Troubleshooting
- Purpose
- Find the message or symptom you are seeing, learn what causes it and what to do next.
- Who is this for
- Everyone
Each problem below is written as what you see on screen, followed by the cause and the fix. Where only an admin can fix it, the entry says what to ask for. Gembaa shows its own wording in a different language if you chose one in Your settings.
Signing in
"Authentication required"
You are not signed in. Sign in through your organisation's identity provider to continue. See Sign in and your account.
"You do not have access to Gembaa"
You signed in, but your account is deactivated or has not been set up in Gembaa. You cannot fix this yourself. Ask your administrator.
Admins: check the person in Members, SSO and provisioning. Check that the person has an active account there.
"Your access to Gembaa is blocked"
An administrator has blocked your access. Contact an administrator. Click Sign out if you want to sign in with a different account.
"Gembaa staff access is not enabled for this customer."
Only Gembaa staff see this screen. The customer administrator can enable staff access, as the screen says. Click Sign out to leave. See Support and Gembaa staff access.
"Still there?"
Gembaa says "You'll be signed out for inactivity." and "Anything you haven't saved will be lost." A countdown in minutes and seconds runs. Click Stay signed in to carry on. If you click Sign out or do nothing, you are signed out when the countdown ends. Esc does not close this box.
Access and missing items
"You don't have permission to view this, or it may not exist."
Gembaa shows the same message when a page or record is missing and when you are not allowed to see it. Gembaa does not say which, so that it never reveals what exists.
- Check that the link is complete and that the record has not been deleted.
- If it should exist, ask the person who sent the link, or an admin, whether you have access to it.
Admins: grant access by access group or on the record. See Access control and Permissions at a glance.
"You don't have permission to view these records"
You can open the module, but no access rule lets you see its records. The message continues "Contact your admin to request access." Ask an admin to add you to an access group that covers the module, as described in Access control.
"This feature is not enabled"
An admin switched that feature off for the whole workspace. The page adds "An administrator turned it off for this workspace." Nothing is lost, and nobody can use the feature until an admin switches it back on, admins included. Its menu item may also be missing, and a request to it can fail with the same words.
Ask an admin to turn it on. Admins: open Administration → Features. See Turn features on or off.
Linked record shows "Restricted"
The record exists, but you cannot open it. Gembaa shows Restricted in place of its name wherever one record links to another. Admins see the names. Ask an admin for access to the record. See Access control.
New record missing
A filter on your tab is probably hiding it. The record was still created. Clear the filter to see it. See Create, edit and delete records.
Admin-added field missing
A new field starts hidden in tabs that already exist. Open Customise and show the column. See Customise your table view.
A field is missing from the Add dialog
The field is behind Show all fields at the bottom of the dialog, which also shows how many more there are, for example Show all fields (3 more). Click it to reveal them. An admin hides a field there by unticking Always show during creation in the field's settings. Required fields and the record name always show. See Create, edit and delete records and Entities and fields.
A field cannot be edited
The field is read-only for you, or it is filled from your organisation's directory (your name and email, for example). Change it in the directory. If the field should be editable, ask an admin to check your access to it.
Kanban option greyed out
Gembaa says "The Kanban board isn't available for this entity", followed by the reason: it has no built-in Status field. Use the table instead. See Customise your table view.
Cannot drag Kanban card
The tooltip says "You don't have permission to move this card." Your access to this record does not let you change it. Ask an admin to review your access.
"No pulse-enabled entities yet"
Pulse is switched on for each module separately, and none has it yet.
Admins: open Administration → Features and turn Pulse on for the module, such as Project or Program. The page's Open Entity & fields button leads to a different screen, so use Features for the switch. See Turn features on or off and Pulse.
Comments
"Couldn't load comments"
The comments sheet could not fetch the thread. Click Retry. If it keeps failing, see the connection messages below.
"Couldn't post comment"
Gembaa shows the reason under the comment box, and your text stays in the box.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Write a comment first. | Type something, then click Post. |
| A comment holds at most 10,000 characters. Shorten it and post again. | Shorten the comment. The counter under the box shows how many characters are over the limit. |
| A mentioned person is not an active member. Remove the mention and post again. | Delete the mention, then post. |
| A reply cannot have replies. | Reply to the original comment instead. |
| This comment was deleted, so it cannot be changed or get a reply. | Start a new comment. |
If the toast "Couldn't edit comment" or "Couldn't delete comment" appears, the change was refused. Try again, and ask an admin to check your Comments permission if it keeps happening. See Comment on a record.
Comments icon missing
An admin switched Comments off for that type of record, or your Comments permission is Hidden. Ask an admin. See Turn features on or off and Access control.
Tables and editing
"Not saved"
Pressing Esc or clicking away discards an edit. Type the value again and press Enter to save it. In a picker that lets you choose several values, click Update to save your picks instead.
Red dot on tab
The tab has changes you have not saved, such as a filter, a sort or a column change. Hover the tab or Save changes to see what changed, grouped by area.
- Right-click the tab, or click the dot.
- Choose Save changes to keep the changes, or Revert changes to drop them.
If Save changes is disabled, an admin pinned the tab and its changes cannot be saved. Use Save as new tab to keep them.
If Gembaa shows "Couldn't save the changes", the save was refused. Your changes are kept and the tab stays unsaved, so try again or ask an admin to check your access. See Create and manage tabs.
"Nothing to save"
You entered the same value as before, so nothing changed. No action is needed.
"That value isn't allowed here."
The field has a rule that your value breaks, such as a required field or a format. Change the value and save again. If the message names a rule, follow it.
"Failed to load records."
The table could not fetch its rows. Click Retry. If it keeps failing, see the connection messages below.
Connection and server messages
A request failed before it finished. Each message names the cause.
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| You're offline | Your device has no connection. | Check your connection and try again. |
| Couldn't reach Gembaa | The server did not respond. | Check your connection and try again. |
| That took too long | The server did not answer in time. | Try again. |
| Couldn't load this | Something went wrong on the server. | Try again in a moment. |
| Too many requests | You sent requests too quickly. | Slow down for a moment, then try again. |
| Something went wrong | An unexpected error. | Try again, and tell your admin if it keeps happening. |
"This screen ran into a problem"
The screen itself broke. Nothing you did caused it and nothing was lost. Click Try again. If that does not clear it, click Reload the page.
"This value can't be calculated."
The tooltip continues "Please contact your administrator to correct the formula." A formula field has an error in its formula. Admins: open the field in Entities and custom fields and correct the formula.
Rollup shows a message
A rollup totals a field across child records. When it cannot, the cell says why.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| No child records yet | Add child records. |
| No child record has a value for this field | Fill in the field on the child records. |
| This rollup depends on itself, so it can't be calculated | Ask an admin to review the rollup field. |
| This rollup reads through too many levels to calculate | Ask an admin to review the rollup field. |
| There are too many child records to total | Ask an admin to review the rollup field. |
Formula will not save
Admins: Gembaa refuses to save a formula it cannot use and says why. Fix the formula, then save again.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Only a single-link Relation field can be followed: (field) | Follow only a Relation field that links one record. |
| (field) links several entity types, name one: (field:Type).(Field) | Add the entity type to the link, as described in Formula basics. |
| Unknown field on (type): (field) | Check the spelling of the field on the linked record. |
| Only one level of linked fields is allowed | Remove the second link from the formula. |
| count() accepts only a Multi-select, a Relation or a User field: (name) | Use count on one of those field types. |
See Fix formula problems.
"Display format is not valid"
The message ends with a reason. Admins: fix the Display format on the Number formula field.
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| it needs at least one 0 or # | Add a 0 or #. |
| it has more than one decimal point | Keep one decimal point. |
| it has more than one % | Keep one %. |
| a thousands comma cannot follow the decimal point | Move the comma before the decimal point. |
Import and export
No Import data button
Only admins can import data. If you call the import directly, Gembaa says "Importing data is restricted to workspace admins." Ask an admin to run the import. See Import from CSV.
"Couldn't export"
The export did not finish. Try again. If the connection messages above appear, fix the connection first. Exports include only the records you are allowed to see. See Export data.
PowerPoint
"Couldn't export the PowerPoint"
The deck did not build. Try again from the deck builder. If the message returns, tell your admin.
Slide data did not load
Gembaa shows "Couldn't load this slide's data" with Retry, or "This slide's data didn't load" followed by an instruction to retry it first. Click Retry on that slide, then build the deck again.
Deck will not build
Fix the message it shows, then try again.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Add at least one slide. | Click Add slide. |
| A deck can hold at most 20 slides | Remove slides until the deck fits. |
| Choose at least one column. | Tick a column on the Table slide. |
| Choose at least one indicator. | Tick an indicator on the Pulse matrix slide. |
| Choose at least one section to include. | Tick a section on the one-pager slide. |
| Choose at least one field. | Tick a field on the one-pager slide. |
| Choose at least one record. | Tick a record on the one-pager slide. |
Company template not used
The template only applies once its layouts are mapped. Admins: on the PowerPoint template card, the status must read Active. If it reads Needs mapping, choose a layout for each kind of slide and click Save mapping. Each layout needs a title placeholder. See PowerPoint template.
Template upload rejected
Admins only. Gembaa checks the file and shows one of these messages.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| The file exceeds the 20 MB limit. | Shrink the file, for example by compressing images. |
| This is not a valid PowerPoint file (.potx or .pptx). | Save the file again from PowerPoint as .potx or .pptx. |
| Macro-enabled PowerPoint files (.potm, .pptm) are not accepted. | Save a copy without macros as .potx or .pptx. |
| The file contains macros, which are not accepted. | Remove the macros and save again. |
| The file contains embedded objects or controls, which are not accepted. | Delete embedded objects and controls from the master and layouts. |
| The file links to external content. Remove external links and try again. | Break or remove linked images and other external links. |
| The template's slide size must be widescreen 16:9. | Change the slide size to widescreen 16:9. |
| The template has no slide layouts. | Add at least one layout to the master. |
Allocation
Cannot type in cell
Gembaa says "This is an aggregate cell (read-only)". A total cell adds up several allocations. Drill down to one allocation on one person and project to edit it. See Allocation.
Allocation disabled or deactivated
An admin turned allocation off for that person, or their account is deactivated. Gembaa says "Allocation is disabled for (name). They can't be allocated." (or "(name) is deactivated, so they can't be allocated."). Their past allocations stay and can only be deleted. They are greyed out in the Add allocation dialog, and they have no capacity in totals.
Admins: to allocate the person again, turn allocation back on with the Allocation disabled card on the Allocation tab of Entity & fields. Reactivate a deactivated person instead.
To disable someone who still has current or future allocations, Gembaa shows Allocation can't be disabled with View allocations. Remove those allocations first. See Allocation settings.
"Too large" or "Enter a number"
An allocation value must be 0 or more and cannot exceed 100,000 hours. Enter a smaller number.
No scenario controls
Scenario controls are hidden while your workspace has a single scenario. They appear once an admin adds a second one under the Allocation tab of Entity & fields. See Allocation settings.
"No finance entry"
No finance entry covers that person, so Gembaa uses the workspace default capacity as their target. Admins: add a finance entry for the person. See Finance.
The grid says "No allocations match your filters"
The filters on your tab exclude every allocation in the scenario shown. Click Clear filters, or Open filters to loosen them.
Language
Screen stays in English
Choosing a language translates the app's own words only. These stay as they are written:
- The contents of exported files (CSV, Excel and images).
- Names an admin set in Terminology.
- Status and choice values, and your record data.
- Month and weekday names in dates and the date picker.
The date picker starts the week on Monday with the European date format and on Sunday with the US format. Your admin sets the date format, not your language. See Your settings.
Theme will not save
Gembaa says the theme changed since you opened it and asks you to reload before saving. Someone else saved the theme while you had it open. Reload the page, make your change again and save. See Theme and colours.