Troubleshooting

This page gathers the problems readers most often meet, grouped by what you were doing at the time. Each entry quotes the message Pangur shows, explains what caused it, and says what to do. The limits quoted here are Pangur's defaults, which an administrator can change, so Plans, limits and usage is the authority for your own deployment. If nothing on this page fits, see Get help for how to reach a person.

Signing in and accountsCopy Anchor Link

Sign-up says it is by waitlistCopy Anchor Link

The message "Registration is by waitlist at the moment. Join it at /waitlist." means that your deployment admits new accounts from a waitlist rather than through open sign-up. Choose Join the waitlist and fill in the form. When your place is ready, Pangur emails you a link to set your password, and the link works for seven days. There is one shortcut: an address at a domain that an organisation has opened is admitted straight away, as long as the organisation still has free seats.

A confirmation or reset link has expiredCopy Anchor Link

Pangur's emailed links each last a fixed time. A sign-up confirmation link lasts two days, a password-reset link one hour, and the set-password link sent after approval seven days. An expired confirmation link says "That link has expired. Sign up again and we'll send a new one.", and signing up again with the same address gets you a fresh one. An expired reset link says "That link has expired. Request a new one below.", and you enter your address again and choose Send a reset link.

When you confirm a new account, Pangur asks for the password you chose at sign-up. If you see "That isn't the password you chose when you signed up.", the two do not match, so type the original password.

Too many sign-in attemptsCopy Anchor Link

"Too many attempts. Try again in a moment." appears after ten sign-in attempts for the same address from the same place within five minutes. Wait a few minutes, or reset your password with Forgot password?.

Cannot add another accountCopy Anchor Link

A browser can hold up to five signed-in accounts. "You can be signed in to 5 accounts at once. Sign out of one first." means you have reached that number, so sign out of one in Settings, Accounts, and then add the new one. A different message, "That account's session has ended. Sign in to it again.", means that an account you switched to has been signed out on the server and simply needs signing in again.

The Mac or iPhone app does not finish signing inCopy Anchor Link

Pangur for Mac and for iPhone and iPad sign you in through the system browser, so a sign-in can fail at the hand-off between the browser and the app. "Browser sign-in did not complete. Please try again." means the browser window was closed or the sign-in was cancelled before it finished. Choose Continue in browser again and complete the sign-in there. "Pangur could not finish signing in (HTTP …). Please try again." means Pangur's server refused or could not complete the exchange. Try again, and if it keeps failing, check that pangur.io opens in a browser at all.

ProjectsCopy Anchor Link

Cannot create another projectCopy Anchor Link

"An account can have up to 12 projects." means you have reached the limit on personal projects. Either remove a project you no longer need, or keep related work in collections within one project. Organisation projects do not count towards the twelve, but they are not offered everywhere: "Organisation projects are not available yet." means they are switched off for your deployment.

Cannot remove a projectCopy Anchor Link

Pangur refuses to remove a project in three cases.

• "This is your only project. Create another before removing it." (or "An account keeps at least one project."): every account keeps at least one personal project, so create another before removing this one.
• "Wait for the running import to finish first.": one of your imports is still running or copying files. Wait for it to finish in Activity, then remove the project.
• The Remove button is missing altogether: only a project's owner can remove it, and in an organisation project only an owner or an organisation admin.

Another project already has that addressCopy Anchor Link

"Another project already has that address." means one of your other projects uses the address you typed, so choose a different one. In an organisation the message reads "Another project in the organisation already has that address."

An assistant or the command line works in the wrong projectCopy Anchor Link

Assistants and the command line use your default project, which is the project you opened most recently on any device. Open the project you want in the web client or an app, and they use it from the next call onwards. An assistant can also name a project on almost every call, and the command line takes --connection with a project's id or address on most commands, although some commands have no --connection option and always use the default project.

An item is outside the collection scopeCopy Anchor Link

Either of the messages "That item is outside this connection's collection scope." or "This connection is scoped to a single collection, and that target is outside it." means the project has been scoped to one collection and the item or target is not in it. Add the item to that collection, or have the project's owner set Scope to collection: back to Whole library in Project settings.

Adding sourcesCopy Anchor Link

No PDF was attachedCopy Anchor Link

After you save a work, Pangur looks for a PDF in a fixed order and reports what it found. Two outcomes need something from you.

• "No open-access PDF — open it via your institution and drop the PDF below." means the only route Pangur found goes through your institution. It has attached a link titled "Access via institution"; open it, download the PDF from the publisher, and add it to the item.
• "No PDF found. You can upload one." means no source had a copy at all. Add the PDF yourself if you have one.

Pangur does not look for a PDF for web pages, news and magazine articles, blog posts, videos or podcasts. To have paywalled works linked through your library, set up institutional access in Settings, Institution. The order of the search and what each outcome means are in Where PDFs come from.

Searches are rate limitedCopy Anchor Link

Searches of outside catalogues are limited per minute. "Too many searches. Try again in a moment." (or "Too many lookups…") appears after 20 searches or lookups in a minute, and "Too many suggestions at once. Try again in a moment." after 60 suggestion requests in a minute. Waiting a minute clears both. Two other messages come from the catalogue rather than from Pangur: "Rate limited. Try again shortly." under Not in your library means the outside catalogue refused the search for the moment, so choose Retry a little later, and "External search failed." means the outside search did not answer.

A file was stored but not identifiedCopy Anchor Link

In the Files being added tray, "Stored; needs a reference" means Pangur kept the file but could not find a DOI, ISBN or arXiv identifier in its first pages. The file is not lost. Choose the suggested title if it is right, or Add details… to describe the work yourself. What Pangur reads from a file, and what happens after you choose, is described in Add files you already have.

A file was not addedCopy Anchor Link

The tray counts files of kinds Pangur does not accept as "not added". Images are the usual cause, because they are not added through the tray: add photographs of a source through an item's Add a copy, or as described in Photograph a manuscript. Files over 1,024 MB are refused.

A file would pass the plan's storageCopy Anchor Link

"This would pass your plan's … GB of storage. Remove something, or move to a plan with more room." means the upload would take you over your plan's storage, which is 2 GB on Free and 20 GB on Researcher by default. Delete files you do not need, or change plan. In an organisation project the message names the organisation instead, because an organisation's storage is pooled; ask an organisation admin.

The library is busyCopy Anchor Link

"Pangur's library is busy. Try again shortly." means Pangur's library store could not take the upload at that moment. Try again after a short wait. Repeating the same upload is safe.

A bulk import will not start or stops part-wayCopy Anchor Link

Only one bulk import runs at a time in a project, so "A bulk import is already running for this connection" means you need to wait for the other one to finish. A bulk import shown as "rate-limited, resuming" is waiting for an outside service and continues by itself. One that stopped with failures can be continued with Retry unfinished in Project settings, under Bulk imports, and an import that saved references without looking for PDFs offers Find PDFs there. "Nothing to import: every reference was skipped" lists why each entry was skipped, usually because it is already in the library.

Importing from Zotero failsCopy Anchor Link

• "Zotero connection failed." on the welcome page means the zotero.org authorisation did not finish. Choose Try zotero.org again.
• "This Zotero library was connected for another project. Connect it again from the project you want it in." means the zotero.org connection belongs to a different project, so start the import from the project you want to fill.
• "Stopped at …" followed by an error means the import stopped part-way. Importing again resumes where it stopped and copies nothing twice.
• "Zotero isn't answering on this Mac." means the Zotero desktop app is not running, or its local access is off. Open Zotero and try again.

The whole import, including what is copied and what stays behind, is described in Import from Zotero.

A digitised facsimile will not linkCopy Anchor Link

"Facsimile lookup is not configured on this server." means your deployment cannot resolve repository viewer addresses. A message saying there is no shelfmark to link a facsimile to means the item has no shelfmark yet; add one in the item's archive location (or call number) and try again. What Pangur asks the repository for is described in Link a digitised facsimile.

Photographs stay "Preparing"Copy Anchor Link

Pangur's background worker prepares each photograph for zooming after it arrives, and the copy shows Preparing until it has finished. Large batches take a while. "Some could not be prepared" means some images failed and the others are usable. "Add a repository and shelfmark first." means a photograph for a manuscript needs the manuscript's repository and shelfmark before it can be filed.

ReadingCopy Anchor Link

A file will not openCopy Anchor Link

"Could not open this PDF. Download it, or try again later." means the reader could not load the file. Download it to check the file itself, or try again later. "This … cannot be shown here. Try the extracted text, or download it." means Pangur has no viewer for the format, so switch the reader to Extracted text or download the file. Legacy Word .doc files are stored but not shown.

A source has no textCopy Anchor Link

"No extractable text in this attachment.", "Saved. A scan with no text layer." and "This item has no text yet." all mean that Pangur holds no readable text for the file or item. There are a few possible reasons. A file added a moment ago may still be being read, in which case waiting a few minutes is enough. A scan may have no text layer, and OCR does not run on manuscripts or letters. In the last case, give the item a text by adding a PDF with text or by transcribing its page images. What can and cannot be read is set out in How Pangur reads your sources.

A highlight was not savedCopy Anchor Link

• "Pangur cannot be reached, and this project is not kept in this browser yet, so the change was not saved." means you were offline in a project that this browser has no copy of yet. Open the project's library while online so that the browser keeps a copy, then try again.
• "Rate limited. Try again in a moment." and "Saving failed on our side. Try again." are temporary. Try again.
• "The library refused that highlight." means you do not have permission to change the item, for example because you are a viewer of an organisation project.

Controls are greyed out with "Viewers can read, ask and export"Copy Anchor Link

You are a viewer in an organisation project. Viewers can read, ask questions, save their own Ask answers and export, but they cannot change the project. Ask an owner to make you an editor; the roles are set out in Project members and roles.

Analysis marks are hiddenCopy Anchor Link

"Text changed since analysis. Marks are hidden until it is read again." means the file's text is no longer the text that the analysis read. Read the source again on its Analysis tab to see the marks.

AskCopy Anchor Link

"Your library is being read."Copy Anchor Link

This notice appears on Ask while Pangur has not yet read any of the library's files. Until it has, answers come from titles, abstracts and notes only. The notice counts the sources read so far and those that cannot be read. Wait a few minutes and ask again.

Ask says a work has no full textCopy Anchor Link

"… is in your library, but no full text is held: only the catalogue entry (and its abstract)." means Pangur has the work's record but no readable text, and Ask declines to answer about the work from the record alone. Choose Add a PDF, or accept Ask's offer to look for one, and ask again once the file has been read.

Ask finds nothingCopy Anchor Link

"Nothing in your library matches that question closely enough to answer from." means no passage matched. Rephrase the question in the words your sources use, name a work, or check that the relevant files have been read. A related message, "I could not find … in your library, so this answer does not draw on it.", names works or people you mentioned that are not in the library.

Ask shows passages but no answerCopy Anchor Link

"The model is not switched on, so here are the passages that match." means your deployment has no model available for Ask. In that case the home page's search offers Find passages in place of Ask, and Pangur shows the matching passages without writing an answer.

Ask refuses a question because of a limitCopy Anchor Link

• "That is a lot of questions in an hour. Try again shortly." appears after 20 questions in an hour.
• "You've asked 25 questions in the last 30 days on the free plan." means you have asked 25 questions in the last 30 days on the Free plan. Each question stops counting 30 days after you asked it, and the Usage page says when the oldest drops off.
• "You've met today's fair-use allowance. It resets tomorrow." means you have asked 200 questions in 24 hours on a paid plan.
• "You have used this library's model allowance for today. It resets at midnight UTC." means you have used the day's model tokens across Ask, summaries and analysis.

Questions that an assistant answers over MCP do not count towards any of these, because the assistant's own model does the work (Models, assistants and who pays).

A summary or full write-up is refusedCopy Anchor Link

• "This work has no indexed text yet — it may still be in the indexing queue, or it has no readable file." means the work cannot be summarised until its text has been read.
• "Reading this work would use more than today's remaining model allowance…" means the work is too long for what is left of today's allowance. For a work in several volumes, summarise one volume by choosing its file, or ask again after midnight UTC.
• "A summary of this work is already being written." means one is in progress, and it appears under the work's Outputs when it is done.
• "Long-form synthesis is not switched on for this deployment." means Expand — full write-up is not available. "You have used today's 4 full write-ups. The allowance resets at midnight UTC." means you have reached the daily number.

An answer stopped with an errorCopy Anchor Link

"Something went wrong. Reference: …" means the answer failed on Pangur's server. Ask again, and if it happens a second time, contact support and quote the reference. If your connection drops while an answer is being written, Pangur finishes the answer on the server and the page fetches it when you reconnect.

AnalysisCopy Anchor Link

• "Analysis is not enabled on this deployment." means analysis is switched off for your deployment.
• "This item has no text yet. Transcribe its pages or add a file with text; a file added a moment ago may still be being read." means the source needs a text before it can be analysed.
• "This item is already being analysed." means a reading is running, and its progress shows on the item's Analysis tab.
• A reading marked partial with "… of … batches were read before the daily allowance ran out." kept what it read. Read the source again after midnight UTC to finish it; your corrections carry over.

How a reading is divided into batches and what the states mean are in How analysis works.

TranscriptionCopy Anchor Link

• "Line detection is not configured on this server." or "Reading with AI is not switched on for this server." means that part of transcription is not available on your deployment. You can still transcribe by hand.
• "That is 20 two-pass manuscript transcriptions today, which is the daily limit." and "That is 40 folio readings today, which is the daily limit…" mean you have reached the daily number of model readings. Each one counts for 24 hours from its first use.
• "This transcription changed elsewhere. Reload before saving." means someone, or you in another tab, saved the transcription since you opened it. Reload the page.
• "Your edits are still here. Saving stopped after an error." means automatic saving stopped. Choose Retry save.
• "Detect the lines on this leaf before aligning supplied text." means you need to choose Detect lines before aligning a transcription you paste.
• "The model returned no text for this leaf." or "The model could not read any of the … lines on this leaf." means the model's reading failed. Try again, or supply a transcription and align it.

The desk is described in Transcribe a manuscript, and the model readings in Reading pages with a model.

RecordingsCopy Anchor Link

• "Your plan's transcription minutes for this month are used up." or "This recording is … minutes long and … minutes of transcription are left on your plan this month." means the recording needs more transcription minutes than you have left. Minutes reset each calendar month (UTC), and the defaults are 60 on Free and 1,200 on paid plans.
• "This video plays on its own site: its transcript is the captions it publishes." means a YouTube or Vimeo video cannot be transcribed by Pangur. If the video publishes captions, those are its transcript.
• "Transcription is not set up on this server." means speech transcription is not available on your deployment.
• "Making a playable copy. Ready in a few minutes." means the browser cannot play the original format and Pangur is converting it.

Recordings, their transcripts and the minutes each plan includes are covered in Record audio and video.

AssistantsCopy Anchor Link

The connector will not connectCopy Anchor Link

Claude and ChatGPT normally register themselves with Pangur when you paste the connector URL. If your organisation blocks that, open the manual setup in Settings, Assistants and command line ("Manual setup, if it doesn't connect on its own"), and enter the public OAuth client ID it shows, leaving the client secret blank. Remember too that connectors are added on the web or desktop version of Claude or ChatGPT, not in the phone apps. The full steps are in Connect Claude, ChatGPT or a coding agent.

An assistant reports a refusalCopy Anchor Link

• "Your account is on the waitlist and not yet approved." means the Pangur account the connector signed in with has not been admitted yet.
• "This account has no project yet. Create one at pangur.io or in the Pangur app, then try again." means the account has no project, so create one.
• "No project '…' on this account." means the assistant named a project that does not exist. It can list your projects with list_projects.
• "Editing and deleting are not available to assistants…" means the assistant tried to change or delete something. Assistants can only add, so make the change yourself in the web client or with the command line.
• "Pangur does not call a model on behalf of an MCP session…" means the assistant asked Pangur to run one of its models. The assistant should ask for the materials instead and do the work with its own model.
• "That library is available only as an import source. Pangur writes to its own library." means the assistant tried to write to a connected zotero.org library, which Pangur only imports from.
• "Viewers can read, ask and export, but not change the project." means you are a viewer of the project.

The rules that assistants work under are explained in Assistants and Pangur.

The command lineCopy Anchor Link

• "not logged in" or "session expired" means the command line has no valid sign-in. Run pangur login.
• "this sign-in is out of date" means the saved sign-in came from an older client. Run pangur login again.
• "device authorization failed" when signing in means the device sign-in was refused, so try pangur login --browser instead. "login timed out — code expired" means the code was not approved in time; run pangur login again.
• "This sign-in is not one Pangur's API accepts. Sign in with the Pangur app, the website or the pangur CLI." means the request used a sign-in issued to another client, such as an assistant's connector.

Installing and signing in are covered in The command line, and every command in the command-line reference.

Working offlineCopy Anchor Link

• "Offline. Showing the copy in this browser." means Pangur cannot be reached, and the library you see is the copy this browser keeps. Changes you make are queued.
• "One change made here is waiting to be sent." (or a number of changes) means queued changes will be sent when the connection returns. Keep the page open, or come back online and open the library.
• "Also changed in your library. Choose which to keep." means an item you changed offline was also changed elsewhere. Choose Keep mine, Use the library's or, for a note, Keep both.
• "Your library did not take this change." means the server refused a queued change, for example because you no longer have permission. Dismiss it, and make the change again if it is still needed.
• On iPhone and iPad, a section such as Ask or Write that says it needs a connection works only online. Items you kept on the device are readable in Library.

What each device keeps and how conflicts are settled are explained in Working offline.

Exports, publishing and the accountCopy Anchor Link

• "An export of this project is already being prepared. You will get an email when it is ready." means one export of the project is running already. Wait for its email.
• "… parts could not be exported; see README.txt." means the export finished but some parts failed. The README.txt in the ZIP lists them.
• "Sign in again before deleting your account." means deletion needs a sign-in within the last ten minutes. Sign out, sign in again, and delete straight away.
• "Publishing is not available on this server." means exhibitions are switched off for your deployment.
• "The free plan keeps 1 exhibition live at a time. Unpublish one first, or move to the Researcher plan." means you already have a published exhibition on the Free plan.
• A background task in Activity marked Needs you is waiting for something only you can do, such as adding a PDF through your institution. Open it to see what.

The pages behind these are Export your work or delete your account, Publish, protect and take down an exhibition and Background work and notifications.