Let Otto browse the web with Chrome or Safari

Switch on Web browsing and Otto can browse, read, and research the web using your own signed-in browser, so pages load the way they do for you, already logged in.

Turn on Web browsing

1. Open the Connections screen.
2. Under Tool access, find Web browsing (Chrome) or Web browsing (Safari).
3. Switch it on. Once it is on, the Browser control tool reads as ready for Otto to use.

If you do not see it there yet, look under Discover integrations on the same screen.

It uses your own signed-in browser

This is the whole point. Otto works inside a real browser session with your sign-ins, so it can read the pages you can read.

• Web browsing (Chrome) opens a dedicated Chrome window that keeps its own sign-ins between runs, including in the background while a play works. Anything that submits, uploads, or posts always waits for you.
• Web browsing (Safari) reads pages already open in your own Safari or Safari Technology Preview, with your real sign-ins, and can open new pages to read. It can never fill a form, upload, or post.

Want Otto to work in the very same Chrome you use every day, with all your real logins? Turn on Web tasks use my own browser in Settings (it needs Control this computer switched on too). That routes web work through your own signed-in Chrome - the recommended path for marketplaces that reject automated browsers, like GigSalad.

What it unlocks

Turning on a Web browsing connection lets Otto browse, read, and research with your own sign-ins. It also powers Facebook & Messenger: once a Web browsing connection is on and you have signed in to Facebook in its window, Otto can read your groups, threads, comments, and Messenger there. As always, any reply waits for your approval before it goes anywhere.

Chrome or Safari?

• Chrome works on Mac and Windows. It can open pages on its own and keep working in the background. It can act on the web (submit, upload, post), but only after you approve it.
• Safari is Mac only. It is read only: it looks at what your Safari session can see and opens pages to read, and it never fills forms or posts.

If it does not switch on

• Chrome needs the free Node.js tool installed first. If the switch will not turn on, install Node.js from nodejs.org, then try again.
• No Chrome on this computer? Since version 1.11.8, browsing also works with Microsoft Edge when Chrome is absent.
• Safari asks macOS for permission the first time it runs. If it is blocked, allow it under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation, then try again.
• Do not see Web browsing (Safari) at all? It only appears on a Mac.

Still stuck? Email bookedsolid@kivimedia.freshdesk.com and a person will help.