🔘FolderTube's Purple Button Not Showing on YouTube? Here's the Fix

Why extension buttons disappear from a page

Browser extensions that inject UI into a page (rather than just living in the toolbar) depend on the page loading correctly and on the extension being active when it does. A handful of ordinary situations can prevent the purple button from appearing, and none of them mean your folders or data are lost:

• The extension is disabled or was accidentally turned off in Chrome's extension settings.
• The YouTube tab was open before the extension was installed or re-enabled, so it never got the chance to inject the button.
• Another YouTube-modifying extension is changing the same part of the page and the two are stepping on each other.
• The installed version is out of date and missing a fix that a newer release already shipped.
• YouTube updated its own page layout and the button briefly failed to attach until the extension reloads.

Step 1: Confirm FolderTube is enabled

1. Open a new tab and go to chrome://extensions.
2. Find FolderTube in the list.
3. Make sure the toggle next to it is switched on. If it is off, switch it on.

This sounds obvious, but extensions can get disabled by Chrome itself after certain browser updates, or by accident if you were cleaning up your extension list.

Step 2: Close and reopen your YouTube tabs

If FolderTube was just installed, just re-enabled, or just updated, any YouTube tab that was already open before that point may not have the button. Content scripts generally only attach when a page loads fresh.

1. Close every open YouTube tab.
2. Open a new tab and go to youtube.com.
3. Check the top-right of the masthead for the purple FolderTube button.

Step 3: Update FolderTube to the latest version

Chrome usually updates extensions automatically in the background, but that process can lag. Forcing a check makes sure you are on the current release.

1. Go to chrome://extensions.
2. Turn on 'Developer mode' using the toggle in the top-right corner of the page.
3. Click the 'Update' button that appears at the top of the extensions list.
4. Reopen YouTube once the update finishes.

Step 4: Check for conflicts with other YouTube extensions

If you run other extensions that also modify YouTube's layout — ad blockers with custom YouTube rules, theme extensions, or other subscription-management tools — one of them may be interfering with where FolderTube tries to inject its button.

1. Go to chrome://extensions and temporarily disable other YouTube-related extensions one at a time.
2. After disabling each one, reload YouTube and check whether the purple button appears.
3. If disabling a specific extension fixes it, you have found the conflict. Re-enable that extension only when you need it, or check whether it has a setting to exclude YouTube.

Step 5: Try an incognito window

Opening YouTube in an incognito window (with FolderTube allowed to run in incognito) isolates the page from most other extensions and any cached browser state. If the button shows up there but not in your normal window, something in your regular profile — a conflicting extension or stale cache — is the cause.

1. Go to chrome://extensions, find FolderTube, and click 'Details'.
2. Turn on 'Allow in Incognito' if it is not already enabled.
3. Open an incognito window and go to youtube.com.

What to read next

Once the button is back, the complete guide to organizing YouTube subscriptions covers the setup from there. If folders themselves are not syncing correctly, see FolderTube not syncing.