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This seems like it should be really easy to do, I just can't work out how.

Is there a way in Chrome to switch to themes that have previously been installed on the browser. Themes that have been installed through the Market Place.

If you install a theme through the Market Place, a file downloads, installs itself, then disappears. If you revisit that theme page, you're told it's already installed, even if you have installed a different theme in the intervening time.

I can find no interface within the latest version of Chrome (11, I think) that allows you to reselect that theme. Is there one?

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3
  • Far as I know, there isn't one yet.
    – Sathyajith Bhat ♦
    May 19, 2011 at 14:43
  • Nah; while you can have plenty of extensions installed, you can only have one theme at a time (even though themes are stored and handled the same way as extensions). Every time you install a theme, it wipes out and replaces your previous one.
    – Synetech
    May 23, 2011 at 20:21
  • 1
    ...still sucks like this...
    – samus
    Jul 21, 2017 at 14:11

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
5

There is not a way to install a previously-used theme from your own system. (Though I imagine a genius programmer can find a way to play with it.)

The Web Store should not be saying it is already installed - it only says that for currently installed extensions, not extensions that were installed at some time. Try refreshing the page. Then try removing cookies and / or temporary files, and then refreshing the page.

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  • 1
    I actually rebooted the machine for other reasons. But the affect was the same. Thanks for your help.
    – kim3er
    May 19, 2011 at 15:04
16

I ran into much of the same trouble trying to switch back to a previously-used theme in later versions of Google Chrome. I'm not usually one to plug an addon unless it really works for me. The only thing I found that worked is the Chrome extenstion Extensions Manager (aka Switcher).

It showed me the themes I had previously installed and allowed me to switch back to them. At very least it did a proper job of uninstalling the theme so that I could actually go back to the Chrome Web Store and re-download the one I wanted to use again.

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  • 5
    This is exactly what I needed to switch betwen installed themes. It's strange that chrome doesn't have this nativaly, or maybe it exists but we couldn't find easily.
    – Alisson Reinaldo Silva
    Sep 14, 2016 at 13:10
  • This should be the accepted answer as Extensions Manager is the simplest way to do this (amazingly enough). Due to the Chrome 69 re-design, I have had to install the Pro Grey theme just to make the non-selected tabs properly visible on Mac, and this tip was helpful.
    – RichVel
    Sep 7, 2018 at 5:35
3

1) Go to the previously downloaded theme on the extensions page (it shows as installed with a RATE IT button)

2) Click the share link. Share via GMAIL.

3) A compose window will open with a text message like this:

Check out "bloomind ct deepdark": https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bloomind-ct-deepdark/djolekdiiojehgfggcjckachfgkkdmjd?utm_source=gmail

4) Delete the folder in your google-chrome/Default directory named "djolekdiiojehgfggcjckachfgkkdmjd" (citing the example above).

5) Restart the broswer. You can now re-download the theme from the extensions page.

Kludgy, but it does work.

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0

Go to settings, reset to default theme. Afterwards you can reinstall any theme you previously installed.

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1
  • This doesn't work, I tried it on Chrome 69 and the previously installed theme can't be re-installed as the "Added to Chrome" button replaces the "Add to Chrome" one.
    – RichVel
    Sep 7, 2018 at 5:36
0

If you click on the "theme" section in the marketplace a window will pop up with a preview of what it will look like on your browser.

At the top of the window there is a little banner that says this item has been disabled in Chrome then there is a blue hyperlink that says "enable it." Click the link and you're in business.

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2
  • There is no such banner.
    – isherwood
    Mar 18, 2015 at 16:18
  • this suggestion worked for me in Chrome 49 on OS X
    – HairOfTheDog
    Apr 6, 2016 at 16:48

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