Check the license
Browser tabs come with a license. In the free version, Settings › Browser Tabs says “Browser tabs come with a license.” next to a Go to License button, every switch shows off, and Flick contacts no browser.
The same happens on a licensed Mac that's working as the free version, after a refund or when Flick hasn't been able to check the license for about two months. Settings › License says which. Once the license is active again, the browsers you turned on come back. When the license needs a check
Check the browser's switch and its note
Every browser starts off, so turn on each one you use. Once it's on, a note under it tells you what it's waiting for. No note means there's nothing to fix there: Flick reads the browser whenever it's open.
| The note says | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Open Google Chrome to finish turning it on. macOS then asks once whether Flick may control it.” | Open the browser while Flick is running, then click Allow when macOS asks. No dialog? Keep the browser open, come back to this page and click Allow…. |
| “Flick needs your permission to control Google Chrome.” | Click Allow… next to the note, then Allow in the macOS dialog. |
| “Flick isn't allowed to control Google Chrome. Turn it on in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation.” | Don't Allow was clicked, or the permission was turned off in System Settings. Click Open Privacy Settings and turn on the browser under Flick. Allow browser control |
| “Turn on Include private windows below to list the tabs of Safari.” | See the next section. |
Each note names its own browser. If the browser you want isn't on the page at all, Flick doesn't support it. Which browsers work
Safari needs Include private windows
Flick lists Safari's tabs only while Include private windows is on, at the bottom of Settings › Browser Tabs (why Safari needs it). Turn it on with Safari open and macOS asks about Safari, if it hasn't already.
It's one setting for every browser, so it also lists the private windows of the other browsers you turned on. If you'd rather keep it off, Safari's windows are still in Flick's list, and search finds them by their titles. Flick and Safari
Private and incognito windows
With Include private windows off, Flick leaves out incognito windows in Chrome, Chrome Beta, Brave and Edge, and doesn't ask for their tabs at all. If the tab you're after is in one of them, that's why it's missing. Turn on Include private windows to list them.
The browser isn't supported
Flick reads tabs from Safari, Google Chrome, Google Chrome Beta, Brave Browser and Microsoft Edge, and recognizes each one by its exact app. Not supported:
- Other browsers, such as Arc, Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi, Orion and Zen.
- Other channels: Chrome Canary and Dev, Edge Beta, Dev and Canary, Brave Beta and Nightly, and Safari Technology Preview.
- Installed web apps. A site installed as an app from Chrome, Brave or Edge is an app of its own in Flick's list, with no tabs.
Their windows are still in Flick's list, and search finds them by title. Supported browsers
The window is filtered out
A tab is listed only while its window is. Check these if a browser's tabs are missing but others appear:
- The browser is ignored. Apps in Settings › Exceptions › Ignored Apps lose their windows and their tabs.
- The window is minimized and Show minimized windows is off.
- The window is on another Desktop and Show only the active Space is on.
All three are in Flick's list settings.
Where tabs appear
- In search, not in the list. The list keeps one row per window. Type part of a tab's title or address to see tabs as rows of their own, up to 200 per search.
- In a window's tab list. A browser window with more than one tab shows its tab count. Press → on its row, or click the count.
- Not on a Group by app row. With Group by app, a browser with two or more windows is one row with a window count, and → opens its windows. Its tabs are still in search.
- The current tab is the window. When a window matches a search, the tab it's showing has no row of its own: pick the window's row.
If a browser is too busy to answer within a second, Flick keeps the tabs it read last, and a brand-new tab shows up the next time you open Flick.
Questions
Tabs showed up before. Why did they stop?
Check, in this order: Settings › License (a license that needs a check, or a refund), the browser's switch (Reset All Settings… turns every browser off), and the note under the browser (the permission may have been turned off in System Settings).
Why does typing “chrome” show windows, not tabs?
A tab matches only when one of your words is in its title or address. Adding the browser's name, such as “edge”, narrows the results to that browser's tabs.
Can Flick find tabs open on my iPhone or another Mac?
No. Flick reads the tabs in the browser windows open on this Mac, nothing else.
Still stuck?Email [email protected] with your macOS version, your Mac and what you've tried, or visit the Support page.
Sources
Checked on .
- Allow apps to control other apps on Mac, Mac User Guide, Apple Support
