Chrome and Edge Manifest V3 extensions

As Google will deprecate Manifest V2 extensions , this might impact your existing automations that use the current Manifest V2 extensions for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers. We have published Manifest V3 extensions with the Automation 360 v.26 release to help you start switching to Manifest V3 extensions.

Manifest V2 based deprecation

A manifest is a specification that is used to build browser extensions. As Google is deprecating Manifest V2 based extensions, we recommend that you update to Manifest V3 based extensions, which provides an enhanced security, privacy, and performance.

Impact to our customers: Automations that use Google Chrome Manifest V2 based extensions will stop working sometime after June 2023. The deprecation timelines of Manifest V2 based extensions are currently under review and subject to change by Google.

For Google Chrome Manifest V2 extensions timelines, see Manifest V2 support timeline.
For Microsoft Edge Manifest V2 extensions timelines, see Overview and timelines for migrating to Manifest V3.

Post the given date, you must switch to Manifest V3 extensions for your automations to work. You can choose to use the enterprise group policy for both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge to continue to use Manifest V2 based extensions. For more information on Manifest extensions support and timelines, see, Manifest V3 transition timeline.

Automation 360 features that use browser extensions

The following Automation 360 features use the Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser extension for web applications running on Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge:

Bot Agent device registration with the Control Room (uses Chrome extension only)
Automation of web applications through Universal Recorder or Browser package
User interface based triggers
Packages that use window titles, for example, OCR and Mouse Click

Plan the switch to Manifest V3 extensions

Note: Manifest V3 extension is supported on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers version 91 and later only.

Automation 360 customers:

We have published new Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Manifest V3 extensions with the Automation 360 v.26 release. We will also continue to support Manifest V2 extensions until June 2023 to provide you time to switch to Manifest V3 extensions before Jan 2024 for Google Chrome. To know about Microsoft Edge Manifest V2 extensions timelines, see Overview and timelines for migrating to Manifest V3.

You have the following options to switch to Manifest V3 extensions:

New customers: Users starting with Automation 360 v.26 will directly use Manifest V3 extensions. You will not be impacted by the deprecation of Manifest V2 extensions.
Cloud customers: Our Cloud deployments is updated to Automation 360 v.26 in October, and customers can switch to Manifest V3 extensions when they update their Bot Agent.
On-Premises customers:
- Updating to v.26: Customers updating from an earlier version to Automation 360 v.26 will switch to Manifest V3 extensions when they update their Bot Agent.
- v.25: We have provided a Control Room patch with Automation 360 v.25. After installing the patch, the V2 extensions is switched to Manifest V3 extensions when you update the Bot Agent.
- v.24, v.23, and v.22: For customers on Automation 360 v.24 or earlier, we strongly recommend that you update to Automation 360 v.26 or later releases. If you choose not to update, we will provide a set of steps to perform on all Bot Agent and Bot Runner devices to switch to Manifest V3 extensions. See Manifest extension manual upgrade.
- v.21 and earlier: We strongly recommend that you update to the latest version of Automation 360.
  Note: You can choose to delay switching to MV3 extensions by using a Chrome group policy that extends support for Manifest V2 extensions until Jan 2024 for Google Chrome, see Manifest V3 transition timeline. To know about Microsoft Edge Manifest V2 extensions timelines, see Overview and timelines for migrating to Manifest V3.

Customers migrating to Automation 360

We recommend that you migrate to Automation 360 v.26, which uses Manifest V3 extensions by default. If you are migrating to Automation 360 v.25, install the Control Room patch, that we released in October.

Enterprise 11 customers

For details, see Enterprise 11: Deprecation of Basic authentication and MV2 extensions.

Extend Manifest V2 extensions usage through group policy

You can choose to use the enterprise group policy for both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge to continue to use Manifest V2 extensions till Jan 2024.

For information about Manifest V2 extension timelines for Google Chrome, see Manifest V3 transition timeline. For Microsoft Edge, see Overview and timelines for migrating to Manifest V3.

You can extend the Manifest V2 deprecation only using the group policy. This extension provides you adequate time to plan upgrading to Manifest V3 extensions. You can use any extension group policy to extend the use of Manifest V2 extensions.

To update the policy, perform these steps:

Copy the following entries to a .txt file and save the file as a .reg file.

Chrome:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallForcelist]
"ExtensionSettings"="{\"kammdlphdfejlopponbapgpbgakimokm\":{\"installation_mode\": \"normal_installed\",\"update_url\": \"http://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx\"}}"

Edge:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallForcelist]
"ExtensionSettings"="{\"dbmodiepejcigljbmeebedkmegndokbk\":{\"installation_mode\": \"normal_installed\",\"update_url\": \"https://edge.microsoft.com/extensionwebstorebase/v1/crx\"}}"

Run the .reg file.
Restart the browser for the changes to take effect.