Chrome Debugger Extension For Convert Experiences

The fastest way to debug potential issues that arrive while setting up Convert experiments is by installing and using the Convert Experiences Tools Extension.

The extension helps you to optimize your experiment development, testing, and debugging through some key features:

1. Shows you detailed logging of experiment activity in your website pages.
2. Downloads the experiment snippet directly from the Convert app servers which eliminates the delay of experiment updates in the CDN server. Otherwise, you have to wait up to 5 minutes for the updates to be reflected on your web pages.
3. X-frame-security-header-options removed to allow you to see more sites in the visual editor.
4. Chrome SameSite strict cookies are modified for the white-listed sites so you can see iframes and other parts of your website in the Visual Editor.
5. Starting with version 1.11.0, the extension also includes additional QA and debugging controls for resetting Convert cookies, managing the QA cookie, testing Strict SameSite behavior, overriding the browser User-Agent, automatically opening previews in Incognito, temporarily disabling Convert Experiences, and injecting or swapping a Convert tracking code.

Install

You can install the extension through the Chrome store on the following page:

Convert Experiences Chrome Debugger Extension 

The features described in the Cookies, Settings, and Tracking Code sections below require Convert Experience Tools version 1.11.0 or later. You can check the installed version from Chrome > Extensions > Manage Extensions.

Permissions 

The extension needs two specific permissions to work properly:

• Read your browsing history
  Required to check if the domain of the current URL is whitelisted and connected to Convert Experiences.  Note: The extension only reads the minimum required information to properly run the features above described.
• Communicate with cooperating websites
  Required for communication between Sites and Convert Experiences application. Similar to the permission above, to check if the domain of the URL you are loading on Convert's Visual Editor is whitelisted or not and if so, run the features required to all. This then allows us to make the visual editor more workable and in case it’s missing settings show messages on how to improve the Chrome Extension settings. 

Setup 

After it is installed and enabled, you will see a little convert icon in the toolbar similar to the screenshot below:

To turn on the extension, click on it and  toggle the switch from OFF to ON, the final result should be similar to the image below:

And that's it! When a page that has Convert Experiences tracking code is loaded, just open the Google Chrome console and you'll see many debugging messages. To open the console click "Ctrl + Shift + J" or "Cmd +Shift + J".

The console will look like the image below. If you see a text from Convert in the console, then this will signal that Convert Experiences is installed on that site, and running correctly.  

If you do not see any of this text, the tracking script is not installed or not running properly. 

Cookies and QA controls

Open the Cookies tab to access the Convert-specific QA cookie tools. The existing Cookie Exception field remains available and lets you specify cookie names that should not be affected by the extension.

Clear Convert cookies

The Convert Cookies row detects the Convert cookies currently stored for the site. Click Clear to remove the Convert cookies in one action and quickly reset the visitor's Convert QA/bucketing state. This includes Convert cookies such as _conv_v, _conv_s, and _conv_qa when they are present.

After the cookies have been cleared, the extension recalculates the number of Convert cookies and the Clear button becomes unavailable when there is nothing left to remove.

QA Cookie

The QA Cookie control lets you add or remove the _conv_qa cookie directly from the extension. When added, the cookie contains the current Unix timestamp and places the browser into Convert QA mode.

You can also enable Auto. In Auto mode, the extension manages the QA cookie automatically when it detects a supported Convert QA or preview URL. Because the cookie is being managed automatically, the manual Add/Remove button is hidden while Auto is enabled.

If the expected QA cookie is not visible immediately after enabling Auto, refresh the page so the extension can evaluate the URL and set the cookie on page load.

Strict SameSite

Click Set Strict to force the SameSite attribute of Convert cookies on the current site to Strict. This is useful when you want to reproduce a more restrictive browser environment and test how your experiment or visitor recognition behaves when cross-site cookie behavior is restricted.

This control affects Convert cookies only; it does not change the customer's other site cookies. The extension remembers the previous SameSite values. After Strict mode has been applied, the button changes to Restore so you can return the cookies to their previous settings.

Settings

Click the gear icon to open the extension Settings. Version 1.11.0 includes controls for overriding the User-Agent, automatically reopening Convert preview URLs in Incognito, and disabling Convert Experiences. An enabled setting is visually highlighted so it is easier to see which options are currently active.

Override User-Agent

Use Override User-Agent to make the current browser tab identify itself using one of the predefined browser/device User-Agent options. This makes it possible to reproduce device- or browser-specific behavior without requiring a separate User-Agent extension.

Unlike a User-Agent override applied only inside the Visual Editor, the Chrome extension override affects pages opened in normal browser tabs. Select -- Inactive -- when you want Chrome to return to its normal User-Agent.

Auto-force incognito

Enable Auto-force incognito when you want Convert QA/preview URLs to open automatically in an Incognito window. When the extension recognizes a supported Convert preview URL, it captures the URL, closes the regular tab, and reopens the same URL in Incognito while preserving the Convert preview/authorization information.

This is especially useful when QA'ing experiments because it gives you a clean browser context without requiring you to manually copy the preview URL into a new Incognito window.

Disable Convert Experiments

Enable Disable Convert Experiments to prevent the Convert tracking script from loading. After refreshing the page, the site will load without Convert Experiences running.

This is useful when troubleshooting whether a behavior is caused by Convert or by the underlying website. Turn the option off and refresh the page when you want Convert Experiences to load normally again.

Tracking Code tools

The Tracking Code tab lets you temporarily run a different Convert project tracking code on a page without changing the tracking code installed in the website's source.

Copy the Convert tracking code snippet from the project you want to test and paste it into the Convert Tracking Code Snippet field.

You then have two ways to use it:

1. Inject Now — injects the pasted tracking code into the page you are currently viewing when the page allows the injection.
2. Inject at URL + Auto Inject — applies the pasted tracking code automatically whenever a matching URL is loaded.

Inject at URL and Auto Inject

Enter the beginning of the URL where you want the code to run, then enable Auto Inject. URL matching is prefix-based rather than an exact full-URL match. For example, entering https://www.example.com/ lets the rule apply to pages, paths, query strings, and Convert preview URLs that begin with that address.

Auto Inject now also supports tracking-code replacement. If the matching site does not already contain a Convert tracking code, the extension injects the code you supplied. If the site already runs another Convert tracking code, the extension prevents that existing tracking script from loading and substitutes the tracking code you supplied instead.

This allows you to test experiments from your own Convert project against a live website that is already using another Convert project, without changing the website's production code or affecting its normal visitors. The replacement happens only in the browser where the extension is enabled.

For example, you can create an experiment for a customer's live site in your own Convert project, paste your project's tracking code into the extension, configure the site's URL under Inject at URL, and enable Auto Inject. On the next page load, the extension can run your project's experiments instead of the site's normally installed Convert project.

Convert log entries are not showing on my console

You may have the situation that the Convert log entries do not show on the console even when the Convert tracking code and Convert Experiences Tools Extension is installed correctly.

This may be due to the fact that the Console settings are not on the "Verbose" mode.

To enable it, follow the instructions in the following image:

If after enabling "Verbose" mode, the console logs are not visible, please contact support.