In this blog post we will see how to export chrome devices list in Google Workspace.

What are Google Chrome devices?

Google Chrome devices are those hardware devices, PCs, or Tablets that run Google’s OS. But there’s a catch – they can only run the apps on the system through the Chrome web browser. 

Chromebooks: Chromebooks make a good travel computer because of their portable 11.5 to 14-inch monitor and lightweight size. Popular Chromebook manufacturers include Acer, Samsung, and HP Pavilion. 

Chromeboxes: Chromeboxes are the desktop version of a Chromebook that can be useful for lightweight applications such as video conferencing, group presentations, and self-service kiosks. They are sufficient to fill many roles that have historically required a Windows or Apple desktop computer at a much lower price.

Being Google-enabled products, they have superior functioning. In addition, some of the features are far more convenient than the other devices. We shall discuss them in the next section.

Why ChromeOS devices?

Chrome devices are fast and easy to use. They are also extremely convenient when it comes to messaging, mailing, creating and sharing documents. It is also advantageous when it comes to video calling on Google Meet. They are easily integrated with the cloud and can also be synced with Android devices. Apart from that, they are easily protected by malware and phishing attacks due to the inbuilt and private security systems. They are also affordable, and none of the ChromeOS devices is priced expensively.    

What is Chrome Device Manager?

To manage Chrome OS devices from Google Admin Console, customers require buying licenses like Chrome Enterprise Upgrade if it is a company or Chrome Education Upgrade if the organization is a school, college or university. You can also opt for a Kiosk and Signage Upgrade. It is a management license which provides complete management capabilities and security for all the Chrome OS kiosk and signage devices that you possess.

Why does the Google WorkSpace Admin need to export a list of Chrome Devices?

As a Google Workspace Admin, you can see the devices of the users in the WorkSpace or domain that is managed or owned by you. You can also view the owner of the device. Other information like Serial Number, Enrollment date and the last synchronization date can be viewed. To access all the information at once easily, the Google WorkSpace admin needs to export a Chrome devices list. You can export a list of 22,000 devices at once. 

Why do you require Foresight for exporting the Chrome Devices list to the Google WorkSpace Admin?

As a Google Workspace Admin, we can download a list of the devices, but we cannot mail this list to the manager. However, with the help of Foresight, we can download the list of devices and even mail it to the manager in a CSV list format all at once. Foresight adds lots of automation in Google Workspace.  

How to export Chrome devices in Google Workspace with Foresight?

Demo Video
Here is the demo video of the process. You can also read the procedure in text format below.

  1. Login to your Foresight account with your Google Admin account
  2. Go to the Rules page and click the New rule button New Rule button on the bottom right corner of the page.
  3. You will see a pop up named Select a trigger. Select the Manual Trigger option.
  4. Select the List Chrome devices action.
  5. In the Edit Actions, List Chrome devices screen, make the following changes. 
    1. Grant Foresight the necessary permission in the Google Admin Account. We have already given the access.
    2. In the Columns field, choose the columns you want to add or export.
    3. Then, in the next two fields related to sorting, sort the exported data with whichever column you would like to export. Then you need to sort the data in ascending or descending order, any way you like. We will leave them as it is. By the way, these first three fields are mandatory. 
    4. (Optional) In the Organizational unit field, select an organizational unit to export devices under a specific  organization unit. Leave that empty too.
    5. The next field is the Enrollment Time field. It is a date range. Export the devices that are enrolled in a particular date duration if you want to. Leave the field empty. 
    6. The next field is Last Policy Sync. This is also a date range. Export devices that are synced in the last date range. These are the export devices that are synced on a particular date range. Leave that empty too. 
    7. Beside each field, hover on the Help icon to learn the usage of the field. 
    8. The next field is Status. Here we can export the devices based on the following options. You can read the details about the options that are given below. We will select Provisioned.
    9. The next field is devoted to the Recent User, which are logged in by the users of those devices. Enter the email of the recently logged-in user. Leave empty.  
    10. In the next field, we can filter the devices by user custom field. We can filter the devices by the matching user custom field. Leave that empty. 
    11. In the Location field, input a value to filter Chrome devices by the Location custom field. 
    12. The last field has the devices filtered by a Notes Custom field. 
    13. Except for the first three fields, we shall leave all the others to their defaults.
  6. Scroll up and click Add Next Action
  7. Select the Email action. Here again, we might need to seek permission from the Google Workspace Admin account for Foresight. Then after that, enter the email address of the manager telling him about the exported data. In the email body, add the link to the CSV file. Type double opening curly brackets `{{`. where `{{` is in the code style to select the Chrome Devices Download Link.
  8. Click Review and enter the name of the rule. 
  9. Click Create. You have created the rule.
  10. Now click the Play icon to execute the rule manually.
  11. After a few seconds, a notification will appear on the top right corner of the page.

Rule Test

  1. Go to the Logs page. As you can see in the rule log, the rule has been triggered successfully and 50 devices have been exported.
  2. Click the here link to download the CSV file.
  3. Also the manager has received the CSV file link as an attachment.
  4. Here you can see the CSV file attachment in the Google Sheets Format.

Notes 

Foresight is a necessary piece of software required daily for our office tasks on Google WorkSpace. It can help us automate almost every task for the Google WorkSpace admin, saving a lot of time and effort. You may also find it very useful to read bulk move chrome devices to another OU.