Allow google Administrators to force sync on.
Currently, either through registry or enrolled browser managment there is no way to force sync on.
I can force sync to stay off, but i cant force the user to use it.
I have disabled guest accounts, and forced the user to sign in, however they quickly figured out they can still turn sync off.
We are a k12 school district. And most Students have figured out they can sign into their school account and then turn off sync and bypass some of the filtering and monitoring solutions we use.
Sync is basically always on when they are using thier chromebooks, but in our computer labs they have the option to turn it off.
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I would have to do a little digging, but I feel like you could restrict them using a different route, like setting a policy on the computer or something. It would be more legwork, but just a thought.
It’s likely you’ve already looked at other options and I’m a little rusty on workspace at the moment!
Is it mostly website access, app/extension installs, or what are you seeing? Also wondering what the other systems are, but it’s fine if you’re only looking for the syncing option!
Cheers!
-Erik
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I agree, Harrison! We need something to force sync on.
I completely agree with the original post. I also work in K12, and we’re dealing with the same issue. Our students use a mix of Chromebooks and Windows computers, but our district is heavily invested in the Google ecosystem (Chrome over Edge, Sheets over Excel, and so on). Because of this, our Chrome extensions are deployed to users through group or OU assignments in Google Admin.
The problem arises when students sign into Chrome on our managed Windows devices. During the initial Chrome sign-in process, one of the “Welcome” screens allows them to enable or disable Chrome Sync. If a student clicks “No thanks” on the “Turn on sync” prompt, the extensions we’ve configured to force install in Google Admin never install.
This becomes a major issue in our labs, where many classroom monitoring and safety tools depend on those Chrome extensions. Some students have sync enabled (so the required extensions install automatically), while others deliberately turn it off - effectively bypassing the monitoring and filtering tools we rely on (at the browser level). It’s inconsistent, confusing for teachers, and frustrating to manage at scale.
Microsoft Edge provides a policy called ForceSync, described as “Forces data synchronization in Microsoft Edge. This policy also prevents the user from turning sync off.” If Chromium-based Edge can support such a configuration, it seems reasonable to expect that Google could implement something similar for Chrome.
