Troubleshooting

Something not working the way you expect? Here are the most common causes and fixes.

A shortcut doesn’t expand

• Did you press Space? Shortcuts expand when you type a space right after them.
• Is there a space before it? Shortcuts expand at the start of a text box or after a space or new line, not in the middle of a word.
• Are you using the right trigger? If you changed Shortcut trigger token in Settings, use the new one.
• Are shortcuts on? Check Enable shortcuts in Settings.
• Is there a site rule? A site rule may turn shortcuts off on this site, page, or field. A website can also opt out with a data-simplefill-disable attribute.
• Was the page open before you installed SimpleFill? Reload the page.
• Is it a browser page? Extensions can’t work on browser pages like settings, new tab pages, or extension stores.

As a fallback, Quick Access and the right-click menu work almost everywhere.

The Quick Access shortcut does nothing

Another extension may be using the same keys. Go to Settings > General > Quick Access shortcut to open your browser’s shortcut page and check, or pick a different shortcut. You can always click the SimpleFill icon in the toolbar instead.

The fill-in window doesn’t open

SimpleFill opens it as a small popup window. If your browser blocks it, SimpleFill shows the same form inside the page instead. If neither appears, reload the page and try again.

A Smart Field is empty

• Clipboard: turn on Clipboard access in Settings and allow it when your browser asks.
• Referrer URL: many sites don’t share where you came from, so it’s often empty.
• Current field Smart Fields, like ;left, work only when typed on a page, not inside snippets.
• Add-on fields fill in only on their own websites, and only when the page shows that detail. A GitHub pull request field is empty on a GitHub page that isn’t a pull request.

An AI action doesn’t appear or fails

• AI actions appear in menus only when they’re ready: switched on, with a Model chosen, and a provider that’s set up. The badge at the top of the AI page says what’s missing.
• Check your provider in Settings > AI: the API key, and for Local or OpenAI-compatible providers, the Base URL. Click Fetch Models to test the connection.
• Using Ollama? It refuses requests from browser extensions until you set OLLAMA_ORIGINS. See Ollama.
• Some canvas editors don’t support typed AI shortcuts. Select the text and use the right-click menu or Quick Access instead.
• There is no text in this field to transform means the box is empty and the action can only change text that’s there. Type or select some text first, or use Generate Reply or Ask AI, which can write from the page around the box.
• Add to Memory turns a note away if it’s already there, longer than 1,000 characters, or would take Memory past 8,000. Use Tidy Memory on the AI page, or delete notes you no longer need.
• Logs in Settings > AI show recent requests and errors.

Formatting is lost

A rich snippet keeps its formatting in rich editors, like Gmail and Notion. Plain text boxes, like most form fields, can only hold plain text, so the snippet goes in as text.

Auto-suggestions don’t appear

• They appear in single-line input boxes by default. Turn on Show auto-suggestions in textarea fields for larger boxes.
• Multi-line and rich snippets are left out unless you turn on Include multi-line text in auto-suggestions.
• If you closed the dropdown, it stays closed for that box until you reload the page.

A form doesn’t fill

• The page’s address may have changed. Edit the form in Forms and check URL matching, or save it again.
• If the website changed its form, scan it again and save.
• Password fields are never saved or filled.

I can’t add more items

You’ve reached your plan’s limit for that section. See Plans and licenses to upgrade, or delete items you no longer need.

My license won’t activate

• Check that you pasted the whole key.
• If it says the key is active on the maximum number of browsers, deactivate it in a browser you no longer use, or click Manage License to free a spot in the customer portal.
• If SimpleFill can’t reach the license server, check your connection and try again.

SimpleFill says to update

If your data was saved by a newer version of SimpleFill, for example from a backup made on another computer, SimpleFill pauses until you update. Update the extension from your browser’s extensions page, and everything comes back.

Still stuck?

Check the FAQ, or chat with us using the bubble at the bottom of any page. We’re happy to help.