Common issues

1. You changed a color but do not see it in the preview

Some colors only show up in specific situations—for example on hover, when an input is focused, after scrolling, or only on part of the new tab page.

In the creator, try interactions such as hovering over links or selecting the address bar. You can also install the theme in Chrome or Edge to check the actual browser interface.

2. You uploaded an image but it does not seem to apply

Common causes:

• After cropping or scaling, the visual change is subtle
• The image slot does not match what you are looking at (for example you changed the Toolbar image but you are viewing the New tab page)

Try a higher-contrast image and confirm you edited the area you are actually viewing.

3. The colors look nice but text is hard to read

Make sure New tab page text and tab text have enough contrast against their backgrounds before fine-tuning other colors.

4. The installed theme looks different from the preview

The most common cause is a mismatch between the theme’s preview size and your available screen work area. A different size changes how the background is scaled and cropped, so the installed image may look shifted, enlarged, or partially cut off.

If you create and export the theme yourself

In the Chrome Theme Creator, use your current device’s default Preview size. Awetheme detects the space available to the browser automatically, excluding areas reserved for the system menu bar, Dock, or taskbar.

If you download someone else’s theme

Check the Target work area on the theme details page and choose a theme that matches your own work area. You can also open the Chrome theme marketplace and select My screen (exactly) in the size filter.

Two or more monitors

The Creator’s default size comes from the screen where the browser window is currently located. Move the window to the monitor where you plan to use the theme, then reload the Creator or choose Reset to default size. If your monitors have different work areas, the same theme may also crop differently on each screen.

5. Advanced: locally edited files do not update after loading

If you use the theme exactly as exported by Awetheme, you can skip this section.

If you unzip a theme package, change images or manifest.json, load it into Chrome, and still do not see updates, old cache is usually the cause.

Try this in order:

1. If the theme folder contains Cached Theme.pak, delete it first
2. Go back to chrome://extensions and reload the theme (or remove it and use Load unpacked again)

In most cases Chrome rebuilds the cache from your updated files.

If it still does not update: open Chrome’s menu ⋮ → Settings → Appearance → Reset to default, then load your unpacked theme folder again from chrome://extensions. Clearing Cached Theme.pak alone is sometimes not enough—Chrome may keep serving the old theme until you return to the default theme first.

For what that file is, see What’s in a theme package.

6. How do I remove an installed theme?

Chrome menu ⋮ → Settings → Appearance → Reset to default (or restore the default theme).