Troubleshooting

Most problems with Reveal come down to a handful of causes, and the app usually tells you which one it is if you know where to look. Start with the guide's Issues tab, since it runs the same checks the pixel runs at load time.

Work through the relevant section below in order. The checks are arranged so the cheapest and most common fix comes first.

The guide doesn't appear on my site

Open the guide and go to the Issues tab first. Its header reads "N blocking issues · N warnings. These mirror the checks the pixel runs at load time", so anything listed there will stop the guide on its own.

Guide isn't published. "Draft guides don't load on your live site. Publish it to make it available to visitors." Click Publish at the top of the guide.

Guide has no steps. "There's nothing to show yet. Capture or add at least one step." Record the guide in Reveal for Chrome, then come back.

Pixel not detected yet. "We haven't seen the pixel fire on your site. Install the snippet from the Embed tab, or wait for traffic." The Fix in Embed button takes you straight to the snippet.

With Issues clear, check these three in order.

1. Domains. On the Embed tab, the Domains card lists the sites where this guide is allowed to run, and the pixel only serves it there. Confirm the exact host is listed. acme.com does not cover app.acme.com, so add the subdomain or use *.acme.com.

2. Trigger and audience. On the Behavior tab, check the Trigger. Manual only means the guide fires only via a Reveal button or a dynamic link, which looks exactly like a guide that is not working. Then check the Audience: New users is first session on the pixel domain, so if you have visited before you are not in it.

3. You have already dismissed it. Frequency cap set to Once means one showing per user, ever. Skip threshold defaults to 3 skips, after which "this guide is permanently dismissed for that user". Both are per browser, so test in a fresh private window rather than the browser you have been clicking around in.

The pixel says waiting for first pageview

That status chip on the Pixel installation card is accurate rather than broken. It stays until the pixel actually fires on a real page load, so it is normal right after you paste the snippet and before anyone visits.

Load your own site once, or use the Test on \{domain\} button on the Embed tab, then check the diagnostic tiles. DOMAINS DETECTED reads "awaiting first ping" until it sees one, and PAGEVIEWS TODAY starts counting once traffic arrives.

If it still has not moved after a real visit, the usual causes are the snippet living in the wrong site's template, the deploy not having gone out, or a content security policy blocking embed.reveal.software. Pixel reference covers all three.

The extension says pending on camera or mic

The permission tiles under Settings, Extension show DOM access, Camera, and Mic, and they read pending until Chrome has actually granted access on the site you are recording.

Open the site you want to record and start a recording. Chrome shows a prompt titled "Reveal Guide Recorder wants to: Use available cameras, Use available microphones", with a camera preview, a mic level meter, and three buttons. Choose Allow while visiting the site. Allow this time works for one session and puts you back here tomorrow.

In the extension popup, the Camera row reads "No camera detected" and the Microphone row reads "No mic detected" until Chrome grants access, so those messages usually mean the permission, not the hardware.

If you picked Never allow by accident, Chrome will not ask again. Reset the site's permissions from the icon at the left of the address bar, where Chrome keeps its site settings, then reload the page and start a recording to get the prompt back.

The extension isn't connected

Go to Settings, Extension. The card for Reveal for Chrome shows a Connected chip, the version, and "Last seen recently" when everything is fine.

If it does not, install it: "Don't have the extension? Install from the Chrome Web Store to start recording guides." Use the Install extension button, add it from the Chrome Web Store, and pin it to your toolbar.

If it is installed and still not showing as connected, reload the dashboard and check the extension card at the bottom of the sidebar, which shows Reveal for Chrome and its version. Being signed into the same account in the same Chrome profile matters, so check that before reinstalling anything.

Install the extension

My recording came out the wrong shape

Exports are 16:9. If your browser window was a different shape while recording, the video will be too.

Turn on Auto snap to 16:9 in the recorder settings, next to Start recording. Its description is "Resize the window when recording starts", which handles this before you say a word.

If the window stops being 16:9 partway through, a toast appears: "Recording: Your window is no longer 16:9, so the video export won't be either." It comes with a Snap to 16:9 button, so click that and carry on rather than starting over.

The live tooltip playback and the interactive player both adapt to the space they are given, so this mainly matters for MP4 export and for how the recording is framed.

My behavior changes didn't take effect

The Behavior tab does not save on its own. It has a Save changes button in its header, and nothing you change to the Trigger, Audience, On skip, Skip threshold, Frequency cap, or Feedback screen applies until you click it.

This catches people because the Domains card on the Embed tab is the opposite: "changes save automatically". Two cards, two behaviors.

After saving, remember the changes apply to users who have not already been decided about. If your own browser has already seen and dismissed the guide, a new audience setting will not bring it back for you. Use a private window to check.

I published but analytics are still empty

Publishing makes a guide eligible to fire. It does not generate any numbers on its own.

Impressions need real traffic. Until people load a page where the guide is allowed to run, IMPRESSIONS, STARTS, COMPLETION, and AVG. RATING all stay at zero, and the dashboard spotlight cards read "Waiting for traffic. Publish a guide to see your top performer."

Drafts collect nothing at all. A guide that is still a draft does not load on your live site, so it cannot record an impression, a start, or a rating no matter how much traffic the page gets.

The Step funnel has its own empty state, "No steps recorded yet. Record this guide to see funnel data", and Rating breakdown reads "No ratings collected yet" until someone finishes the guide and rates it. Give it a day of real traffic before reading anything into the numbers.

Reading your analytics

I can see the guide but my teammate can't

Two likely causes, and both are per person rather than per guide.

Audience. Check the Behavior tab. New users is "First session on the pixel domain", so anyone who has used your product before is excluded. Returning users covers people who have been before but have not completed this guide. All users is "Anyone who hasn't seen it yet".

Their browser has already seen it. If they completed the guide, or dismissed it enough times to hit the Skip threshold, or the Frequency cap is Once, the guide is done for them. Ask them to try in a private window, which is the quickest way to separate a targeting problem from a history problem.

If none of this helps

Check the app footer, which shows the version and All systems operational, then note what you tried from the list above. The guide's own footer carries the "Guide ID · \{id\}" you will be asked for, along with "Extension connected" and when it was last edited in Chrome.

Next steps

• Pixel reference: Install details, domain matching, and CSP.

• Behavior: Triggers, audience, and politeness rules.

• Publish a guide: What publishing changes, and what it does not.

• Glossary: Every term in the product, defined once.