Fix common issues with Google Workspace add-ons – Select Special help

If you’re having trouble installing or running the Select Special add-on in Google Sheets, you’re at the right place. Below are the most common issues and how to solve them.

Installation or usage issue: Multiple Google accounts

Problem: If you click Install and see messages like Bad Request: Error 400 or Too many redirects, it usually means you’re signed in to multiple Google accounts. Google Workspace add-ons don’t support multi-login, or being logged into multiple Google accounts at once.
This also affects how the add-ons function after the installation.

Fix: To fix this, sign out from all your Google accounts and sign back in with just the account where you want to install the add-on.

Selection limit: Too many active ranges

For some reasons, Google Sheets can’t select many individual cells at once. If you select too many non-contiguous cells/ranges, the browser tab may freeze or crash with an unresponsive page message.

Add-on actions fail with a network error when many ranges are selected

Problem: If you have 80 or more non-contiguous ranges selected in the spreadsheet, any add-on action that works with your data — such as selecting results, expanding rows, or adding formulas — may fail with a network error.

This is a known Google Apps Script bug. When too many ranges are selected, Google’s infrastructure rejects the add-on’s requests before they are even processed.

Fix: Click on any single cell in the spreadsheet to clear the selection, then run the action.

Blank or unresponsive add-on window

Problem: If the add-on shows a blank screen or some features aren’t working, required resources may be blocked by your browser, antivirus software, ad blockers, or your company security policies. This may also happen due to a poor internet connection, or when the page is not refreshed for an extended period of time. All these prevent the add-on from loading correctly and functioning as expected.

Possible fixes:

Make sure your internet connection is stable.
Refresh the page and try again.
Disable browser extensions that block external scripts, like ad blockers. Or whitelist the domains from the list below.
Check your antivirus/firewall settings. Make sure to whitelist the domains from the list below.
If you’re on a corporate network, ask your IT team to allow these domains.

Domains to whitelist:

select-special-t1.cellstronaut.com
select-special-t2.cellstronaut.com
*.googleusercontent.com
docs.google.com

Problem: Sometimes the only item you see in the Extensions add-on menu is Help.
This may happen when:

Your spreadsheet contains a large number of custom formulas.
You have too many add-ons installed in your account.
Other add-ons or custom formula recalculations are running in other open spreadsheets.
See Limitations for Google Services.
Your internet connection is slow or unstable.