Either way, all you've gotta do next is right-click on the icon to pin it to your shelf (a.k.a. Alternatively, you can just open any web page you want, click the three-dot menu icon in Chrome's upper-right corner, and then select the 'Save shortcut' option in the menu that appears. That'll give you a spiffy icon for it in your Chrome OS app drawer. We'll tackle the simple option first - because it really is incredibly simple: If the app you want is something that's readily available in the Chrome Web Store, such as Gmail, just install it onto your system from there. Either route you go will make your Chrome OS experience feel more complete, more personal, and like more of a proper replacement for whatever desktop environment you're leaving behind. There are actually a couple good options for doing just that - one super simple and the other slightly more complex but with tons of control and room for customization. Sure, Chromebooks can run Android apps and even now Linux apps, in some circumstances, but what if you just want to run something like Slack, in its desktop form? Or what if you want a handy icon to open Gmail or Google Docs and have them look like native apps instead of just regular ol' web tabs? One common challenge is the software's absence of apps - or at least apps in the most basic sense. Google's Chrome OS operating system is getting more interesting with every passing month as of late - but figuring out how to optimize a Chromebook for your workflow isn't always obvious, especially if you're used to a more traditional desktop platform.

How to make a google chrome extension