277_on_windows_no_longer_allowing_me/
This fix is not working in Chrome 95.0.4638.69. My address+extensions toolbar is busy and I urgently need to recover the space taken up by this redundant puzzle-piece icon.
Another similar redundant, space-consuming icon that I wish to banish is ‘show side panel’.