Not able to publish google chrome extension to store

[Talha Masood]

We developed a chrome extension for our startup, not considering that google has disallowed uploading chrome extensions for windows and mac users.

On the day of launch, we distributed some .crx files to our alpha users and all of them got disabled. 

Obviously they did not come from chrome store.

My question is, can I get some special access from google owing to my situation? I have tried to find some contact of their support department, but it seems they don't have any (or maybe I am not able to find one).

Is there a way around to this situation? I really need this thing published.

[Jerry Krinock]

> On 2017 Jun 21, at 09:17, Talha Masood <masood...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Is there a way around to this situation? I really need this thing published.

I think you have two very good alternatives:

a) Distribute a your extension as a .zip, and instruct your alpha users to unzip, enter Developer Mode and then Load Unpacked Extension. They only need do this once. On subsequent launches, Chrome will remember and re-load your unpacked extension. At least it works that way for me on macOS.

b) [Recommended] Pay 5 USD to get a Chrome Web Store account and submit your extension. When I first submitted my extensions a couple years ago when the “store only” restriction was imposed, both extensions were approved immediately by the automated process and went live within a few minutes. Even if it takes longer now, the sooner you get into the queue, the sooner you get published :)