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Problem

I can't find a way to publish a "private" google sheets addon and share it to testers with the new G Suite Marketplace process as it used to be possible with the Chrome Web Store publication.

Description

I used to publish google sheets addons "privately" (with no verification) via the Chrome Web Store. The process was to publish the addon selecting "Private" as Visibility and then checking "Only Trusted Testers from current publisher settings" adding those users to the list of allowed testers.

Since now new addons can be published only via G Suite Marketplace, I can't find a way to replicate the publishing method described above.

The only possibilities I see are two and none work in my case:

The first is to publish the addon publicly and select "unlisted". This method requires a verification process that I don't need since I just what to share the addon with a handful of users. The second is to publish it privately, but this is only possible if the users are within the same organization. This will also not work since I want to share it with testers outside the organization.

I've been also considering publishing the addon with the testers accounts but linking it to a script owned by myself but I assume this won't be possible.

Question

Is there a way to replicate the "Private" publishing to testers of the Chrome Web Store (or any way to selected users not necessarily belonging to the same organization) with the new G Suite Marketplace?

Rafa Guillermo
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res_cogitans
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1 Answers1

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Answer:

Unfortunately your assertion is correct and this isn't possible.

More Information:

Since G Suite add-ons now get published via the G Suite Marketplace rather than the Chrome Web Store, they now have to go through the G Suite Marketplace publication process. According to the documentation for the G Suite Marketplace:

You can publish your add-on publicly, so that any user can find and install it. You can also publish add-ons privately, for users in a specific domain only. If you are a G Suite domain administrator, you can install published add-ons—whether public or private—for your domain users.

So the only available methods of publishing are either for a G Suite domain, or public.

References:

Nimantha
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Rafa Guillermo
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  • Thanks for the answer. What do you think about the workaround I've mentioned, so publishing the addon as private via the account of one of the testers but linking the project to a script I own. Do think this would be possible? – res_cogitans Mar 23 '20 at 14:44
  • Honestly, I'm not sure if that's possible, I would have to test it. I think there would still be issue with having to go through the verification process of the add-on given it would be published just on another domain, just as it would if you published it as unlisted. – Rafa Guillermo Mar 23 '20 at 14:50
  • I'll test it and update this post, nonetheless I don't think private addons will have to go thought the review process as from the documentation you linked hence it might be faster. Obviosuly this assumes the tester will be one, even if this process works I'd have to create a copy of the addon for each tester which would be a mess. – res_cogitans Mar 23 '20 at 15:07
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    @res_cogitans Private (GSuite domain) add-ons do not have to undergo a review process. However, private add-ons are only accessible to users within that GSuite Domain. Users outside that domain will not be able to install it. Also, once an add-on is deployed as private you cannot switch it to public, so be mindful of that as well. – TheAddonDepot Mar 23 '20 at 17:46
  • @TheAddonDepot thanks for your answer. Would it be possible to create an addon with an account (for instance the account of a tester) and use a Project Script ID beloning to myself? – res_cogitans Mar 23 '20 at 20:19