Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Enable Google Profile name and icon with Chrome Profile Management

This is no longer an experimental feature and is now enabled by default, so the information listed below no longer applies.

Chrome has a feature called:  Chrome Profile Management which allows you to setup multiple users of Chrome on the same computer.  Google has introduced an experimental feature which changes the way new users are managed.  It also will display your avatar and name from your Google account; assuming you have logged in.

Information about this Experimental Chrome Profile Management feature can be found on Google Plus.

Since this is an experimental feature, the functions available are under development and may be different depending on which version of Chrome you are running.  If the feature is discontinued or migrated as a regular feature I will update this post.

I am running the latest normal version of chrome (not beta):  34.0.1847.137

To activate, go to chrome://flags and enable: 

Enable new profile management system
Enable Google profile name and icon

Chrome Flag Default Settings

After you enable, the Relaunch Now button will appear, press it to relaunch Chrome and activate the changes. 

Relaunch Now Button appears to apply changes

When Chrome relaunches, assuming you are logged into your Google Account you will see your avatar at the top left corner of the screen.  You're done.

Chrome Flag showing changes enabled