Deploying & Updating Safari Extensions For Safari 9+

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Extension

I’ve blogged a few times about how to not only create, but also deploy & update “Safari Extensions”.

With the release of Safari 9 Apple have stopped all automated deployment methods, & I’m partly to blame.

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Updating Safari Extensions

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Extension

As blogged here, here & here I’ve had some fun deploying & creating Safari Extensions.

Recently I needed to update our deployed Extension Bar & like a daft person I didn’t follow Apple’s advised Extension update method..

However, past me was not that daft & had already discovered that all that is needed to “update” an existing Extension is to replace it. Which is pretty much what the below script does.

Many thanks to Peter Bukowinski & Erik Berglund for helping me with this in the #bash channel in the macadmins Slack.

See below for the script

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Deploying & Installing Safari Extensions on Safari 6.1+ & 7.2+

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As mentioned previously, we deploy a custom Safari Toolbar with links to various sites to our Macs.

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With the release of Safari 6.2 & 7.1 Apple has changed the method to install extensions, once a Mac has been updated to Safari 6.2 or 7.1 the user is prompted to “migrate” their extensions.This change breaks the previously posted method to install extensions, as the installed extensions list is now in the users Keychain (!?).

Below is how to install extensions via Self Service, which in testing works for all Safari versions & allows the user to reinstall if they recreate their login.keychain.

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How To Create A Custom Safari Extension Bar

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Almost 2 years ago, I posted how to deploy a custom Safari Toolbar. But until now I have not posted on how to make the Toolbar (READ: Extension Bar) until now.

The reason for the delay was due to me not really being literate with the technology used to create an Extension Bar, 2 years on & i’m still not!

We use the Extension Bar to deploy links to company websites & resources. As it seems most web based products we have only support Safari on a Mac, we’ve found this is a good way to drive people to use Safari to access these sites, even  if they use other browsers for general browsing.

I hope the below helps you to create your own.

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Deploying & Installing Safari Toolbars

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NOTE: With Safari 6.1x & 7.2x the method to deploy Safari extensions has changed, please see the new method here.

I was asked sometime ago to deploy my companies bookmarks to Safari on all our managed Macs.

I went through a lot of pain trying to add a folder to the Bookmarks bar with my companies website & preserve the users bookmarks. But, Benjamin Bailey on the Mac Enterprise list mentioned Safari Extensions.. & I soon had a branded toolbar to deploy!
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Enabling Extensions in Safari 5.x & 6.x

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The below should enable Extensions in Safari 5.x & 6.x.

defaults write com.apple.Safari ExtensionsEnabled -bool YES