I'm using Chrome v51 (.0.2704.103, 64-bit) on OSX.
There are two Hangouts extensions in Chrome Web Store, produced by Google.
One, the "desktop app", which collects all conversations into a single window which can be moved around as a unit, and is subject to normal window management:
An another, I think preferred by the Chrome/Google developers, where each conversation is in a separate "window", as is the list of conversations. Each of these is a "fly up", and they normally reside, minimized, at the bottom of the primary monitor:
I have both extensions installed, but I have the second one, with the conversations in separate non-standard "flyup" windows disabled, because I find them painful from a window-management and workflow perspective.
The problem I'm encountering is launching the "desktop application" app. The "flyup" extension adds a button to the Chrome toolbar to the right of the address (URL) field:
But so far as I can tell, the only way to launch the first version of the extension is to set it to "launch on startup" (which is unreliable, and interacts weirdly with Chrome crashes), or go Settings>Extensions>Google Hangouts (desktop)>Details>Launch App (from the Chrome Web Store):
Is there another way to launch this app manually, on demand, from the browser itself? How can I add a button for it to my Chrome toolbar?
Notes:
I can't just launch it from Launchpad or pin it in the Dock, because I run Chrome as two different personas (work and home), and when I launch Hangouts like it's a normal OSX app, I can't control which profile it picks up. I sometimes want to run two versions of the app (one to talk to colleagues, the other to friends).
I have uninstalled and reinstalled the app several times, ditto for Chrome itself, and I have restarted both the browser and the OS. No joy.
How can I launch this app quickly and easily on-demand from Chrome?
chrome-extension://<ID>/<path>
, so it might be possible to use a bookmark or bookmarklet. According to the information on the extensions page, the ID for the Hangouts "desktop" app isknipolnnllmklapflnccelgolnpehhpl
, so I tried the obviouschrome-extension://knipolnnllmklapflnccelgolnpehhpl/
but no joy: this site cannot be reached.chrome
object needs to be defined via some import, but not being a web dev, I'm kinda stuck at this point. Can anyone assist?