What Is Gopher for Chrome/Premium?
What Information can Be Updated
Bulk Disabling/Re-Enabling Devices
What is Gopher for Chrome/Premium?
Gopher for Chrome is your Chromebook management and utilization tool. It allows you to bulk update status and metadata for devices from within a Google Sheet. You’re also able to get device usage reports, Chrome OS reports, and AUE reports for your Chromebook fleet.
Gopher for Chrome Premium gives you all of the features listed above plus the Gopher Buddy Extension. This a force-installed extension on your user profiles that gives you more detailed usage activity such as user, timestamp of when their session started, how long the session lasted, the Public and Private IP addresses of the device at the time the device is being used, and the OS version.
Prerequisites
There are a couple of settings in the Admin console that will need to be checked for Gopher for Chrome to work successfully.
API access: API access will need to be enabled for Gopher for Chrome to pull information about your Google Resources. Follow these steps in our Help Center to check and assign Trusted access to Gopher for Chrome on your domain.
Drive SDK: To run reports, a local cache file will be created and stored in your Google Drive, so you will need to permit the Add-on to use the Drive API. This setting can be found in Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Features and Applications under the Drive SDK section.
Session data: Gopher for Chrome uses the Admin console’s data to report the Chromebook metadata in a readable format. The most recent user metadata is captured on logout on the Chromebooks. This data is only retrievable if you are allowing local user data to remain on the device. To check this setting, go to Devices > Chrome > Settings > Devices then click the User Data section.
Allow Listing the Add-on
If you are blocking Marketplace apps, you will have to update your setting to at least allow the apps that are on the allow list. You can change this setting under Apps > Google Workspace Marketplace apps > Settings > Manage access to app. See this article for further information.
Setting up Delegated Users
Non-Super Admins can use Gopher for Chrome if they have the appropriate Admin Role assigned to them. Check out this article to learn how to set them up.
Installing Add-on
Once on the allow list, you can open up a new sheet and install Gopher for Chrome by going to Extensions > Add-ons > Get Add-ons. Once the Google Workspace Marketplace window launches, search for Gopher for Chrome, then select Install.
Installing Gopher Buddy (Premium License Req.)
Gopher Buddy comes with a Gopher for Chrome Premium License. It is a force-installed extension that gets applied to your user profiles. While your users are using your managed Chromebooks the extension will gather device usage information such as:
- Email address
- Date/time session started
- Session Duration
- Public and Private IP addresses
- Chrome OS Version
This information is made available on the device tab of your Gopher for Chrome Sheet, as well as in the individual user and individual device reports. To install the extension, follow these steps.
How to Load Devices to Sheets
You can load devices into the sheet in a couple of different ways. You can load from the Admin console or the device cache, and taper the pull by device state, OU, and enrollment date. You can also load using a List of IDs, where you can pull in a list of devices based on a serial number or asset tag. Data can also be loaded from the cache or via an existing CSV. If you are using Gopher Buddy, you have the option to include Gopher Buddy data when loading from Admin console and the Device Cache.
Data on the Devices/Device Cache Tab
Data loaded from the Admin console appears on the Devices tab. Data loaded from the Device Cache appears on the Device Cache tab. All of the columns on these tabs are filterable and sortable using the native Sheets filter and sort options. Please apply the sorts and filters using the filter icon next to each of the headers on row 2 of the sheet to avoid scrambling your data.
What Information Can Be Updated
Once the devices are loaded to the sheet, you’re able to update any of the values in columns D-H. To change the OU path, click on the drop-down arrow on any of the cells to pick the OU you are moving them to. You are able to copy and paste the paths here as well. You can also edit the user, location, Asset ID, and notes. Once the data is ready to go, click on the upload tab of the sidebar and then click the Update button.
Bulk Clearing User Profiles
You can clear user profiles from devices in bulk once your devices are loaded to the sheet. This can be used as a troubleshooting step but will be most useful during the summer rollover. If the device is on, the action will take place immediately. If the device is off, the action will execute the next time the device is turned on.
Bulk Disabling/Re-Enabling Devices
You can bulk disable or re-enable your devices from the upload tab of the sidebar. You will be using the sheets filters to choose which devices to action.
Bulk Deprovisioning Devices
Bulk deprovisioning can also be done from the upload tab of the sidebar. Please be very careful when using this option, as there is no undo button in this tool. We strongly recommend loading the devices to the sheet via a List of IDs to avoid deprovisioning any unintended devices. You will be able to choose the reason for deprovisioning in the stepper. The only option that retains your license when deprovisioning is the same model replacement. Here are the steps we recommend when deprovisioning your devices.
Built-in Reports
There are several built-in reports in Gopher for Chrome. They can be accessed from the Reports tab of the sidebar, and each report will create a new tab in the spreadsheet. For more details about each report, check out the Reports Section in our Help Desk.
Single User report: A 60 day or 100 session (whichever comes first) lookup of every device that the user has used.
Single Device report: A 60 day or 100 session (whichever comes first) lookup of every user that has used that device
Org Unit: A daily utilization report for the specified OU.
Aggregate: Chrome OS, AUE, and device utilization reports for all of the OUs.
Looker Studio Reports
We do have a Looker Studio connector built-in to allow you to transform your reports in Sheets to dashboards, graphs, and charts using Google Looker Studio. To learn more about setting that up, check out this article.
Support
The best way to reach support is to enter a support ticket through the Help Center. Here's the direct Submit a ticket link, which is available at the top of every Help Center page. You can also connect with our support team by emailing support@amplifiedit.cdw.com.
If you want to obtain a support contract or have questions, reach out to a Google Customer Support Specialist.
Learn more about the various ways we can help your team.
| Document Version | Date | Description of Change |
| 1.0 | 6/20/2024 | Updated marketplace image |
| 1.1 | 8/14/2024 | Title change |
| 1.2 | 8/16/2024 | Added content block for email |
| 1.3 | 8/19/2024 | From Andrea, yeah mark them as done so they get off that screen - she's overhauling in a few months |