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Troubleshoot Website Access and the Interface

Restore missing Workbench controls, repair website permission mismatches, and resolve insertion or webpage extraction failures.

Troubleshooting3 min read

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Troubleshoot Website Access and the Interface

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Troubleshoot website access and the interface#

Workbench needs permission for a regular HTTPS site before it can place controls or read eligible page content there. Enabling a general website does not turn that site into a supported AI-chat provider: chat capture and prompt insertion still depend on a recognized chat composer and provider adapter.

Workbench is missing from the page#

  1. Open the popup and confirm Workbench is enabled.
  2. On a regular HTTPS site, check whether Enable on this site is available.
  3. Grant the requested Chrome site permission. Workbench normally activates on the open tab immediately.
  4. Use Reload now only if the popup says live activation could not be verified. Otherwise, refresh once only when the page still has an older extension context.

Chrome's internal pages, the Chrome Web Store, and other restricted browser surfaces do not allow normal extension injection. Protected document or design editors may also hide the floater deliberately; open the popup to read the current status.

The site says enabled, but nothing works#

The popup checks both Workbench's saved allow-list and Chrome's real permission. If they disagree, Workbench resets the site to Not enabled so access can be granted again.

  1. Open the popup on the affected tab.
  2. Enable the site again if Chrome permission was removed.
  3. Follow the activation message. Reload only when activation cannot complete on the current tab.

The floater is missing or moved off-screen#

  • Exit full-screen mode and close the sidebar; the floater hides while the sidebar is open.
  • Confirm Enable Floater is on and the current site is permitted.
  • Resize or refresh the page once. Current builds clamp saved floater coordinates back inside the viewport.
  • Check the popup for a protected-editor or restricted-page message.

If the floater remains missing after those checks, record the page URL, window size, and popup status before reporting the bug.

The sidebar will not open#

Open the popup and use its sidebar control. If the popup says Workbench is inactive on the tab, resolve site access first. A page refresh can reconnect a tab that loaded before Workbench; changing overlay or push mode is not a fix for missing permission.

“Textarea not found” during insertion#

Workbench did not detect an eligible chat input.

  1. Confirm the page is a supported AI chat, not merely a permitted general website.
  2. Make the chat composer visible and dismiss any page overlay covering it.
  3. Reload the provider page once, then retry insertion.

Do not paste over text already in the composer unless you intend to replace or combine it; insertion behavior depends on the provider editor.

“No text found” or webpage actions do nothing#

Automatic extraction looks for visible content areas with roughly 200 or more characters, then falls back through other candidates. Very short, hidden, protected, or dynamically loaded content may not qualify.

  • For Summarize, explicitly choose Current page or Selected text.
  • For Copy, select the text when you need a precise source.
  • If automatic extraction finds nothing, select the text manually and retry.
  • Confirm the page is a permitted HTTPS page and not a protected editor.

Related pages#

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