PSA: Changes to downloads UI in upcoming Chrome release

[Oliver Dunk]

Hi all,

A new version of the downloads UI is currently being tested with 1% of users in stable, and the expectation is for it to roll out to all users on or after M112.

In particular, the downloads UI will be moving from a shelf at the bottom of the window to the right side of the omnibox (near the puzzle icon). As part of this, a new notification bubble will be shown with downloads that are currently in progress or have recently completed.

A new chrome.downloads.setUiOptions API is available if developers wish to hide the Chrome UI: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/downloads/#method-setUiOptions. This requires the downloads.ui permission which replaces the old downloads.shelf permission.

For developers already using the old chrome.downloads.setShelfEnabled API, you should migrate to the new API to keep your functionality when the old API is removed in a future Chrome version. For backwards compatibility, use something like this:

```
if (chrome.downloads.setUiOptions) {
  chrome.downloads.setUiOptions({ enabled: false });
} else {
  chrome.downloads.setShelfEnabled(false);
}
```

If you've not used the API before, but have download functionality in your extension which draws in the top right of the screen - you may wish to adopt this API to avoid overlapping UI.

You can test the new behavior by enabling the chrome://flags/#download-bubble and chrome://flags/#download-bubble-v2 flags in Chrome Canary.

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB