Unofficial personal tool

SpareRoom Scout

A small Chrome extension that finds ads from your saved search and helps write personal messages. Nothing is ever sent without your say-so.

Before you download: send the person who shared this page the email address for the Google Account you use in Chrome. Scout only works with a Google Account.

Download for Chrome Version 0.11.1

For Google Chrome on a computer — not a phone, Edge or Safari.

Install in five steps

Chrome makes this look a little technical, but you only need to do it once.

  1. Unzip it somewhere permanent

    Mac: double-click the zip.
    Windows: right-click it and choose Extract All…

    Move the resulting spareroom-scout folder somewhere it can stay, such as Documents. Chrome needs it to remain there.

  2. chrome://ext

    Open the extensions page

    Type chrome://extensions into Chrome’s address bar and press Enter.

  3. Turn on Developer mode

    Use the switch in the top-right corner. Three new buttons will appear.

  4. Load unpacked, then choose the folder

    Click Load unpacked, choose the spareroom-scout folder from step 1, then click Select.

    It may look empty in the folder chooser; that is normal.

  5. Pin it and open it

    Click Chrome’s puzzle-piece icon, then the pin beside SpareRoom Scout. Click the Scout icon to open it; the app will guide you from there.

Installation help

“Manifest file is missing or unreadable”

You chose the folder around the extension. Go one level deeper and pick the inner spareroom-scout folder — the one that has files in it, not just another folder.

Chrome keeps asking to “Disable developer mode extensions”

Click Cancel, not Disable. Chrome shows this each time it starts, and after every update, because this did not come from the Web Store. Nothing is wrong.

Chrome says the file “isn’t commonly downloaded”

Open the downloads bubble, click the arrow or ⋮ next to the file and choose Keep. “Uncommon” is not the same as “harmful” — it means few people have downloaded this exact file, which is true.

“This Google account isn’t on the friends list yet”

Scout only works for people who have been added to its list, and it will not start until yours is one of them. The login screen names the exact address to pass on: ask whoever sent you this link to add it, then press Check again.

Updating to a new version

Download and unzip the new version. Replace your old spareroom-scout folder with the new one, keeping it in the same place with the same name. Open chrome://extensions and press the circular reload button on the SpareRoom Scout card. Your ads, drafts and settings will stay. Do not press Remove, which deletes them.