How To Fix ChatGPT Plugins Not Showing Up
ChatGPT spread like wildfire following its official launch in 2022. The revolutionary technology hit its first big milestone — 1 million users – five days after launch, and it now records more than 60 million daily visits. Since its arrival, the platform has received a number of updates, one of the most significant being theintroduction of plugin supportin March 2023.
Theseplugins are smart extensionsthat apply ChatGPT technology to real-world situations and provide well-tailored answers depending on the user’s needs. They are also important for overcoming the limitations placed on the AI. If you’re a frequent user of ChatGPT, you may have noticed that it cannot generate answers to questions about events that occurred after September 2021, for example.
Plugins have broken this barrier. For example, the official ChatGPT browsing plugin allows the chatbot to browse the internet and get information on recent events. Additionally, ChatGPT-powered plugins like the one offered by Instacart enable consumers to use existing platforms in new ways — in the case of Instacart, its plugin allows users to ask questions and make requests using natural language.
What are ChatGPT plugins?
In March 2023,OpenAIannounced that it was testing plugins for ChatGPT with a handful of partners, including companies like Kayak, Instacart, and Expedia. Put simply, plugins are a way for these external third-party services to be used with ChatGPT — assuming you install and enable the plugins you want to use within your ChatGPT account, that is. For example, if you install and enable the Wolfram plugin, you can use it to get answers to math problems by presenting them to ChatGPT and then telling the chatbot that you want WolframAlpha to solve the equations.
Why ChatGPT plugins aren’t showing up
How to enable ChatGPT plugins
Once you’ve signed up for a ChatGPT Plus subscription, you will need to head into your account settings and manually enable the plugins feature. At the time of writing, these plugins are still being tested and the feature is in beta. That means you may encounter bugs and other issues when using the integrations. Here’s how to enable ChatGPT plugins:
Open ChatGPT in a web browser.
Click Settings in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Click the Beta Features option.
Toggle on the switch next to Plugins in the prompt that appears.
Once you have enabled the plugins beta feature, you can close the prompt. Select the GPT-4 tab at the top of the screen to switch to the higher-quality chatbot. Below the tab, you will see a box that includes a section called “Plugins (Beta).” At this point, you will need to install the plugins you want to use:
Once you return to the ChatGPT console interface, you will see the plugins you installed listed under the GPT-4 tab. Click the drop-down arrow next to the plugin icons to reveal the full list of plugins, then check the box next to the ones you want to enable. As long as the plugins are enabled, ChatGPT will utilize them as part of the conversations it has with you. You can disable the plugins by reversing these steps.
How to enable ChatGPT chat history
Tap on your profile in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Select Settings.
Select Data Controls.
Enable “Chat history and training.”
Refresh your browser tab.
Click on the GPT-4 tab where the plugins should now be visible.
Alternatively, you’re able to simply look at the top-right corner of your ChatGPT window for a note stating that the chat history is turned off. If that’s the case, just tap the Enable Chat History option to turn it back on. After that, click on the GPT-4 tab, and voilà, your plugins should be accessible again.
Troubleshooting ChatGPT plugins
If closing and reopening the browser didn’t fix the issue, you should try clearing your browser’s cache. The exact steps required to do this will vary slightly depending on which browser you’re using, but they all follow the same general menu layout:
Open your browser’s Settings menu.
Type “cache” into the search bar.
Click on the cache menu option that appears.
Tap the “Clear cookies and other site data” option.
As mentioned, this will log you out of your ChatGPT account. Don’t panic! Sign back in, go to the GPT-4 tab, and your plugins should be visible. If the issue persists, there are a couple of other things you can try before reaching out to OpenAI for support: disable your browser’s extensions one by one to see whether the plugins reappear, try using a different browser, and then restart your computer.
