Troubleshooting

An icon that will not open, a key another app has taken, a page that will not load, a file that has moved: what each one means.

What each thing that can go wrong actually means, and what to do about it. If your problem is not here, tell us: it takes a minute, and it is what shapes the app.

The app

I cannot find GreatBar after installing it. It has no Dock icon and no window that stays open. It is the mark at the right of the menu bar. If the menu bar is full, macOS hides items from the far end: quit something else up there, or use ⌃⌘G, which opens GreatBar’s menu wherever its icon is.

It did not start when I logged in. Settings › Launch at login, and if macOS is holding it back the row offers a button to System Settings › General › Login Items, where GreatBar has to be allowed.

I want to start over. Deleting the app’s container starts it empty, and the next launch is a first launch, with the introduction and the starter bars. There is nothing in the cloud to come back.

The keyboard

A key does nothing. Another app registered it first. macOS gives a global shortcut to whoever asked for it and does not say who that was, so GreatBar cannot name the app. Record a different combination in Settings, or find the app holding it and change it there.

The numbers do nothing. Settings › Number keys may be Off, or set to a pair you are not holding. Hold the pair for a moment: if the icons show their numbers, the keys are on.

⇧⌘ will not record. It is refused on purpose: ⇧⌘3, 4 and 5 take screenshots, and macOS keeps those keys whatever else is held with them.

Some icons are missing. The menu bar ran out of room and macOS hid them from the far end. Everything is still in GreatBar’s own menu (⌃⌘G), and a group puts several things behind one icon.

An icon draws as nothing. A symbol name this Mac does not have. Open the icon picker and choose from the grid, where everything shown is something this Mac can draw. This happens most often when an assistant guessed a name.

A site’s icon never arrived. A favicon is fetched once, from that site. If the site was down at that moment, or serves none, choose a symbol instead. See Icons.

Opening things

“Nothing on this Mac can open this address.” The link uses a scheme no installed app claims: the app it belongs to is not here, or not installed any more.

“Name is not installed any more.” An app shortcut whose app has gone. Delete the shortcut, or add the app again once it is back.

“Name cannot be found. It may have been deleted, or be on a disk that is not connected.” A file or folder shortcut. GreatBar keeps a bookmark rather than a path, so renaming or moving the file is fine; deleting it, or unplugging the disk it is on, is not.

It opens in the wrong app. For a file or a folder, Open In on the icon’s right-click menu lists what can open it; choosing there opens it and remembers. For a link handed to a browser, the Browser row in the editor names which one.

Pages

A site does not work properly. Turn Block ads and trackers off for that one link (its editor, or the ⋯ menu). A few sites will not run with blocking on, and it is a switch per link for exactly this reason.

A site says my browser is not supported. Change Browser agent on that link: Chrome or Firefox is enough for most of them.

Signing in opens a window that goes nowhere. Set Links that open a new window to In a new window for that link. A page that opens a sign-in in the same page has nowhere to come back to.

The page is stale every morning. Turn Reload every open on for that link.

The panel closes while I am using it. That is what a panel does: it goes away on a click elsewhere. Open it in a window instead, and turn Always on top on if it should stay above your work. See Windows.

Sound keeps playing after I close it. Keep playing when closed is on for that link. The icon wears a dot while it plays; press it and close the page from there, or turn the switch off.

I am signed in as the wrong person. The mark beside the address says which account the page is using. Change it in Session, on the link. See Accounts.

Ads are not being blocked, in red, in Settings. The lists could not be compiled on this Mac. Browsing carries on unblocked rather than breaking. It usually clears on the next launch; if it does not, please report it.

Assistants

“GreatBar is not listening.” Settings › Advanced › Let an assistant connect is off, or the app could not be opened.

“The person has turned off changes.” Let it propose changes and act is off. Reading still works.

Out of reach. A file or folder outside every granted folder. Grant the folder, or one above it, under Advanced › Folders GreatBar may reach.

The assistant does not see the tools. Start a new session: most assistants read a server’s tools when they start. Check the path against the one Advanced shows; it changes if you move the app.

Updates

It has not updated. Settings › Check now. Updates come from this site and are signed with a key only this app accepts, so a failed check is a network problem rather than a permission one.

macOS will not open the app. GreatBar is signed with a Developer ID and notarized, so it should open on the first double click. If it does not, you may have an old or partial download: fetch it again from the site.