Troubleshooting

A tool doesn't appear on a page

1. Check that the tool is on: its dot is green in Settings → Toolbox.
2. Look at the Restrictions line at the bottom of its tab: the site may be excluded.
3. Reload the page. A page that was already open when Modula was installed — or updated — must be reloaded once.

Nothing works on some pages

Chrome forbids all extensions from acting on its internal pages (chrome://…, the settings, extension pages) and on the Chrome Web Store. Modula doesn't appear there, and no extension can. Chrome's PDF viewer is in the same case.

The Expander doesn't work in a field

Some sites isolate their input fields in a closed area (a shadow root), which the Expander can't read. A message warns you on the spot. The other tools work there: use the Launcher (Ctrl+Space), the Sidebar or RightClick.

A keyword fires when I don't want it to

The keyword looks like a real word. Three solutions, from the simplest to the most radical:

1. Add a prefix: !bj rather than bj.
2. Set the trigger to Space or Tab (see Expander): nothing fires without confirmation.
3. Turn the Expander off on that site (see Site restrictions).

A keyword never fires

Another, shorter keyword starts the same way and fires first: !com intercepts !command. A ⚠ icon marks it in the lists. See A keyword that overrides another.

Ctrl+Space doesn't open the Launcher

If another extension was already using this shortcut, Chrome silently gave it to that extension, not to Modula. The Launcher tab of the Toolbox shows the shortcut actually assigned, or “not assigned”.

A SmartMail doesn't open my email

A SmartMail goes through a mailto: link, which the system hands over to the default email app. If nothing opens, none is set.

• Windows: Settings → Apps → Default apps, Email: choose your email app.
• Mac: in the Mail app, Settings → General → Default email reader.
• Gmail in Chrome: open Gmail, click the icon that appears on the right of the address bar, and allow Gmail to open email links.

The mailto: mechanism also has three limits, shared by all tools: the message is plain text; its length is limited (beyond a few thousand characters, it may be cut off); it carries no attachments. For a long or formatted body, see A long or formatted email.

Formatting gets lost in an editor

Modula recognises common editors (Gmail, Outlook on the web, Notion, CKEditor, Quill, CodeMirror, Monaco…). In an editor it doesn't recognise — TinyMCE, Froala, Trix… — it inserts with a generic method: the text arrives, but the formatting may be lost, or the cursor may not land exactly in place. See Inserting into the page.

The automatic backup failed

Possible causes: permission to save files was removed (from chrome://extensions), the disk is full, the download was interrupted. The backup reminder comes back, and the failure is shown in the Backup tab.

Where are my backups?

Automatic backups are in the Modula subfolder of your download folder — Downloads/Modula/ for most people. The 📂 Open the folder button, in the Backup tab, takes you there.

The five files modula-backup-1.json to -5.json are rewritten in turn: their number says nothing about their age. Sort the folder by date modified; the most recent is the last one modified.

My email templates arrived as SmartTexts

That's normal: the tools your texts come from have no email templates. Turn SmartMails on, then convert them in a batch. See Converting a whole batch.

I'm uninstalling Modula: what happens to my texts?

They are deleted with the extension, for good: Modula keeps nothing anywhere but in your browser. Make a backup before uninstalling, changing computers or resetting Chrome.