The extension on the front-desk computer

Updated on 2026-10-03

For as long as you use Optios and HairConnect side by side, the HairConnect extension for Chrome belongs on the computer at the front desk. It is on all day, and in Chrome you are signed in to Optios there. Two things then happen by themselves: HairConnect keeps up with what happens in Optios, and — if you switched on appointment sync — an appointment booked, moved or cancelled here is in Optios within a few seconds. That way Optios does not give that slot away again.

Within seconds works with version 1.3.0 or newer. An older version still works, but only syncs within two minutes.

What you need

• Google Chrome, version 116 or newer. You can see your version by typing chrome://settings/help in the address bar.
• Being signed in to Optios in that Chrome (client.optios.net). You never give us your password; the extension uses the sign-in that already lives in your browser.
• In HairConnect, access to Instellingen → Overstappen uit Optios (Settings → Migrate from Optios), to couple the computer.

Installing from the Chrome Web Store

This is the normal way. Chrome then updates an extension from the store by itself.

1. Open Chrome on the front-desk computer and go to HairConnect — Optios sync in the Chrome Web Store.
2. Click Add to Chrome at the top right. Chrome shows a window with what the extension may do: read and change data on client.optios.net and hairconnect.be. Click Add extension.
3. Click the puzzle piece to the right of the address bar, then the pin next to HairConnect. The icon then stays next to your address bar.
4. In HairConnect, go to Instellingen → Overstappen uit Optios and open Laat je computer het bijhouden (Let your computer keep it up to date). That section is folded closed by default: click its title to open it. First tick the box with your consent, then click Koppel deze computer (Couple this computer). You get a code that is valid for ten minutes and works once. Without the tick no code appears, and the reason is shown in red. If you are still on the very first step of the migration, the box is the one under Jouw toestemming (Your consent).
5. Click the HairConnect icon next to your address bar. Enter the code and a name, for example "the front desk", and click Koppelen (Couple).

If the extension was already coupled on this computer, there is nothing to redo: Chrome puts the new version on by itself within a few hours, and the coupling stays.

Or: load it yourself, while the new version is not yet in the store

A new version first goes through Google's review, which usually takes a few days. If you want it before then, you load it yourself. In Chrome this is called an unpacked extension.

1. You get a zip file from us, for example hairconnect-optios-1.4.0.zip (ask for it via support@hairconnect.be). Unzip it into a folder that stays put, for example Documents → HairConnect-extension. Chrome loads the extension from that folder every time: move or delete it and the extension is gone.
2. Type chrome://extensions in the address bar and press Enter. You see one card per extension.
3. Switch on Developer mode at the top right. A bar with three buttons appears.
4. Click Load unpacked and choose the folder from step 1 — the one that contains manifest.json, not the zip.
5. A card HairConnect — Optios sync appears, with version 1.4.0.
6. If the store version is there too, switch it off with the toggle on its card. Both at once does no harm — HairConnect hands each appointment to only one of them — but it is confusing.
7. Couple it as above, steps 4 and 5. To Chrome, an extension you load yourself is a different one from the store version; it therefore has its own coupling, and it appears on the migration screen as an extra computer. You can uncouple the old one there.

Chrome does not update an extension you load yourself. Once the new version is in the store, remove the self-loaded card with Remove and switch the store version back on.

Checking that it works

• In the extension. Click the HairConnect icon. Under Versie (Version) it says 1.3.0, and next to Afspraken naar Optios (Appointments to Optios) it says binnen enkele seconden (within a few seconds). If it says om de halve minuut (every half minute), the fast connection is briefly not there; syncing still works, just more slowly, and the connection usually restores itself within the minute.
• In HairConnect. Under Instellingen → Overstappen uit Optios, at Afspraken van HairConnect ook in Optios (HairConnect appointments in Optios too), every coupled computer is listed with its version and its last contact, with a green binnen seconden for the fast ones. If it says Nog niet binnen seconden (Not yet within seconds), no coupled computer runs version 1.3.0 or newer.
• In Optios. Book a test appointment in the future in HairConnect and look at the Optios calendar: within a few seconds it is there, with the note [HairConnect …]. Then cancel it in HairConnect; that follows in Optios too.

Open Optios once

From version 1.4.0 the extension reads your Optios sign-in on the Optios page itself. For that it also runs on client.optios.net, but there it only reads Optios's sign-in cookie and changes nothing on the page. So open Optios at least once in this Chrome after the computer starts. After that it runs by itself, even if you close the tab again.

If the extension says Je bent in deze browser niet aangemeld bij Optios (You are not signed in to Optios in this browser), open a tab with client.optios.net and click again.

From 1.4.0 the extension also keeps one fixed identity, whatever folder you unzip it into. Loading a new version from a new folder therefore no longer means coupling again.

Keep it on

• Keep Chrome open on the front-desk computer, at night too: people book online at night as well. No tab needs to stay open.
• Switch off the computer's sleep mode. A sleeping computer syncs nothing; the appointments then wait until it wakes up.
• Stay signed in to Optios. If you are signed out, the small panel behind the icon says so, and so does HairConnect.

See also Migrating from Optios yourself, at Afspraken van HairConnect ook in Optios: what exactly goes to Optios, what happens if the slot is already taken there, and why the customer may also get a confirmation from Optios.