Why Do I Need to Refresh the Page?

Note: The following examples use perplexity.ai, but the same applies to other sites like chatgpt.com and gemini.google.com.

Quick Answer

If you opened a Perplexity page BEFORE installing or updating the extension, you need to refresh that page for the extension to work.

Why Does This Happen?

Browser extensions work by injecting special code (called “content scripts”) into web pages. However, this injection only happens when:

1. A new page is loaded (you navigate to a new URL)
2. An existing page is refreshed (you press F5 or click the refresh button)

The Problem

If you:

1. ✅ Opened Perplexity.ai in a tab
2. ✅ Then installed or updated the extension
3. ❌ The extension cannot connect to that already-open tab

This is because the extension’s code was not injected into the page when it loaded.

The Solution

Simply refresh the Perplexity page (press F5 or click the refresh button), and the extension will be able to connect.

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Just Installed the Extension

• What happened: You installed the extension while Perplexity was already open
• Solution: Refresh all open Perplexity tabs

Scenario 2: Extension Was Updated

• What happened: The extension was automatically updated by your browser
• Solution: Refresh all open Perplexity tabs

Scenario 3: Extension Was Reloaded

• What happened: You manually reloaded the extension in chrome://extensions
• Solution: Refresh all open Perplexity tabs

How to Refresh

Method 1: Keyboard Shortcut

• Windows/Linux: Press F5 or Ctrl + R
• Mac: Press ⌘ + R

Method 2: Browser Button

• Click the refresh button (🔄) in your browser’s address bar

Method 3: Close and Reopen

• Close the Perplexity tab
• Open a new tab and navigate to Perplexity.ai

Still Having Issues?

If refreshing doesn’t work:

1. Close ALL Perplexity tabs completely
2. Open a NEW Perplexity tab from scratch
3. The extension should now connect successfully

Technical Details (For Curious Users)

Browser extensions use a technology called “content scripts” to interact with web pages. These scripts are injected when:

• A page matching the extension’s URL patterns loads
• The extension is installed/updated while the page is already open

The browser doesn’t retroactively inject content scripts into already-loaded pages for security reasons. This is standard behavior across all Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc.).

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