Where apps hide your files

Finding Chrome's extension folders

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Chrome stores each extension under its profile folder, named by a 32-letter ID rather than by name. This post shows the path and how to tell which folder is which.

The folder

Chrome unpacks every installed extension into the profile it belongs to:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions/<extension-id>/<version>/

Default is your first Chrome profile. Each further profile has its own folder, named Profile 1, Profile 2 and so on (numbers are not reused, so gaps are normal), with its own Extensions folder inside. Chrome does not share extension files between profiles, so the same extension installed in two profiles is stored twice.

An extension's ID is a 32-letter code made of the letters a to p, for example efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj (Adobe's Acrobat extension). Inside that folder is a version folder such as 26.10.1.0_0 (the version, an underscore and a counter), and inside that sit the extension's own files: manifest.json, _locales, scripts and images.

Open it

In Finder press ⇧⌘G and paste the path, or in Terminal:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions

To see every profile's folder at once:

ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/*/Extensions

Which folder is which extension

The folders are named by ID, not by name, so they look meaningless. Two ways to match them up.

1. In Chrome, go to chrome://extensions and switch on Developer mode (top right). Each extension card then shows its ID. Match it to the folder name.
2. Open the version folder and look at manifest.json. The name field is often a placeholder such as __MSG_appName__, which points to a translation in _locales/en/messages.json. That is why the manifest alone does not always give a readable name.

The Chrome Web Store address also contains the ID: the long code at the end of an extension's store URL is the same string as the folder name.

What else belongs to an extension

The Extensions folder holds the code. An extension's saved data is elsewhere in the same profile folder:

Folder in the profile	Holds
Extensions	The unpacked extension code, by ID and version
Local Extension Settings	Data the extension saved on this computer, one folder per ID
Sync Extension Settings	Data stored through Chrome sync, one folder per ID
Managed Extension Settings	Settings pushed by an administrator, if any
Extension State, Extension Rules, Extension Scripts, Extension Cookies	Chrome's own bookkeeping and per-extension storage

Local Extension Settings is where a password manager's, note taker's or ad blocker's saved data lives. Deleting an extension's folder there wipes its local data, so leave it unless you mean to.

One level up, in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/, sits extensions_crx_cache, which holds .crx packages Chrome downloaded. It is a cache, not the installed copy. Preferences and Secure Preferences in each profile record which extensions are installed and enabled. These are private settings files, so do not edit or share them.

Installing, removing and moving

Do not copy files into Extensions to install something. Chrome loads only the extensions recorded in its own preferences, ignores folders it did not install, and may clear them out. To remove an extension, use chrome://extensions and press Remove, which cleans up the code and its data. Deleting the ID folder by hand, even with Chrome closed, can leave stale entries, and Chrome may treat the extension as damaged and fetch it again.

If you develop an extension, turn on Developer mode and use Load unpacked to load a folder from anywhere on disk. In that case the extension is not copied into Extensions; Chrome reads it from the folder you chose, so do not delete or move that folder.

Moving to a new Mac

Sign in to Chrome and turn on sync. Your extensions are reinstalled from the Web Store, which is simpler than copying folders. An extension loaded unpacked or installed from outside the store is not carried by sync, so copy its source folder yourself. What syncs follows your choices under Settings > You and Google > Sync and Google services, so check there on the old Mac first.

Space

Extension folders are small: most are a few megabytes, and larger ones such as Adobe's Acrobat extension run to about 20 MB. See which ones are biggest with:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/*/Extensions/* | sort -h | tail

Old version folders are replaced when an extension updates, so there is little to prune. If one extension is huge, remove it from chrome://extensions rather than from Finder.

Other Chromium browsers

Edge, Brave and Vivaldi use the same layout of profile folder, Extensions, ID, then version, under their own folder in Application Support instead of Google/Chrome. Arc puts its profiles one level deeper, in Arc/User Data. Find the right folder by browser name with ls ~/Library/Application\ Support.

Why Spotlight could not find it

Everything above is under ~/Library, which Spotlight leaves out of its results, and the folder names are random IDs.

Searching by extension ID

Copy an extension's ID from chrome://extensions and paste it into Everywhere: it lists that extension's folders in every profile, plus its Local Extension Settings data and, for Web Store installs, the same extension in other Chromium browsers, and ⌘↵ opens the one you pick in Finder. It matches names, not contents, so typing an extension's display name finds nothing unless that name happens to appear in a file name.

Common questions

Where are Chrome extensions stored on a Mac?

In ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/<profile>/Extensions/<extension-id>/<version>/. The first profile is called Default.

How do I find which extension a folder ID belongs to?

Turn on Developer mode at chrome://extensions to see each extension's ID, or look at the ID at the end of its Chrome Web Store address, and match it to the folder name.

Can I install an extension by copying it into the Extensions folder?

No. Chrome checks its protected preferences and will ignore or disable extensions it did not install itself. Use the Web Store or Load unpacked in developer mode.

Where does an extension keep the data it saves?

In Local Extension Settings and Sync Extension Settings, folders next to Extensions inside the same profile folder, with one subfolder per extension ID.