When the Chrome panel won't work

Most problems with the Chrome panel come down to one of four things: signing in, the panel not loading, a page it is not allowed to read, or the keyboard shortcut. Here they are in order, with what to try.

The panel will not open

Start with the toolbar. Click the puzzle-piece button at the top right of Chrome — if Praxivara Assistant is in that list rather than in the toolbar, pin it so its button is always visible.

If it is there and clicking does nothing, check your Chrome version at chrome://settings/help. The panel needs Chrome 116 or newer. Chrome updates itself on that page; restart it afterwards.

The extension is Chrome only. It will not install in Firefox or Safari.

The keyboard shortcut does nothing

The shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+Y, or Command+Shift+Y on a Mac. If nothing happens, another extension has almost certainly claimed the same combination — Chrome gives it to whichever asked first and does not warn you.

1. Go to chrome://extensions/shortcuts.
2. Find Praxivara Assistant.
3. Find the Praxivara Assistant card, click the shortcut box on its first row — Chrome labels it Activate the extension — and press the combination you want.

If the box already shows a shortcut but pressing it does nothing, clear it and set it again. The toolbar button always works regardless.

It will not sign in

Pressing Sign in to Praxivara opens a Praxivara sign-in window. Finish signing in there — including two-factor, if you use it — and the window closes itself.

• "Sign-in was cancelled" — the window was closed before it finished. Press the button again and let it run to the end.
• Nothing opens at all — check that praxivara.com loads in an ordinary tab first. A work network, a VPN or a content filter that blocks praxivara.com will stop the panel too.
• "Sign-in could not be verified" — start again from the panel rather than reusing the window that is already open.
• It times out — the sign-in window gives up after five minutes. Press the button again.
• It keeps asking you to sign in again — that browser has been disconnected, either by you or from your account. Signing in once more reconnects it.

The panel is blank, or stuck

If you see "Couldn't reach Praxivara. Check your connection", the extension could not reach your account. Try, in order:

1. Open praxivara.com in a normal tab. If that does not load either, the problem is the connection or the network, not the extension.
2. Close the panel and open it again.
3. Restart Chrome.
4. If you are on a work machine, ask whether praxivara.com is allowed through the VPN or firewall.

If the panel is up but a conversation looks wrong or stalled, press New conversation in the header. Nothing is lost — your conversations live in your account and are all still on praxivara.com.

It says it cannot read this page

There are a few different reasons, and the message tells you which:

• "That is a browser page, and Chrome does not let extensions read it." — you are on a chrome:// page, an extension page, a view-source page, or a file opened from your computer. Nothing can be done about this; it is a Chrome rule.
• "Chrome blocks extensions from reading the Web Store." — same thing, for the Chrome Web Store.
• "There is no page open that I can read." — wait for the page and ask again.
• "Chrome returned nothing for this page" — there was no readable text to collect. This is most common with a PDF in Chrome's viewer, or a page that draws itself as an image. Attach the file to the conversation instead and the assistant will read it properly.
• A card asking for permission — this one is normal. The extension has not been given access to that site yet. Choose Allow and Chrome remembers it for that site; see It asks permission on every new site below.

It asks permission on every new site

That means site access is set to On click, which is the default. Either open the panel from the toolbar button or the shortcut while you are on the page — that grants the tab without any prompt — or set site access to On all sites at chrome://extensions, under Praxivara Assistant, Details, Site access.

It stopped after reading the page a few times

The panel deliberately refuses to read the same page over and over — after four reads in a row it stops and says so. Send your next message and it carries on normally.

Dictation will not start

The first time you press the microphone, Chrome opens a small tab to ask for microphone permission, because Chrome will not let a side panel ask for it directly. Allow it there and you will be returned to the panel automatically.

• If you missed the tab, press the microphone again and it will reopen.
• If it says the microphone was blocked, click the padlock or the camera icon in Chrome's address bar on that tab and allow it, then try again.
• If there is no microphone button at all, dictation is turned off for your account. That is a setting in Praxivara, not in the extension.

A reply arrived but you did not see it

Chrome shows one notification when a reply lands while you are looking elsewhere. If those never appear, check that notifications are allowed for Chrome in your computer's own settings, and that you are not in a focus or do-not-disturb mode.

Starting completely fresh

If nothing above helps, sign out with the door icon in the panel header, then sign in again. If it still misbehaves, remove the extension at chrome://extensions and reinstall it from the Chrome Web Store.

Neither of these touches anything in your account. Signing out disconnects that one browser; removing the extension removes it and its site permissions from Chrome. Your conversations, files and settings stay exactly where they are, and are waiting for you on praxivara.com.

Still stuck? Contact support with the Chrome version from chrome://settings/help and the exact wording of any message you saw, and we will pick it up from there.