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There are gazillions of tutorials on how to convert a bookmarklet (or any javascript) to a Chrome extension, but I need the vise versa procedure. I have some extensions, which I would like to have as bookmarklets. The idea behind this: I don't want these extensions as they constantly eat away my RAM. Instead, I want simply press a button and run a bookmarklet, if I need it.

An example is this extension, which simply toggles javascript on/off in the browser. This extension contains only one javascript file (not including icons, manifest.json, and signature file _metadata/verified_contents.json).

I tried to use this javascript as a bookmarklet, but doing so doesn't conduce me to success - javascript wasn't toggled. It seems, that I'm missing something substantial, but I don't know what. Could somebody point me to the right procedure of conversion Chrome extensions to bookmarklets?

Ahmad
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Evgeniy
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1 Answers1

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Conversion to a bookmarklet is impossible for extensions that use privileged chrome API available only for Chrome apps and extensions, in this case chrome.contentSettings.javascript.set.

The root cause - memory hogging by an extension - can be resolved by switching from a persistent background page to an event page that is unloaded when an extension is not used.

You may nag the author of that extension to do so.
Unfortunately, most of the extension authors appear to be unaware.

Another possibility is to edit the extension's manifest.json manually by adding "persistent": false as shown in the event page docs (don't forget the comma), then load it locally. Some extensions will fail since switching to an event page may require reworking of code.

wOxxOm
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  • The mentioned extension is a kind of access to the setting of Chrome, which are available in chrome://settings. Do you see any possibility to access/change these settings from other GUI place, as chrome://settings? – Evgeniy Jul 28 '16 at 13:38
  • wow, adding of `"persistent": false` makes miracle! Some seconds after doing its job the extension clears itself from RAM out. I'll edit some of my extensions on this way and load them locally. – Evgeniy Jul 28 '16 at 15:32
  • :) just got such fail:) `The 'webRequest' API cannot be used with event pages` – Evgeniy Jul 28 '16 at 15:40