Chrome says my extension's manifest file is missing or unreadable

Question

I\'m a new chrome extension developer, and I was going through the Chrome tutorial on making a \"Hello World\" extension, here\'s my code:

     {
      \"name\":         


        

Answer 1

Mine also was funny. While copypasting " manifest.json" from the tutorial, i also managed to copy a leading space. Couldn't get why it's not finding it.

Answer 2

Something that commonly happens is that the manifest file isn't named properly. Double check the name (and extension) and be sure that it doesn't end with .txt (for example).

In order to determine this, make sure you aren't hiding file extensions:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Go to Folder and Search Options > View tab
3. Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types

Also, note that the naming of the manifest file is, in fact, case sensitive, i.e. manifest.json != MANIFEST.JSON.