Testing without a browser extension: Troubleshoot the floating taskbar

On this page:

• About the floating taskbar
• Start here: match the symptom
• What your participants might report
• Steps to troubleshoot the floating taskbar
• Other floating taskbar problems
• When it isn't the floating taskbar
• Contact UserTesting Support

About the floating taskbar

During navigation tasks and Figma tasks, a small floating taskbar appears on the participants' screen. This taskbar shows the participant the instructions for the task they are currently working on or follow-up questions they need to answer and also allows them to move on to the next task. This is the case both in tests that use the UserTesting browser extension as well as tests that do not use the extension:

• The participant experience is almost identical in both cases. 
• What differs is what powers each taskbar. 

In tests without the browser extension, the taskbar uses a built-in browser capability called Picture-in-Picture (PiP), which gives participants control over the window (they can drag it around the screen, resize it, minimize and reopen it). For most participants it works automatically. On managed corporate devices, however, organization-level browser policies may restrict Picture-in-Picture and prevent the taskbar from appearing.
 

Start here: match the symptom

Refer to this table if your participants report any issues in a test without the extension:

What your participants might report

Before a navigation or Figma task starts, the participant sees a page in their UserTesting test tab explaining what they're about to do. That page is what open both of the below:

• the floating taskbar
• the page or prototype they'll be giving feedback on

If Picture-in-Picture is blocked, the taskbar doesn't open, so neither does the page under review, and the participant can't get into the task. 

In this case, your participant may tell you:

• They tried to open the task and nothing happened.
• They never saw the floating taskbar.
• They couldn't get to the page or prototype they were asked to review, so they couldn't complete that task.

If your participant reports any of these, follow the steps below to identify the cause.
 

Steps to troubleshoot the floating taskbar

Step 1: Make sure the participant's browser is up to date
 

The floating taskbar requires:

• Google Chrome version 116 or higher, or
• Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based, version 116 or higher)

Ask your participant to open chrome://version (or edge://version) in their browser and check their version number. If it's outdated, they'll need to update before moving on.

If their browser can't be updated, which is common on managed devices where IT controls updates, continue to Step 2.

Step 2: Confirm the floating taskbar API is available

A quick check in the browser's developer tools tells you whether the underlying Picture-in-Picture API is accessible.

Steps for the participant to follow:

1. Open developer tools (F12 on Windows, or Option-Cmd-I on Mac).
2. Click the Console tab.
3. Paste the following and press Enter:
   'documentPictureInPicture' in window

Here's what the result means:

• true: the API is available. The cause is more likely a pop-up blocker, a hardware acceleration setting, or a domain-specific block. Continue to Step 3.
• false: the API isn't available. Either the browser is too old (go back to Step 1), or an organization-level policy is blocking it. Skip to Step 5.

Step 3: Check pop-up settings

In some configurations, Picture-in-Picture windows are affected by pop-up blocking rules.

Steps for the participant to follow:

1. Open the browser's site settings for the UserTesting test page.
   
2. Make sure Pop-ups and redirects is set to Allow.
   

Note: Some browser extensions and corporate security tools block pop-ups separately from the browser's own settings. If that's the case, the participant's IT team may need to add an exception for the UserTesting domain.
 

Step 4: Check hardware acceleration

Picture-in-Picture requires hardware acceleration to render properly.

Steps for the participant to follow:

1. In the browser open chrome://settings/system (or edge://settings/system)
2. Confirm Use hardware acceleration when available is enabled.

If this setting is greyed out or controlled by organization policy, move on to Step 5 for the relevant policy entry.

Step 5: Check Chrome enterprise policy

On managed corporate devices, Chrome's behavior is often controlled centrally by IT.

Steps for the participant to follow:

1. In the browser, open chrome://policy (or edge://policy).
2. Share a screenshot with UserTesting Support, or pass it to your participant's IT team for review along with the below table.

The policies most relevant to the floating taskbar are:

If any of these are blocking the feature, the participants IT team will need to adjust the policy or add an exception for the UserTesting test domain.

Step 6: If Picture-in-Picture can't be unblocked

Where an organization won't or can't permit Picture-in-Picture, the floating taskbar can't open. Because the same page opens the page or prototype the participant gives feedback on, that doesn't open either. Navigation and Figma tasks are therefore not completable on that device.

What to do: 

• Unfortunately, there's no workaround inside a Think-out-loud or Interaction test. Navigation and Figma tasks are the only way to get participants to interact with a page or prototype, so they can't be swapped for another task type. The only alternative today is a survey, which would mean giving up the recording entirely. Talk to your account team about whether that trade-off could work for your use case.
• If this affects your audience, please contact UserTesting Support, including the results of Step 2 and step 5. In addition to getting our Support team to confirm the cause for you, this is how we measure how widespread the issue is, which is what decides whether we build an alternative. So a report genuinely counts.
   

Step 7: Resolve browser update errors

Other floating taskbar problems

The content in the taskbar looks oversized

If the content inside the floating taskbar appears magnified, cut off, or larger than expected, check the participant's browser zoom level. A zoom level above 100% scales the content inside the taskbar. 

Ask the participant to reset zoom to 100% (Ctrl+0 on Windows, Cmd+0 on Mac) and reopen the taskbar.

The taskbar closed, or they can't get back to the task

Participants can close the floating taskbar, and they can also navigate away from the tab their task is running in. Both are recoverable.

• The floating taskbar shows a banner with a Return to task tab option, so the participant can get straight back to where they were.
• If the taskbar itself has been closed, the participant returns to their UserTesting Test Tab and reopens it from there.
• Nothing is lost by closing the taskbar, and the participant hasn't done anything wrong. The test guides participants back when this happens.

If you're briefing participants in advance, it could be worth mentioning that closing the taskbar is recoverable, to reduce the chance of someone abandoning the session.
 

A link opened in a new tab

Websites often open links in a new tab, and participants sometimes close the original tab to tidy up. Both are normal behavior, and the participant can return to their task tab using the Return to task tab option in the floating taskbar.

If a link consistently fails to open, the participant's pop-up blocker is the most likely cause. See Step 3 above.

The taskbar covers content they need to see

The floating taskbar sits on top of the page, and on some layouts it can cover content above the fold. Participants can:

• Drag it to a different part of the screen
• Resize it
• Minimise it while they look at the page, then reopen it

There's no option to dock the taskbar to a fixed edge of the screen. If taskbar position is causing problems with a specific page, let us know which page and where the taskbar landed. That feedback directly shapes how we improve the default position.
 

Multi-monitor setups

Two things happen on multi-monitor setups.

• The participant drags the floating taskbar to a screen that isn't being recorded. The task still works, but the taskbar won't appear in the recording.
• The participant shares the wrong screen. This is the more serious one, because the recording captures a screen the participant isn't working on and the session can't be scored.

To reduce the risk:

• Ask participants to share their entire screen, and to check the preview thumbnail shows the screen they intend to share before continuing.
• Consider adding a simple confirmation question to each task, for example "Were you able to complete the task? Yes / No", so you have a signal even when a recording turns out to be unusable.

When it isn't the floating taskbar

These symptoms look similar, but have different causes. Each of them is worth checking before going down the Picture-in-Picture route.
 

The participant already has another UserTesting test open

A participant can only have one test running at a time. If they try to start a second test while another is still open, we tell them to either finish the test they already have open in the other tab, or exit that test before starting the new one.

There's nothing for you to do here, but it's worth knowing about in case a participant mentions it. The answer is simply that they need to finish or exit the other test first.
 

The session stalls while uploading

A task that sits on "Uploading task…" and doesn't progress is an upload problem, not a taskbar problem. It's most often the participant's network.

Ask the participant to:

• Check their internet connection is stable, and reconnect if it has dropped.
• Move closer to their router, or switch from wireless to a wired connection if they can.
• Come off a VPN if they're on one, where their organization permits it.
• Avoid anything else that's using a lot of bandwidth at the same time, such as a video call or a large download.

If the upload still doesn't complete after that, contact UserTesting Support with the test link and the approximate time the participant attempted the session.

The participant reaches the first task, then gets an error page

This pattern, where task 1 completes and then a general error page appears, is a strong signal that the participant's corporate network is blocking the session upload. See Participants in restricted networks in Testing with participants on corporate computers and/or networks.
 

"Sharing permissions required to continue" message

If a participant sees this after they've already granted permissions:

1. Confirm they selected "Allow while visiting the site" rather than a one-time permission
2. Confirm the browser is permitted to record the screen at operating-system level. On macOS this is System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording
3. Ask them to reload the page and grant permissions again
4. If it still happens, contact Support with the participant's details and the time of the attempt
    

The participant has no microphone

Think Out Loud tests require a working microphone, and participants without one are blocked at the pre-study checklist. See Participants who don’t have a microphone in Testing with participants on corporate computers and/or networks.
 

The camera check passes but no video appears

On some virtual desktop platforms such as Citrix, the device check can report a working camera while the preview stays empty. If the preview circle is empty, don't rely on webcam capture for that participant. See Participants on virtual desktops and virtualized hardware in Testing with participants on corporate computers and/or networks.
 

"Study is full" message

This isn't related to the extension setting. It means the study has reached its participant quota. Check your study's remaining sessions on the Monitor tab, or contact Support.
 

The Figma prototype won't load

Previewing your test before you launch is the best way to avoid this, because it puts you through the same steps as a participant. 

If participants report the prototype can't be found or won't open:

• Make sure you're logged out of Figma when trying out the prototype URL. If you're logged in, it will work because you're logged in.
• The prototype's sharing permissions should be "anyone can view", with or without a password.
  
• Remove the password where you can. Password auto-fill doesn't work when testing without the extension, so participants get a Copy password button and paste it into Figma themselves. That's an extra step and one more potential point of failure.

Contact UserTesting Support

If the steps above don't resolve the issue, contact UserTesting Support and include as much of the following as you have:

• Browser and version
• Operating system
• The result of the 'documentPictureInPicture' in window check from Step 2
• A screenshot of chrome://policy from Step 5
• A screenshot of the browser console at the point of failure, if the participant can capture one.
• The test link, and the approximate date and time the participant attempted the session
  The test link plus a timestamp is what lets us tie the report to a specific session, so include those two pieces of information even if you have nothing else
• Any of the steps above already attempted
   

Related content