> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.reclaimtime.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Deploying the browser extension by policy

> The ReclaimTime extension gives more reliable website detection and blocking. On a managed fleet it is deployed by policy, and the client supplies the other half.

The client can detect websites on its own, and that is how most fleets run today. The **ReclaimTime browser extension** makes website detection more reliable, because the browser reports the address directly.

<Info>The extension is optional. Tracking works without it. What it improves is the accuracy of website detection, and the reliability of blocking where a plan is in use.</Info>

## Why policy, and not "ask people to install it"

The ReclaimTime client **never** offers the extension to the person using the machine. That is deliberate and built in, not a setting: the offer is disabled in the enterprise build outright, on the reasoning that employees cannot install extensions themselves anyway, so a prompt would only nag. There is no configuration that turns it back on.

So on a managed fleet the extension arrives by policy or it does not arrive at all.

## The two halves

Both have to be in place. Deploying one without the other is the usual reason this appears not to work.

| Half                       | What it is                                          | Who installs it                                              |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **The extension**          | Runs in the browser and reports the current address | You, by policy                                               |
| **The client's connector** | The local channel the extension talks to            | The ReclaimTime client, automatically, for each Windows user |

## Chrome

Force-install the extension with `ExtensionInstallForcelist`, either through the Chrome ADMX template or directly:

```
HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallForcelist
  1 = cijnapdipoibhbanfhkfdefgfobbiale;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx
```

The extension ID is **`cijnapdipoibhbanfhkfdefgfobbiale`**. Its listing is on the [Chrome Web Store](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/reclaimtime/cijnapdipoibhbanfhkfdefgfobbiale).

Force-installed extensions cannot be removed or disabled by the person using the browser, which is the behaviour you want here.

## Edge

Edge takes the same extension from the Chrome Web Store, using the same ID and the Chrome update URL:

```
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallForcelist
  1 = cijnapdipoibhbanfhkfdefgfobbiale;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx
```

<Warning>Confirm this one in your own environment before rolling it out widely. Edge installing from the Chrome Web Store by policy is supported, but it interacts with your other Edge extension policies, and a tenant that restricts extension sources can block it. Test on one machine and check the extension actually loads.</Warning>

## If the extension installs but nothing improves

The client sets up its side separately for each Windows user, when it runs as them. A browser that has been deployed to the machine but never opened by that user may not be ready for it yet.

<Warning>The symptom is specific and easy to misread: **the extension installs correctly, shows in the browser, and still nothing improves.** Have the user open the browser once, then let the ReclaimTime client run. If that does not fix it, contact us and we will send your IT team the checks to run.</Warning>

## Checking it worked

On one machine, in order:

1. The extension appears in the browser's extensions page, marked as installed by policy.
2. Website activity for that machine starts showing site addresses in the dashboard.

Step two is the one that proves both halves are talking. The first can look right while the connection is still missing.

## Firefox

A Firefox build of the extension exists. Firefox uses its own policy mechanism, `policies.json` or the Firefox ADMX, rather than the keys above. Ask us for the current Firefox extension ID before deploying it, since it is not the Chrome one.

## What this does not change

* It does not change what is recorded. The fields are the same either way. See [Data collected and not collected](/it/data-collected).
* It does not send browsing anywhere new. The extension talks to the local client only, over a local channel.
* It does not require the extension to be present for tracking to work.

## Related tasks

* [Troubleshooting](/guides/troubleshooting)

***

*Checked against ReclaimTime client 8.0.0.9 and dashboard V3 on 8 September 2026.*