Extension troubleshooting
Walk this list before contacting support. Most issues have a five-second fix. Problems specific to pins, markers and the panel are on Troubleshooting page pins.
The icon opens the popup, not the panel
The popup is the fallback surface. It opens instead of the panel when one of these is true:
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
The tab is a chrome:// page, the Chrome Web Store, the PDF viewer, another extension’s page, or a file: URL. The popup says “Page pins can’t run on this page”. | Open an ordinary website. For a local file, allow file access for Toado in chrome://extensions. |
| The extension is not connected. | Press Connect to Toado in the popup. |
| In-page logging is off. | Turn it on in the options page, under In-page logging. After an update from 0.1.x it starts off. |
| No projects are cached yet. The popup says “Captures live inside a project. Create your first one”. | Create a project in the web app, then click the icon again. |
If you are on 0.1.4, the icon opens the popup on every page and these docs do not apply yet. The version is in the options page footer.
Alt+C captures the whole page instead of arming a pin
In-page logging is off. Existing installs updating from 0.1.x start with it off and show a one-time notice in the popup, Alt+C can now create a pin. If you pressed Keep classic capture, or never saw the notice, turn the switch on under In-page logging in the options page.
Alt+C shows a message and nothing else
Pin mode refused to arm. The message names the reason:
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| ”In-page logging is turned off in Toado settings.” | Turn it on in the options page. |
| ”Pin mode is not supported on this page.” | You are on a page the panel cannot run on. Open an ordinary website. |
| ”Connect Toado before creating a pin.” | The extension is signed out. Connect from the popup or the options page. A disconnected extension never arms pin mode and does not fall back to a classic capture. |
| ”Pin mode is not enabled for this account.” | The server-side switch for pin mode is off for your workspace. Ask your workspace owner. |
| ”Switch back to the page you want to capture, then try again.” | The active tab changed while the command was running. |
The one-time update notice keeps coming back
It should not. The notice is claimed before it renders, so closing and reopening the popup cannot loop. If it reappears, the extension could not save your choice; the popup shows “Could not save this choice. Try again.” Check that Chrome has storage available for extensions and try once more.
Console or network is empty on a specific site
Most often a strict Content Security Policy blocks the in-page hooks. The screenshot, URL and element still capture, and the ticket gets a banner saying what is missing. The ticket is still useful; it is lighter on the DevTools side.
If Deep network capture for this site is on and the site started showing verification loops or bot checks, turn it off in More options on the panel or in the popup.
Captures only show the top frame
By design. Cross-origin iframes are sandboxed by the browser. Top-frame console and network are captured.
Sign-in loop
You press Connect to Toado, the consent window opens, you approve, it closes, and the extension still asks you to connect.
- Cookies blocked: the handoff uses session cookies at
app.toado.dev. Allow cookies for that origin. - Multiple Chrome profiles: the consent window must open in the profile the extension is installed in.
- A pasted personal access token got a
401: a token cannot refresh, so one401signs it out. Paste it again under Connection, or use Connect to Toado instead. - Hard reset: Disconnect on the options page, then connect again.
”The backend saved in Settings cannot be used, so Toado is signed out.”
The API base URL on the options page points somewhere that did not answer as a Toado API. Reset it to the default, or to your self-hosted API, then connect again. The panel shows “Sending to host, not Toado.” while a foreign backend is set, and a quieter line for one on your own machine.
Queued captures are not draining
The toolbar badge shows the queued count. If it is not decreasing:
- You are still offline. The panel’s More options section says “Offline. Pins will be filed when the connection is back.” The next retry runs on a timer.
- The session changed. Items are stamped with the session they were made under. Signing out and back in, even as yourself, drops them, and the popup shows a warning explaining where the count went. This is deliberate; see Classic capture, Offline.
- No project was selected for a classic capture. It queued with “No project is selected; capture was queued.” and uploads once you choose one in the popup.
- The monthly ticket allowance is used up. New items are rejected rather than queued, and the popup shows Monthly capture limit reached.
Keyboard shortcut does not fire
- Confirm the binding in
chrome://extensions/shortcuts(or Configure shortcuts in Chrome on the options page). Some Chrome installs lose them; if the primary binding is cleared, the panel stops showing the “Press Alt+C” hint. - Confirm no other extension or system app owns the same shortcut.
- On Windows,
Alt+Shiftchords are refused by Chrome because they switch keyboard layouts. Pick a plainAlt+letterorCtrl+Shift+letter. - Gaming keyboards sometimes intercept Alt combinations in OS-level macros.
The popup is blank
Right-click the extension icon, Inspect popup, then in the DevTools window press Ctrl + Shift + R . If it still loads blank, reload the extension from chrome://extensions or reinstall it.
Heavy memory or CPU usage
The content scripts buffer console and network activity per tab. Long-lived tabs with very chatty pages grow the buffer; completed network entries are capped per tab and across tabs, but console output is not. Close and reopen the tab to reset.
Where to ask
If none of the above resolves it, get in touch. Include:
- Chrome version (
chrome://version). - Operating system and version.
- Extension version (footer of the options page).
- Whether the icon opens the panel or the popup on an ordinary website.
- A brief description of what you did and what you saw.
Where to next
- Troubleshooting page pins, panel, marker and composer problems.
- Panel options and settings, the In-page logging switch and Connection.
- Extension keyboard shortcuts, the Alt+C routing table.
- Install the extension, including the antivirus whitelist steps.