Use page actions to put icons inside the address bar. Page actions represent actions that can be taken on the current page, but that aren't applicable to all pages. Some examples:

• Subscribe to this page's RSS feed
• Make a slideshow out of this page's photos

The RSS icon in the following screenshot represents a page action that lets you subscribe to the RSS feed for the current page.

If you want the extension's icon to always be visible, use a browser action instead.

Note: Packaged apps cannot use page actions.

Manifest

Register your page action in the extension manifest like this:

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "page_action": {
    "default_icon": "icons/foo.png", // optional
    "default_title": "Do action",    // optional; shown in tooltip
    "default_popup": "popup.html"    // optional
  },
  ...
}

Parts of the UI

Like browser actions, page actions can have an icon, a tooltip, and popup; they can't have badges, however. In addition, page actions can appear and disappear. You can find information about icons, tooltips, and popups by reading about the browser action UI.

You make a page action appear and disappear using the show() and hide() methods, respectively. By default, a page action is hidden. When you show it, you specify the tab in which the icon should appear. The icon remains visible until the tab is closed or starts displaying a different URL (because the user clicks a link, for example).

Tips

For the best visual impact, follow these guidelines:

• Do use page actions for features that make sense for only a few pages.
• Don't use page actions for features that make sense for most pages. Use browser actions instead.
• Don't constantly animate your icon. That's just annoying.

Examples

You can find simple examples of using page actions in the examples/api/pageAction directory. For other examples and for help in viewing the source code, see Samples.