If a popup appears on a page or to a visitor where it shouldn’t, it’s almost always a display condition, caching, or cookie issue. Use the checklist below to find the cause.
Got the opposite problem? See The Popup Doesn’t Show Up.
Open the box’s Display Conditions and confirm the rule actually excludes the page or visitor you have in mind. For a URL exclusion, use the URL condition, set Match to Do not match, and enter the page path only (e.g. /contact) rather than the full address. A partial match is enough, and leaving the domain out keeps the rule working if the site moves to a new domain.
The URL condition checks whether the text you enter appears in the current page URL. If the box still shows on a page you excluded, the page’s real URL probably doesn’t contain the exact text you typed. Common reasons:
- A different SEF alias on the new site.
- An
Itemid or other query string in the URL.
- A language prefix (e.g.
/en/contact).
Open the page in your browser, copy the URL exactly as it appears in the address bar, and make sure the text in your condition is actually part of it.
Page-cache plugins serve the same saved HTML to everyone, so a visitor can receive a cached page that already includes the popup, even when your conditions say it shouldn’t appear for them. This causes the popup to appear when it should not, random appearances, and inaccurate device-condition results.
The usual culprits are Joomla Page Cache, LSCache (LiteSpeed), JotCache, Recache, and jSGCache. The fix is to stop using page-cache plugins and switch to Conservative Cache. See Stop Using Cache Plugins - Switch to Conservative Cache.
If the popup keeps reappearing and ignores the After Close Stay Hidden and/or Limit Impressions options, one of the following is usually responsible:
- Joomla cache: You’re seeing an outdated, cached version of the page served by a cache plugin like Page Cache, JotCache, Recache or jSGCache. Disable it and use the Cache Settings in Global Configuration instead.
- Test Mode is enabled: While the popup is in Test Mode, the cookie that hides it after closing is intentionally not created, so you can test faster. Disable Test Mode for normal behaviour.
- Your site is not using SSL: EngageBox uses the
nrid cookie to identify a visitor and count impressions. That cookie uses the Secure flag, which requires the site to run under HTTPS. Without SSL the cookie can’t be stored, so EngageBox can’t tell how many times the visitor has seen the popup.
- Statistics is disabled: The Statistics option is turned off in the extension’s configuration or in the popup’s Advanced tab. This affects the Limit Impressions feature.
- JavaScript errors: A JavaScript error is stopping the AJAX request that tracks impressions from running.
- Your site blocks cookies: If the
nrid cookie is blocked or deleted during page load, a popup set to appear a limited number of times will likely show on every page load.
After changing conditions or impression settings, clear your browser cookies and your Joomla and browser caches before testing, so you’re not judging the result against an old cookie or a cached page.
If the popup still appears where it shouldn’t, send us the exact URL of the page as it shows in your browser and a description of which visitors are seeing it, and we’ll confirm the right setup. See the full Troubleshooting EngageBox guide for more.
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