How to hide the extension icon (jigsaw) in Google Chrome

[Karlston]

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:

1. Close Google Chrome.
2. 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.
3. 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
4. Select OK to save the new target string.
5. 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.

 

 

How to hide the extension icon (jigsaw) in Google Chrome