How do you launch a Chrome extension without going to the app store?

This update was a bit annoying. You can see it at chrome://apps/. For a quicker way to access it, you can:

You can now easily open the app.

enter image description here

As described in help page on how to Use the New Tab page, you can click the "Apps" button in the top left corner of the new tab page (#3 below).

New Tab Page

You can now go in to chrome://apps/ and right click the app. There you can create a short to the desktop

Related