Rollback a published Chrome Web Store item

Chrome Web Store to the previous version.

This page describes how to rollback an extension or theme ("item") to its previous version. Use this if you've released an extension update with bugs and want to rollback to the earlier version immediately.

How does a rollback work?

The Chrome Web Store rollback feature lets you switch back to the previous published version. A rollback requires a new version number under which the previous version of your extension will be re-published. For example, if the current version of your extension is 1.1 and the previous version was 1.0, you can rollback to the 1.0 version by providing a new version 1.1.

A rollback reverts to the previous version under a new version name.

Once a rollback is initiated, the previous version becomes live on the Web Store within a minute. This step does not require any reviews. Once the previous version is live on the Web Store, the normal extension update cycle applies. To update your extension after a successful rollback, publish a new version as you normally would.

You can perform multiple rollbacks in a row. However, a rollback always switches back to the previously published version. For example, after a rollback from version 1.1 to 1.0 (using new version 1.2), a subsequent roll back will switch back to version 1.1 (as a new version 1.3). This means, subsequent rollbacks will cycle between the same two versions of your extension.

Subsequent rollbacks cycle between the same two versions.

Rollback during a percentage rollout

Performing a rollback during a percentage rollout will discard the partially rolled out version and will rollback to the previous published version that was set to deploy to 100%. For example, if your extension with version 1.2 is rolled out at 1% and the previous version 1.1 is rolled out at 50%, triggering a rollback will revert to the version 1.0 (if it was deployed at 100%) and thereby revert and abort all ongoing percentage based rollouts.

Rollback with pending submissions

Any pending submissions will be discarded after a rollback. This includes staged submissions and pending review submissions. For example, if your extension has version 1.2 pending review, version 1.1 published, and version 1.0 published before 1.1, then you could roll back from 1.1 to 1.0. After doing that, the pending submission with 1.2 will be discarded, and you'd need to resubmit 1.2 in order to publish it.

Ensure backward compatibility before triggering a rollback

A rollback has the potential to break your extension, or cause data loss. If you want to benefit from the ability to quickly roll back to a previous version of your extension, make changes in a way that leaves the data needed by earlier versions intact. In particular, avoid making breaking changes to any stored data required by the previous version of your extension. Always test the rollback locally, before triggering it in the Developer Dashboard.

Trigger a rollback

There are two ways to trigger a rollback.

1. You can trigger a rollback by clicking ⋮ View more menu options:

2. A rollback can also be triggered on the Build > package page of your extension by clicking Roll back to previous version:

A rollback requires a new version number under which the previous version of your extension will be re-published and a reason for the rollback. Fill in the required information and confirm the roll back:

Then, select Roll back and wait for the "Rolled back successfully" notification to show up.

Verify the rollback was successful

There are different ways to verify if a rollback has been performed successfully:

1. Build > Package in the Developer Dashboard should list the previous version of your extension under with the new version number.

Check the latest version on the Build > package page.

2. Build > Status in the Developer Dashboard will show a message describing

3. Item details page in the Web Store will list the new version after several minutes.