Talk & Comment not working in Chrome: quick fix checklist

Use this checklist when the recorder will not start, the microphone is blocked, a link pastes as plain text, or a voice note will not play.

1) Confirm the extension is installed and enabled

Open Chrome's extension menu and make sure Talk & Comment is turned on. If you just installed or updated it, refresh the page where you are trying to record or paste a link. Pages that were already open may not have the current extension script loaded yet.

2) Check microphone access

If recording does not start, Chrome or the operating system may be blocking the microphone.

1. Click the lock icon in the address bar.
2. Set Microphone to Allow for the current site.
3. Open chrome://settings/content/microphone and confirm the right input is selected.
4. On a managed Chromebook, ask school IT to confirm microphone permissions and extension policy.

For a deeper walkthrough, use the microphone permissions guide.

3) Try a clean recording and paste

Record a short test note, wait for upload to finish, then paste the full TAC link into the comment, document, speaker note, or text field where you want the feedback to appear.

If the pasted link stays as plain text, the note can still be opened as a normal link. The inline player depends on the current page, browser, and extension being able to convert the TAC link after paste. Use the inline player guide for those cases.

4) Check playback and sign-in blockers

If the link opens but audio will not play, try a normal browser tab outside embedded LMS frames first. Then check whether Chrome privacy settings, third-party cookie settings, school filters, or extensions are blocking TAC storage or playback.

Use the playback troubleshooting guide and browser storage guide when playback works in one browser context but not another.

5) Use school IT checks for managed devices

On district-managed Chrome devices, local troubleshooting may not be enough. School IT may need to allow the extension, TAC playback domains, microphone access, and browser storage behavior. Send them the school IT setup guide.

Still stuck?

Send the exact page where the problem happens, whether the device is school-managed, and which step failed: extension enabled, microphone access, upload, paste-to-player, or playback. Avoid sending student information in screenshots.