8fa9c2b434
End-of-work docs pass — bring the docs in line with the 0.4.0 behaviour: - Remove the self-update check everywhere (it was removed in code): PRIVACY.md network table + data-sent note, installation.md "Updating" + verify steps, README privacy line. - Background cache is now hourly, not daily (troubleshooting.md, 2 spots). - Add a troubleshooting section for the BeautiTab (and any new-tab plugin) conflict — both hijack new tabs; the loser never mounts. Cross-linked from installation.md's verify step. - Document the full background-theme set (the eight fixed Unsplash subjects + Transparent with shadows) and state which themes need an Unsplash key. The one remaining #15 item is the optional offline/transparent screenshot (usage.md TODO), which needs a manual capture. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
3.6 KiB
Troubleshooting
If a background or quote isn't showing up, the plugin can log exactly what it's doing to the developer console.
Enable debug logging
- Settings → New tab → Debug settings → Debug logging — turn it on.
- Open the developer console: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I → Console.
- Enable the Verbose log level in the console's level dropdown —
debugmessages are hidden otherwise. - Open a new tab (or change a background/quote setting) to trigger
activity. Look for lines prefixed
[NewTab:background]and[NewTab:quote].
The toggle takes effect immediately — no need to restart Obsidian — but only new actions produce log lines. If you turn it on while a new tab is already open, open a fresh tab to see anything (the current one already resolved, and the background is cached for the hour).
The access key itself is never logged — only its length.
Backgrounds don't load
Check the [NewTab:background] lines:
| Log line | Meaning | Fix |
|---|---|---|
no Unsplash access key set |
No key configured. | Settings → Background → Unsplash access key. Create a free app at unsplash.com/oauth/applications and paste its key. |
status 401 / invalid access token |
The stored key is wrong. | Copy the Access Key (~43 chars), not the Secret key and not the numeric Application ID. The log shows keyLength= to sanity-check — 8 characters usually means you grabbed the Application ID. |
status 403 |
Rate limit reached. | The Unsplash demo tier allows 50 requests/hour. The image is cached per hour (one request per theme per hour), so normal use stays well under it — wait an hour. |
200 OK but no urls.regular |
Unexpected response. | Transient; try again later. |
A themed background (Seasons and Holidays, Custom topic, …) needs an access key. Local images, a Custom URL, and the transparent themes don't — use one of those for a fully offline background.
Quotes don't load
Check the [NewTab:quote] lines. ZenQuotes is key-free; on any failure
(offline, non-200, or its rate-limit sentinel) the plugin falls back to your
custom quotes silently — you won't get a console error. To stay fully offline,
set the quote source to My quotes.
New tabs show a different page (or nothing)
New Tab takes over empty tabs. So does BeautiTab and any other "new tab" plugin — when more than one is enabled they fight over each empty tab, and the other one can win, so New Tab never appears (and produces no log lines, because its view never mounts).
New Tab warns about this: with BeautiTab enabled you'll see a notice on load and a banner at the top of New Tab's settings tab. Fix: disable the other new-tab plugin (Settings → Community plugins). BeautiTab can stay installed — the one-time import still reads its data; it just shouldn't be enabled alongside New Tab.
Known issue: disabling the plugin while a New Tab is the active tab
If you disable (or update) the plugin while a New Tab pane is the focused, active tab, the Settings window closes and that tab disappears.
This is a teardown edge case: Obsidian detaches the active leaf as it unloads the plugin, and our custom view type is gone by then, so there's nothing to fall back to in place. It throws no error and causes no data loss — your notes and settings are untouched.
Workaround: click any other note or tab first (so a New Tab isn't the active pane), then disable or update the plugin. Re-enabling restores the New Tab behavior normally.