How to Manage Google Workspace Marketplace Apps (Guide)

How to Manage Google Workspace Marketplace Apps

Google Workspace Marketplace apps let businesses in Pakistan extend Gmail, Drive, and Calendar with extra tools — from e-signature apps to project trackers. But once employees start installing apps on their own, admins can lose track of what has access to company data.

This guide shows Google Workspace admins exactly how to control which Marketplace apps get installed, who can install them, and how to remove apps that are no longer needed.

What Are Google Workspace Marketplace Apps?

What Are Google Workspace Marketplace Apps?

The Google Workspace Marketplace is Google’s official app store for Workspace add-ons. It includes apps built by Google, verified third-party vendors, and independent developers. Users can install these apps directly into Gmail, Docs, Sheets, or Calendar to add features Google Workspace doesn’t offer out of the box.

Because these apps often request access to company email, files, or calendar data, managing them is a core part of keeping a Workspace domain secure.

Marketplace app management is closely related to, but not the same as, controlling OAuth access for third-party apps in general. Marketplace apps are just one category of app that can request access to your domain. For a deeper look at reviewing and revoking OAuth-based data access across all connected apps, see Manage Third-Party App Permissions in Google Workspace.

When You Need to Manage Marketplace Apps

As an admin, you’ll typically manage Marketplace apps when:

  • A new employee requests access to install a business tool
  • Your organization wants to standardize on approved apps only
  • You’re reviewing which apps have access to company data during a security audit
  • An employee leaves and their installed apps need to be reviewed or removed
  • You want to stop users from installing unapproved apps altogether

Step-by-Step: Managing Marketplace Apps in the Admin Console

Google updates the Admin console layout from time to time, so menu names and paths described below may shift slightly. If a setting isn’t exactly where this guide says, use the Admin console’s search bar and type the setting name — it will take you straight there.

1. Open the Marketplace Apps Settings

1. Open the Marketplace Apps Settings

Sign in to admin.google.com with a super admin account, then go to:

Apps → Google Workspace Marketplace apps

This is the central screen for controlling every Marketplace app across your domain.

2. Choose Who Can Install Apps

Under Marketplace apps settings, you’ll find a setting to control installation permissions. You have three main options:

  • Allow users to install any app – least restrictive, suitable for small teams that trust their staff
  • Allow users to install only allowlisted apps – admins approve apps individually before staff can install them
  • Don’t allow users to install any app – only admins can install apps for the whole organization

For most businesses in Pakistan handling client data or financial records, the allowlist option offers the best balance between flexibility and control.

3. Add Apps to the Allowlist

If you’ve chosen the allowlist option:

  1. Go to the Marketplace apps section and open the allowlist management screen
  2. Click Add app to allowlist
  3. Search for the app by name or paste its Marketplace URL
  4. Review the permissions it requests (see the scope guidance below)
  5. Approve the app

Once allowlisted, users across the domain (or a selected organizational unit) can install that app without needing individual admin approval each time.

4. Deploy an App for the Whole Organization

To roll out an app to every employee at once — useful for tools like e-signature or helpdesk apps used organization-wide — search for the app in the Marketplace apps screen, select it, and choose the install option for your entire domain or for specific organizational units. Confirm the requested permissions before finishing the install.

5. Restrict Apps by Organizational Unit

Not every team needs the same apps. A finance team may need an invoicing add-on, while sales only needs a CRM connector. Use organizational units (OUs) to scope app access:

  1. Go to the Marketplace apps screen
  2. Select the specific OU from the left panel
  3. Apply installation settings or allowlist rules just to that OU

This keeps app sprawl limited to the teams that actually need each tool.

6. Remove or Uninstall an App

To remove an app that’s no longer needed or poses a security risk, find it in your list of installed apps and uninstall it.

It’s important to understand what uninstalling actually does:

  • Domain-installed apps (installed by an admin for the whole org or an OU) are removed for every affected user when uninstalled centrally.
  • User-installed apps (installed individually by an employee through their own Google account) may keep their OAuth access even after the app is removed from the allowlist or blocked from future installs. Blocking an app stops new installs — it doesn’t automatically revoke access already granted by individual users.

To fully cut off a user-installed app’s access, you may also need to review and revoke its OAuth token directly, either per user or across the domain. This is covered in more detail in the separate article on managing third-party app permissions linked above.

Evaluating Permission Scopes Before Approving an App

Every Marketplace app lists the data it wants to access before a user installs it. Not all permissions carry the same risk. As a rule of thumb:

Higher-risk scopes — review these carefully before allowlisting:

  • Read or send Gmail on the user’s behalf
  • Modify or delete Drive files
  • Manage or edit Calendar events
  • Access Contacts or directory information
  • Full account access (“act on your behalf”)

Lower-risk scopes — generally safer to approve:

  • View basic profile information (name, email)
  • Read-only Calendar access
  • Read-only Drive access limited to files the app created

If an app requests a high-risk scope that doesn’t match its stated purpose — for example, a simple scheduling tool asking for full Gmail access — treat that as a red flag and investigate further before approving it.

Marketplace App Management Lifecycle

A simple lifecycle keeps app approvals consistent instead of ad-hoc:

  1. Evaluate the app — check the developer, reviews, and use case
  2. Review permissions — compare requested scopes against what the app actually needs
  3. Pilot with IT — test in a small OU before wider rollout
  4. Allowlist or deploy — approve for the intended users or OUs
  5. Review quarterly — confirm the app is still needed and still used
  6. Remove unused apps — uninstall and revoke access for tools no longer in use

Following this cycle prevents the common problem of apps being approved once and never reviewed again.

Before Approving a New App: Checklist

Run through this quickly before adding any app to your allowlist:

  • Is the developer reputable, with a clear privacy policy and support contact?
  • Are the requested permissions appropriate for what the app actually does?
  • Does another already-approved app provide the same function?
  • Should access be limited to a specific organizational unit rather than the whole domain?
  • Has the app been tested with a pilot group first?

Best Practices for Managing Marketplace Apps

  • Keep an approved app catalog. Maintain a simple list of allowlisted apps, what they’re used for, and who approved them.
  • Test new apps in a pilot OU before rolling them out company-wide.
  • Review installed apps quarterly, not just when something goes wrong.
  • Review apps immediately after any security incident, even if the app wasn’t directly involved.
  • Remove duplicate tools. Multiple apps doing the same job increase your attack surface for no added benefit.
  • Limit installation rights to trusted staff or admins only, especially in organizations handling sensitive client or financial data.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Leaving installation open to everyone. This is the fastest way to lose visibility into what has access to company data.
  • Allowlisting apps without checking their permissions. Always review what data an app can read or modify before approving it.
  • Assuming blocking an app revokes existing access. Blocking stops future installs; individually authorized apps may need their OAuth access revoked separately.
  • Forgetting to remove apps after employee offboarding. Personally installed apps can retain access even after the employee’s account is suspended.
  • Assuming Marketplace apps are automatically vetted by Google. Google reviews apps for policy compliance, but each business still needs to judge whether an app’s data access is appropriate for its own use case.

FAQs

Yes. The Marketplace apps section of the Admin console lists every app installed domain-wide, along with its install date and status.

Yes. Allowlisting only means the user is allowed to install the app — they'll still see and approve the specific permissions the app requests.

Yes, using organizational units. You can apply different Marketplace rules to different OUs within the same domain.

Users can no longer install it going forward, but existing user-installed copies aren't automatically removed — you'll need to uninstall or revoke access to those separately.

Not exactly. Marketplace app management controls installation and allowlisting; OAuth app access control governs what data any connected app — Marketplace or not — can access. See our guide on third-party app permissions for that separate process.

AF

Asher Feroze
Author | CreativeON Team
I’ve worked in various roles at CreativeON, including Manager Operations, Manager Marketing, and Level 2 Client Support. These days, I focus on helping people like you understand our products — whether it’s Domains, Dedicated Servers, VPS, Cloud Hosting, or Google Workspace — in simple, practical language.
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