You can share ownership of your items in Google Chrome Web Store with other developers by setting up
a
group publisher
. This page explains how group publishers work and how to set one up.
About group publishers
Use a group publisher to establish an entity that owns Chrome Web Store items, allowing multiple
developers to share ownership of a published item. Consider how this differs from the more basic
individual publisher role.
Individual publisher
When an individual developer acts as a publisher of an item, only that
developer can upload and publish updates to the item. The following diagram describes this scenario:
Group publisher
By setting up a
group publisher
, you use a Google Group to associate multiple
developers into a composite entity. Any Chrome Web Store developer who belongs to the group can
publish updates to the item, as depicted in the following diagram:
Be aware that all the member accounts in the group must have the same domain as
the account that created the group. Any accounts not in the same domain won't be
recognized as a member of the group publisher.
Group publishers provide a number of benefits for organizations and development teams:
- It's a convenient way for teams to share the publishing capability among all their members.
- It's easy to transfer ownership of items when a developer leaves the organization.
- It avoids unintended deletion of items that can happen when a developer leaves the org (because
their account gets deleted and that individual account was the item's publisher).
Before you set up group publishing
Keep these important notes in mind:
- A Chrome Web Store developer account can only create one group publisher,
ever
. You cannot replenish this quota, even if you delete the group.
Once the group publisher account is created, the Google Group you select
remains linked to that account. Only the group owner or manager (or the last
remaining group member) can delete the group publisher, unlinking the Google
Group from the Chrome Web Store.
You can be a
member
of any number of group publishers.
You cannot change which group is linked to the group publisher account.
You still retain your individual publisher account and can publish from either your group or
your individual account.
Create a group publisher
To create a group publisher, follow these steps:
If you have not already done so, create a private
Google Group
.
Make sure that the Google Group has mail turned on, as shown below:
Make sure that the Google Group, has "Message moderation" set to "No moderation" and "Spam message handling" set to "Post suspicious messages to the group" to ensure that CWS notifications will reach all members of the group.
Make sure that the Google Group doesn't allow anyone to join without being
validated. Use either "Invited users only" or "Anyone on the web can ask", as shown below:
Sign in to the
Chrome Web Store Developer Dashboard
and go to the
Account
tab.
Scroll down to the
Group publisher memberships
field:
Select the Google Group that you want to associate with the new group
publisher, then click
Create group publisher
.
These steps create a new group publisher account. The Google Group you selected is linked to this
new publisher account, and the group email is the new group publisher account's email.
Adding developers to or removing them from the group publisher
Your Developer Dashboard will show the new group publisher account and the linked Google Group. Use
Google Groups
to add or remove developers. After adding or removing a member to
your publishing group, you will need to manually sync the Developer Dashboard with your Google Group.
To sync the Developer Dashboard:
Sign in to the
Chrome Web Store Developer Dashboard
and select your group from the
Publisher
list. It's located at the top, right of the screen.
Go to the
Account
tab.
Scroll down to
Group publisher memberships
.
Click
Sync
.
For a group member to publish updates, that member must
register as a Chrome Web Store developer
and pay the one-time registration fee.
To maintain security over your items, we recommend that you manage your group carefully.
- Create a Google Group for exclusive use as the group publisher; don't use an existing group that
you also use for other purposes.
- Keep the group private using the "Only invited users" option.
- Minimize the number of members of the group.
Publishing using a group publisher
In the top right-hand corner of the
Chrome Web Store Developer
Dashboard
is a pull-down that contains the following
items:
- Your developer user name (your individual publisher)
- Any group publishers that you are a member of.
Select the publisher you want to use. This displays the items already uploaded for that publisher.
Any new items that you upload are associated with the selected publisher.
Move existing items to a group publisher account
Once you set up a group publisher (or once you're added as a member of a Google Group linked to a
group publisher), you can transfer your own items to the group publisher.
To transfer an item:
- In the
Developer Dashboard
, select the item tab in your individual publisher account.
- Open the item that you want to transfer.
- Scroll down to the
Store listing
field.
Click the "..." menu in the upper corner, then select
Transfer to group publisher
. The
following dialog appears:
Choose carefully (because this is a permanent change) the group publisher you want to transfer
the item to.
Click
Transfer
to confirm the transfer.
To verify that the item was transferred:
- Select the group publisher
you transferred the item to.
- Check that the item is listed there.
Group publishing troubleshooting
- If either your individual publishing account or the group publisher account is suspended, you won't be able to transfer items.
- If the group publisher account has reached its published
item limit
, you won't be able to transfer your published items to this group publisher.