Most issues with the extension come down to an unsupported page, a permission that needs granting, or a session that's timed out. This article lists the messages you might see, word for word, with what causes each one and how to fix it, followed by the most common "why isn't this working" situations.
Quick fixes to try first
Before digging in, these resolve most hiccups:
Refresh the page and reopen the side panel.
Check you're on a supported page; see the source list in Create Assessments, Flashcards, and Passages From Anywhere. The extension can't pull content from every page.
Confirm you're signed in. Open the panel; if you see the sign-in screen, sign in again.
Make sure your selection or source has enough content and isn't behind a login.
Error messages, explained
Generating resources
"Error Generating Questions"
A general failure while creating a resource. Use Try Again, or go Back and start over. If it keeps happening, the source may be too short, too long, or not readable; try a different source or a smaller selection. (The screen also offers Show Debug Info if support asks for it.)
"Local PDF Not Supported"
"Wayground can't access PDFs opened from your computer. Try uploading the PDF to Google Drive and opening it from there."
The PDF is open from your device (a file:// address). Fix: upload the PDF to Google Drive and open it from there, then try again.
"PDF Access Restricted"
"This PDF requires a login or is behind a paywall. Wayground can only process publicly accessible PDFs. Try downloading the PDF and uploading it to Google Drive."
The PDF sits behind a login or paywall. Fix: download it (if you're permitted to) and upload it to Google Drive, then open it from Drive.
"File type not supported"
"Wayground works with PDFs and images (PNG, JPG, WebP) on Google Drive. Open a supported file from your Drive and it'll be ready to turn into quizzes, passages, and more."
The Drive file isn't a supported type. Fix: open a PDF, PNG, JPG, or WebP from Drive instead.
Google Forms import
These appear when importing questions from a Google Form:
"This is a published form. Please open the form in edit mode (the URL should end with /edit) to import questions."
You're viewing the live form, not editing it. Fix: open the form in edit mode (the URL should end in /edit) and try again.
"This form doesn't contain enough content to import. Please try a form with questions."
The form has too little to work with. Fix: use a form that actually contains questions.
"Network error. Please check your internet connection and try again."
A connection problem. Fix: check your internet and retry.
"Import timed out. The form may be too large — try again later."
The form was too big to import in time. Fix: try again later, or use a shorter form.
"Your session may have expired. Please sign in to Wayground again and retry."
Fix: sign in again, then retry the import.
"Google authorization was cancelled. Please try again and complete the authorization."
The Google permission prompt was dismissed. Fix: try again and complete the authorization when Chrome asks.
Recording a lesson
"Upload failed: [message]. Please try again."
Your recording didn't upload. Fix: check your connection and try again. If it persists, the recording may exceed the 500 MB limit; record a shorter or smaller session. (See Record Your Screen Into a Lesson (Beta))
If generating a resource from a recording fails, try again. If it keeps failing on a long recording, a shorter recording is more reliable.
Sessions
"Session expired. Please sign in to Wayground again."
Your sign-in token couldn't be refreshed. Fix: sign in again. Your work in the Wayground library is unaffected.
"Sign-in was cancelled"
The sign-in window was closed before finishing. Fix: start sign-in again and complete it in the window that opens.
Document or feedback size
If you see a "too large" message while giving feedback or generating from a document, the source exceeds the size the AI can process in one pass. Fix: use a shorter document, or split it and process the parts separately. Very long sources are trimmed before processing, so an extremely long document may not be captured in full even when it doesn't error.
The teacher-only gate
"For Teachers Only" / "This tool is built for educators."
The extension detected a student account. The extension is available to teachers only; student accounts can't use it. If you're a teacher seeing this in error, confirm you're signed in with your teacher account.
Common situations
The extension isn't appearing, or sign-in fails (at a school or district)
If you're on a school-managed device and the extension won't load or sign-in fails, your district may not have whitelisted Wayground's sign-in (OAuth) client. This is an administrator setting. Fix: ask your IT administrator to allow Wayground's OAuth client; details are in Deploy Wayground AI for Your School or District.
"Create activity" isn't capturing the page
Usually one of:
The page isn't supported (for example, a local PDF or a paywalled page). See the source list in Create Assessments, Flashcards, and Passages From Anywhere
A text selection is the wrong length. Selected text needs to be 100 to 10,000 words
A selection has expired. A highlighted selection is held only briefly (about 60 seconds) before it clears; re-select and create promptly
The Wayground button isn't showing on a ChatGPT / Gemini / Claude response
The button appears on educational responses. Try opening the side panel directly with the Wayground icon and choosing your format from there. The capture is also held only briefly, so create your resource soon after the response appears.
Nothing works without internet
The extension's AI features all need a network connection. If you're offline, generation, feedback, grading, and recording uploads won't run. Reconnect and try again.
Keeping the extension up to date
The extension updates itself automatically through Chrome. There's no manual update step, and on managed devices updates roll out silently. If something seems broken after a long time without use, refresh the page and reopen the panel to load the latest version.
Still stuck?
Every result in the panel has a quick thumbs up / thumbs down, and Share more feedback opens a form that goes straight to the Wayground team. Use it for anything odd that isn't blocking you.
For blocking issues, email support@wayground.com. If you saw "Error Generating Questions," the Show Debug Info details from that screen can help support diagnose the problem faster.
Related articles
Create Assessments, Flashcards, and Passages From Anywhere
Frequently Asked Questions
Deploy Wayground AI for Your School or District
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