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I want to change my Chrome theme from time to time. But whenever I download a theme in Chrome, it installs it and the downloaded file is missing from the destination.

I want to maintain a collection of the theme files (.crx) so that I will be able to alternate between them.

I am using Windows XP.

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4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

I have figured out this way that works. It seems that the file goes poof when you try to hoard themes. Once a theme is downloaded into the folder it is given a name like "asdsdfscsdfsdfsdfd". I copy that folder to another place on my computer and rename it.

Whenever you want to switch themes you can replace it into the original location. (There must be an easier way though)

The themes are located here(at least on my machine)(Win 7)

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions

I was unable to navigate to AppData and had to manually type the directory into the window.

I came across this. Which mentions the link for XP is

C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application\ Data\GoogleChromeApplication0.2.149.27Themes

Here the link to the page. (Maybe theres some info for a better way.)

Google Chrome Themes

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edited answer to include a semi solution? –  sealz Jul 14 '11 at 14:54
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This doesn't work on the main chrome theme site cause they have some weird re-direct thing going on but if you right-click on the link and click save-as, you should be able to save the .crx file itself rather than running it.

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For Windows 7, go to the file path mentioned before ==> C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions

Once in there, the hard part begins if you have a lot of apps. Open each folder and/or sub folder and just look for some image files. It is the easiest way to tell what app the folder is for because you will see some icon images or .png images.

I opened up a folder called "mgihmkgobaljfehcadcckdggpeojaadh" and a sub folder called "images" and right away saw my theme picture. Somewhere in that main folder ("mgihmkgobaljfehcadcckdggpeojaadh") for the app is a file called "manifest.json". Open it with notepad, but don't change anything in there. Look for "name": "(your theme name here)", (it is usually on line 4) and you will see the name of your theme! Mine was "name": "Into The Mist",

No need to copy the big long app code name and paste it into your browser.

Hope this helps!

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I am upvoting it because it gave some crucial info which even the right answer didn't give. Although I am still not able to find out my theme! :( –  Mohit Apr 2 '13 at 10:35
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Another piece of the puzzle: I edited the image c:\Users\denish\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\ipihgjdhjoldhpfpmiiimpnmohpfhkcm\1_0\images\theme_ntp_background.png but the theme still showed the original image until I deleted ...\1_0\Cached Theme.pak.

Also, you can bookmark themes' pages in the Chrome Web Store.

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