How to Use Kami on a Chromebook

What Is the Kami Extension, and Do You Actually Need It on a Chromebook?

Kami is a browser-based tool for annotating PDFs, Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets, used by students to mark up assignments and by teachers to give feedback. The Chrome extension is the fastest way to reach it: install it once and a Kami icon appears on every compatible page, including on a Chromebook, where it works exactly the same as it does on Windows or Mac.

You don't strictly need the extension to use Kami. You can also go straight to the Kami web app in a new tab. But on a Chromebook, where screen space is tighter and switching tabs is slower, the extension saves a step: it adds an 'Open with Kami' shortcut directly inside Docs, Slides, and Sheets instead of you copying links back and forth.

It's built for Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers, which is why it's the standard recommendation for Chromebook users rather than a separate Android or Linux app. A Chromebook doesn't need a special version; the same extension you'd install on a laptop is the one you want.

How to Install the Kami Extension on a Chromebook

Installing Kami takes under a minute: open its Chrome Web Store listing, click Add to Chrome, and confirm the permissions prompt. No separate account setup is needed just to add the icon to your browser.

1. Open Chrome on your Chromebook and go to the Kami for Google Chrome™ listing in the Chrome Web Store.
2. Click Add to Chrome in the top-right corner of the listing.
3. In the confirmation pop-up, click Add extension to accept the requested permissions.
4. Wait for the brief installation notice, then look for the Kami icon near your address bar.
5. Sign in with the Google account you use for school or work when prompted, so Kami can connect to your Drive and Classroom files.

If your Chromebook is managed by a school or company, Kami may already be pre-installed. Check chrome://extensions first before you try to add a second copy, since a managed install may sit there disabled rather than missing entirely.

How to Pin Kami So It's Always One Click Away

Pin Kami's icon so it's always visible instead of buried in the extensions menu. That matters more on a Chromebook, where the smaller screen makes hunting through a hidden menu list slower than on a full-size monitor.

1. Click the puzzle-piece Extensions icon in the Chrome toolbar.
2. Find Kami for Google Chrome™ in the dropdown list.
3. Click the pin icon next to its name.
4. Confirm the Kami icon now sits permanently next to the address bar, outside the extensions menu.

Once pinned, clicking the icon opens a drop-down menu that jumps straight into the Kami app or any tool in the Kami product suite, so you're not retyping a URL every time you need to annotate something on a shared or personal Chromebook.

How the 'Open with Kami' Button Works in Docs, Slides, and Sheets

After installing, a small Kami icon appears in the upper-right corner of every Google Doc, Slide, and Sheet you open. Clicking it sends that file straight into Kami without you downloading it first or hunting for it again in Drive.

This is the main reason to use the extension over the standalone web app on a Chromebook. It removes the export-download-reupload cycle that used to be the only way to annotate a Google Doc outside of Google's own editing tools.

For PDFs specifically, you can drag a file straight into the Kami app, or open it from Drive and choose Kami from the 'Open with' menu once the extension has registered as an option there.

How Kami Connects to Google Classroom (Class View and Publish Changes)

For teachers, the extension unlocks two Classroom-specific features: Class View, which shows every student's progress on an assignment at once, and Publish Changes, which pushes edits to a Kami-based assignment out to the whole class without recreating it.

Students don't need to do anything extra for this to work. Once a teacher assigns a Kami document through Classroom, opening it triggers the same 'Open with Kami' flow described above, whether the student is on a Chromebook, a laptop, or another device with the Kami extension installed.

If Class View or Publish Changes don't appear, the most common cause is a mismatched Google Workspace domain. The extension needs to be installed under the same school account that owns the Classroom, not a personal Gmail login.

Class View

A teacher-facing dashboard showing every student's annotation progress on a shared assignment.

Publish Changes

A button that pushes edits made to a Kami assignment template out to every student who already has a copy.

Open with Kami

The button inside Docs, Slides, and Sheets that sends the current file into the Kami annotation view.

Annotating PDFs and Assignments on a Chromebook With Kami

Kami's own materials describe more than 40 tools and features inside the annotation view, covering everything from marking up a PDF to leaving feedback on a slide deck. On a Chromebook, all of that runs in the browser tab; there's no separate app window to manage or switch between.

Because a Chromebook doesn't run desktop PDF software, Kami and tools like it are the practical way to mark up a scanned worksheet or assignment PDF without moving to a different device or emailing a file back and forth.

For the exact list of current annotation tools, check the Kami Chrome extension install guide. Kami updates the feature set periodically, so treat an older screenshot or tutorial video as a rough guide rather than the current menu layout.

Troubleshooting: Kami Missing, Grayed Out, or Blocked on a School Chromebook

If the Kami icon won't install or shows grayed out, the Chromebook is almost always managed by a school or district admin who controls which extensions are allowed. That's a different problem than a personal-account glitch, and it needs a different fix.

Start by opening chrome://extensions and checking whether Kami is listed but disabled, missing entirely, or shown as 'installed by your administrator,' in which case you can't remove or reinstall it yourself even if it looks broken.

1. Go to chrome://extensions in the address bar.
2. Toggle Developer mode off if it's on; some school policies block extensions when it's enabled.
3. Look for Kami in the list; if it shows an 'Enable' toggle turned off, switch it on.
4. If Kami doesn't appear at all and the toggle is grayed out, the extension is blocked at the device policy level.
5. Contact your school's IT admin or Google Workspace administrator to request it be added to the approved extensions list.

Students on a personal, non-managed Chromebook won't hit this wall. If the icon disappears there, it's more likely a browser sync issue or an accidental removal, which reinstalling from the Chrome Web Store usually fixes in seconds.

Kami on a School-Managed Chromebook vs. Your Own

On a managed Chromebook, an admin can pre-install Kami for every student, force updates, and remove it centrally. You won't see an 'Add to Chrome' button because it's already there, sometimes even pinned automatically before the student ever opens the browser.

On your own Chromebook, you control installation, updates, and pinning yourself, and you can remove Kami at any time from chrome://extensions without anyone's approval.

Either way, keep the extension current. Kami's own guidance recommends updating after installing to get the latest tools, since annotation features and the Classroom integration both roll out through extension updates rather than a separate download. Chrome usually updates extensions automatically, but you can force a check from chrome://extensions by turning on Developer mode and clicking Update.

If you switch between a school-managed Chromebook and a personal one for the same coursework, sign in with the same Google account on both so your Kami annotations and Classroom assignments stay in sync through Drive.

Chrome Extensions That Pair Well With Kami on a Chromebook

None of these replace Kami's annotation tools, but they solve problems that come up around the annotation workflow itself: reading source material, multitasking on a small screen, or getting a stray PDF into Drive in the first place.

If you outgrow the built-in Chrome Web Store search for tools like these, Find Extensions' Chromebook extension picks covers how to vet an extension before a school device installs it, and the PDF tools hub rounds up alternatives if Kami's Classroom focus is more than you need for a simple markup job.