Troubleshooting the Web Widget (Classic) widget on your website

If the Web Widget (Classic) no longer appears on your website, multiple causes can exist. Use this troubleshooting guide to isolate and fix the issue.

Step 1: Verify if the widget operates

Step 2: Ensure that the widget is installed correctly

Step 3: Verify if you have agents online

Step 4: Check your settings

Step 5: Verify if people are blocked

Step 6: Check for interference and errors

Note: This troubleshooting guide is for those experiencing widget issues on their own website. If your widget is missing from your help center, use this article instead: Why isn't my Web Widget (Classic) appearing in the Help Center?

Step 1: Verify if the widget operates

To confirm if the widget appears, follow these steps:

Use a tool such as jsfiddle.net to test the widget in isolation and narrow down the issue

Copy your widget script into the HTML box > click Run

Your widget pop up will appear in the bottom right-hand side

If you do not see your widget pop up, the widget itself is not working or configured. Follow steps 3 and 4.

If you do see the widget, and confirmed the widget itself works, the problem is probably caused by interference or incorrect installation on your website. Verify steps 2 and 6.

Tip: Clear the cache and cookies of your browser, and test in an incognito or private browsing window.

Step 2: Ensure that the widget is installed correctly

Ensure that you are not affected by these common issues with the widget script:

The widget script isn't on your website or was removed

The wrong widget script appears on your website

The correct widget script appears on your website, but not in your header or footer

Follow this article to locate and verify that the code is on your website: How can I find the widget code on my website?

If the script is not present or is incorrect, add it in the header or footer of your source code.

If your widget script is present and correct, ensure you added the script in the header or footer of your website. For more information on how and where the script should be installed, see the article: Adding the Web Widget (Classic) to your website or Help Center.

Step 3: Verify if you have agents online

Verify that at least one agent is online and available to take chats. If you did not set up a contact form or an offline form, the widget will not show up if no agents are online. As a first step, verify these settings and check to see if any of your agents can receive chats.

For more information, see this article: Setting your chat availability.

Step 4: Check your settings

If you use the Web Widget (Classic), ensure that it appears in Admin Center > Channels > Classic > Web Widget.

If you don't see the widget, add the channel and install the related code on your website.

Step 5: Verify if people are blocked

Check if the visitor, who reported the issue, is not banned in the Chat interface. There can also be country or domain restrictions for your Chat instance.

If the IP address of the visitor is banned, the live chat option is suppressed for the user and the widget will not appear on the page.

Check that the Require sign-in option is not ticked in your security settings. For more information, see the article: Restricting Help Center access to signed-in end-users. The Web Widget (Classic) only displays the help center content that the user can see. When Require sign-in is ticked, the Web Widget (Classic) might not load for non-authenticated users. For more information, see the article: Adding the Web Widget to your website or Help Center.

Step 6: Check for interference and errors

Open your browser console, this can differ depending on your preferred browser. There you can see logs of information like, network requests, CSS, security errors and more. Verify if this error appears: ERR_INSECURE_RESPONSE.

If you see that error, you do not currently have an SSL setup. You can tell if you have SSL in place, if HTTPS appears at the beginning of your URL. If you do not see HTTPS, you can use a Zendesk Provisioned SSL.

Configure your firewall to allow the web widget to appear.

Note: The Web Widget (Classic) may be blocked if the Firefox setting Enhanced Tracking Protection is turned on. It needs to be turned off for the Web Widget to work.