Troubleshooting
The most common ways StiqNote doesn't behave as expected, and what to do about each one.
#The sign-in code didn't arrive
Codes come by email, from StiqNote, within a minute or two.
- Check your spam or junk folder, and search for "StiqNote".
- Click Resend code on the sign-in screen. You can ask for a new one as often as the limits below allow.
- Make sure you typed the right address. A code is only ever sent to the address you type.
- A code expires 10 minutes after it's sent, and only works for 5 guesses. An old code, or too many wrong tries, both show Invalid code: click Resend code for a fresh one.
If codes still don't arrive after a few minutes, your email provider may be delaying or blocking mail from StiqNote. Try a different address, or email support@stiqnote.com and we'll check the delivery logs.
#StiqNote doesn't show on a site
Click the StiqNote icon in Chrome's toolbar. It tells you why:
- Hidden here: you, or your team, hid StiqNote on this page or site. Choose Show on this site to bring it back, or see hide StiqNote on a site.
- A quiet site: StiqNote starts hidden on sites where nobody reviews a website, such as email, chat, social media, video and banking-style apps, so it loads nothing there by default. Choose Show on this site to use it anyway.
- Not supported here: Chrome doesn't let any extension run on its own pages (
chrome://...) or in the Chrome Web Store. The icon is grey, and there's nothing to turn on.
If the icon looks normal but the toolbar still doesn't appear, reload the page. A tab open from before you installed, updated or reloaded the extension doesn't have StiqNote's script yet.
#A staging site behind a password
If your team signs in to staging with a login form or HTTP basic auth, the extension works normally: it runs in your own browser, after you're already signed in, so it sees the page exactly as you do.
The no-install guest view is different. It opens the site through StiqNote's own address, fetching your site from the server, so it can only show public pages: it doesn't know your staging password, and can't submit a login form or an HTTP basic auth prompt on your behalf. For a password-protected or basic-auth site, guests add the extension and open the same guest link: it takes them to the real site in their own browser, where they sign in the same way you do.
#The guest link doesn't load the site right
The no-install guest view shows your site through a StiqNote review address (<link>-view.stiqnote.com). To keep your site and your guests safe, it:
- serves public pages only (see above for pages behind a login);
- never passes on the guest's cookies or passwords, and turns off password fields;
- doesn't submit forms, so signing in, checking out or sending a contact form won't work there;
- can't show a site that refuses to be shown this way (some hosts block requests that don't look like a normal browser visit).
If a page looks broken, missing images or scripts, or won't do something it does on the real site, that's usually one of the above. Guests who add the extension get the real site from the same link, with nothing proxied. If the guest view shows an error page instead of your site, guests who have the extension still get through on the same link: it opens the real site for them. For everyone else, install StiqNote on the site itself.
#Questions
Why does StiqNote ask for an email code instead of a password?
There's no password to leak or forget. Google, GitHub or a one-time code are the only ways to sign in.
Can I turn off the "StiqNote starts hidden here" behaviour?
Not globally. You can show StiqNote on any one quiet site from the toolbar icon, and it stays shown there. If your team already comments on a quiet site, StiqNote shows there on its own.
Still stuck?
Open the sidebar, then Help → Contact us (it sends your browser and plan details along), or email support@stiqnote.com.