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Troubleshooting and FAQ
This page covers known limits of Screen Tools and what to do when something doesn't work. Each entry starts with what you see.
The v1.0.0 release shipped without its zip. Install v1.0.1 or later from the releases page. The release workflow attaches the zip after the release is published, and the immutable releases setting made GitHub reject the upload for v1.0.0. The release-please.yml workflow builds and uploads the zip, and Releasing covers the process.
Chrome doesn't update unpacked extensions. Download the new zip, unzip it over your current folder, and click reload on chrome://extensions. See Installation and Updating.
Chrome ties an unpacked extension's storage to its ID. Up to v1.5.0, the ID comes from the folder you load it from, so loading a new version from a different folder installs a second copy with empty storage. Update in place: unzip over the folder you first loaded.
Releases after v1.5.0 pin the ID in the manifest, so the folder no longer matters. The first update from v1.5.0 or earlier to one of those changes the ID once, and starts with empty storage. See Installation and Updating.
The home page opens after each install and version change, with what's new in that version. Close the tab to dismiss it. Reloading the extension at the same version doesn't open it.
Chrome doesn't always show permission prompts in the recorder's popup window. Click Fix in new tab on the warning or on the Recording permission card in Settings, allow access there, then go back to the recorder. If you blocked access earlier, allow it from the site settings for the extension in Chrome, then click Try again.
Screen Tools couldn't open the device. Check that it's connected and that no other app has it locked, then check access as above. A Screen + camera recording carries on without the camera, and any recording carries on without the microphone. A Camera recording can't start without a camera.
You asked for system audio, but the stream had no audio. Tick Also share audio in Chrome's screen picker. Chrome doesn't offer audio for every source, so if the tickbox isn't there, pick a different source.
System audio comes from the screen capture, so it needs Screen or Screen + camera mode. In Camera mode, use Mic.
This version of Chrome can't record H.264 MP4, so Screen Tools records WebM. Update Chrome to record MP4.
That's how the icon works while the badge shows a number, REC or a pause sign: a click cancels the countdown or stops the recording. The menu comes back once the recording ends. If Chrome quit mid-recording, the menu comes back when Chrome starts again.
Open Latest videos. Screen Tools saves the recording every 5 seconds as you record, so you lose at most the last 5 seconds. The recording shows Interrupted. If it's a WebM file, click Make seekable before saving.
Latest videos keeps the 5 most recent recordings. Starting a new recording deletes the oldest beyond that, saved or not, so save each recording you want to keep.
Chrome's recorder writes WebM files with no duration, so other players can't seek them. Screen Tools' own player works the length out, so you can skip around in it, but the saved file stays the same. Recordings made with Optimize video on, the default, have the duration written in. For older files, open the Player page, drop the file on it, click Make seekable, and save the fixed copy. A WebM recording still in Latest videos has the same button.
With Optimize video on, Screen Tools writes the duration into WebM files when they stop. Turn it off in Settings if that's slow, and use Make seekable later on the recordings you need. MP4 recordings skip this step.
Save a smaller copy. Videos over 25 MB show Save a smaller copy, and the save dialog offers four smaller sizes with estimated file sizes for any video. Compression runs on your computer and keeps the original. See Recording.
The browser couldn't read the file's tracks or has no encoder for its format on this computer. Save the original instead. In Firefox the message says "Firefox can't encode".
Chrome blocks extensions from capturing its own pages (chrome:// pages, including the new tab page), the Chrome Web Store and some other pages. Firefox does the same for about: pages, addons.mozilla.org and reader view. Switch to another tab. This isn't an error in Screen Tools: it logs a warning, not an error, so nothing shows under Errors on chrome://extensions.
Full page scrolls the window. Pages that scroll a panel inside the window, such as Gmail and many web apps, capture only what's visible. Use Capture visible area or Capture selected area on those pages, and scroll between shots.
Full page also stops after 100 screens on very long pages.
If the stitched image would be bigger than a canvas allows, about 32,767 px a side or 268 million pixels, Screen Tools shrinks the whole image to fit. The Quality setting in Settings can also cap the width.
On a high-density display, Native quality keeps every screen pixel, which is twice the page size in each direction. Pick a lower Quality in Settings to cap the width.
The Screenshots page keeps the 10 most recent screenshots. Taking a new one deletes the oldest beyond that, saved or not.
Chrome refused the clipboard write. Download the image instead.
Firefox can't share audio from the screen, so these options only show in Chrome. Use Mic to record your voice. See Firefox.
Firefox's sharing prompt offers whole screens and windows only. Share the window the tab is in instead.
Firefox only opens its sharing prompt after a click in the page. The recorder opens with your mode picked. Click Start recording, then pick what to share, and the countdown starts. Camera starts straight away.
You loaded it as a temporary add-on, and Firefox removes those when it closes. Load the zip again from about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox. See Firefox.
Click Settings in the toolbar menu. Firefox ignores the options page setting Chrome uses, so Screen Tools also adds Options for Screen Tools in about:addons, which opens Settings in a tab.
The build you installed has no OAuth app ID for that service, so it can't sign in. Release zips are built with the IDs. If you built the extension yourself, see Cloud connections. Upload servers work in any build.
The browser asks you to allow access to the service first. If you click Deny, or close the sign-in window, Screen Tools stops without an error. Click Connect again and allow access.
Google shows this warning until it has checked the Screen Tools app's name, logo and privacy policy. Screen Tools only asks for the drive.file permission, so it can only see files it created. See Privacy.
The sign-in expired or was revoked, and Screen Tools couldn't renew it. Click Disconnect, then Connect, in Settings, then retry the upload. Dropbox shows the same message with its own name.
The window closed while it was uploading. Click Resume next to it. Google Drive and Dropbox carry on from where they stopped. Upload servers send the whole file again.
The message after the colon says what went wrong. These are the upload server ones, from upload-server.ts:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| "… refused the upload. Check its access token in Settings." | The server answered 401 or 403. The token is missing or wrong. Remove the server and add it again with the right token. |
| "This file is too big for …" | The server answered 413. Save a smaller copy and upload that. |
| "… is busy. Try again in a moment." | The server answered 429 or a 5xx. Screen Tools retried three times. Click Retry later. |
| "Couldn't reach …. Check you're online and on the right network." | The server didn't answer. If it's on a private network or a VPN, connect to that first. |
| "The upload to … was cut off. Check your connection." | Sending the file failed partway. If it fails every time, the server's storage may not allow uploads from the extension. Ask whoever runs it to check the CORS requirement. |
| "… didn't send an upload URL and a public link." | The server isn't set up for Screen Tools. Its owner can check Upload servers. |
A server can also send its own message, which shows instead of these. See Uploading.
Screen Tools checks the server answers before saving it. Check the URL, and that you're on the network the server is on.
Disconnect deletes the stored sign-in on your computer and revokes it with Google or Dropbox. Remove forgets an upload server and its token. Either way, files you already uploaded stay in your Drive, your Dropbox or on the server, and share links keep working. Delete them there if you don't want them shared any more.
Only what you upload. Screen Tools records, compresses and stores everything inside your browser on your computer, with no account and no servers of ours. Recordings and screenshots stay in the extension's storage until you save them, upload them, or they're replaced by newer ones.
A file leaves your computer only when you upload it to Google Drive, Dropbox or an upload server you added, and it goes straight from your browser to that account or server. See Uploading and Privacy.
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Using Screen Tools
- Installation and Updating
- Firefox
- Recording
- Screenshots
- Uploading
- Settings
- Troubleshooting and FAQ
- Privacy
How it works
Contributing