Publish an add-on privately

Question

I am trying to publish a test add-on with the option Private, because there is nothing new in this add-on, and would not be accepted by Google if I published it with Public.

The add-on contains a sidebar, a custom menu and a custom function. It works well on its Google Sheet.

In Chrome Web Store, I have added 2 gmails to Edit your tester accounts: under Your developer account. I also created a google group with these 2 gmails.

By following this thread, I did Publish ==> Deploy as Sheets web add-on..., then uploaded different icon and images in Chrome Web Store, paid 5 dollars, left most of boxes blank, then published it with the option Private and chose the created google group.

However, when I open a new Google Sheet with either of these two mails, I cannot find the add-on in Add-ons. By Add-ons ==> Get add-ons..., I cannot find the add-on either.

So does anyone know where this add-on is supposed to appear? Is it because this add-on is under review by Google that it is not available yet.

I am quite surprised to see such a basic publishing is not unclear. Is it because few people publish an add-on with Private?

Answer 1

In your web store dashboard, you should see the link to the add-on. Get the URL for this link and give the URL to the accounts you have created that should have permission. Those accounts need to install the add-on, and then should be able to use it.

I think you can also list your add-on as unlisted and not be required to go through the entire approval process. This makes it a little easier to share your add-ons with specific users.