Find what you are seeing in the list below. Each entry says what is probably happening, what you can safely try yourself, and when to hand it to a developer. Nothing in this guide can lose data: where a step cannot be undone, it says so first.
Asking a developer. When an entry says ask a developer, send them the name in italics after it. It is the heading of the matching section in their own instructions, so they can start straight away.
- The site will not load at all
- "Outreach engine needs attention" on the dashboard
- Emails are not going out
- Replies are not appearing in the inbox
- Someone cannot sign in
- An invite did not arrive, or the link does not work
- An AI feature says to wait
- An import failed or found nothing
- Changes will not save, all over the app
- A CAM is leaving
- Something else
The site will not load at all
What you see: the page spins and then shows an error, or says the service is unavailable — for everyone, not just you.
What is probably happening: 180Connect runs on free plans. The database goes to sleep if nobody uses the app for about a week, for example over a holiday. It does not wake up on its own.
What you can do:
- Check it is not just you: ask a colleague to open the site.
- Try again in five minutes, in case it was a short outage.
If it still will not load: ask a developer — Database paused. Waking it takes a few minutes and loses nothing.
"Outreach engine needs attention" on the dashboard
What you see: a red or amber box at the top of the dashboard titled Outreach engine needs attention, listing one or more checks. An amber box means something has not been set up yet; a red one means something that was working has stopped.
What you can do first: press Refresh checks in the box. If it goes away, it was a passing hiccup and you are done.
If it stays, find the line it shows:
| The line says | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail connection — needs to be re-authorised | The branch mailbox's permission for 180Connect to send and read email has expired or been withdrawn. Nothing sends and no replies arrive until it is renewed | Ask a developer — Gmail connection needs re-authorising. Someone who can sign in to the branch mailbox will need to be there for a minute |
| Gmail connection — temporarily unavailable, or the check timed out | Google is having a problem | Wait an hour and press Refresh checks. If it is still there tomorrow, ask a developer — Gmail temporarily unavailable |
| Gmail connection — connected as a different mailbox | 180Connect is signed in to the wrong email account | Ask a developer — Gmail connected to the wrong mailbox. Do not send outreach until it is fixed |
| Gmail connection — the branch outreach mailbox is not configured | The mailbox was never connected on this copy of the app | Ask a developer — Gmail connection needs re-authorising |
| Reply sync or Scheduled send — last run failed, or it may be stalled | One of the background jobs that check for replies, or send emails at their scheduled time, has stopped | Wait one hour and press Refresh checks. If it is still there, ask a developer — Scheduled job failing |
Admins and leadership can see more on the dashboard's System health card: every background job, when it last ran, and whether the connected services are set up.
Emails are not going out
Check the dashboard first. If it shows Outreach engine needs attention, follow that entry.
If the message says the daily sending limit has been reached: this is deliberate. The branch sends at most a set number of outreach emails a day, so the mailbox is not flagged as spam.
- Nothing is lost. Scheduled emails stay scheduled and go out once the limit resets at midnight UK time. An email you were sending by hand can be sent again then.
- An admin can change the limit in Settings → Platform → Outreach sending limit (Settings is in the account menu). Raise it with care: sending much more than usual from one mailbox is the fastest way to have Gmail block it.
If one scheduled email did not go: open the client, check the email is still listed as scheduled, and check the time you chose has passed. Scheduled emails can go out up to about five minutes after their time.
Replies are not appearing in the inbox
180Connect checks the branch mailbox for replies every few minutes. A reply can take up to about five minutes to appear.
- Wait five minutes, then refresh the inbox.
- Check the dashboard. If Reply sync or Gmail connection is listed under Outreach engine needs attention, follow that entry.
- Check the reply really came to the branch mailbox, not to someone's personal address. 180Connect only sees the branch mailbox.
If a reply is in the branch mailbox, the dashboard shows no problem, and it has still not appeared after an hour: ask a developer — Replies not arriving. Tell them the client and roughly when the reply was sent.
Someone cannot sign in
| They see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Your account has been suspended. Contact your administrator." | An admin suspended them | An admin can reactivate them: Team management, open their name, Reactivate. They keep their role and history |
| "Complete the CAPTCHA check, then try again." | The "are you human" check did not finish | Reload the page and try again. If it keeps failing, try another browser or turn off any ad blocker for the site |
| "Login is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later." | The sign-in service cannot be reached | Wait ten minutes. If it lasts, see The site will not load at all |
| Their email and password are refused | Wrong password | Use Forgot password? on the sign-in page |
If they have never had an account, they need an invite: see the next entry.
An invite did not arrive, or the link does not work
Admins send invites from Team management → Invite a team member.
- Ask them to check their spam or junk folder.
- On Team management, find the invite under the pending invites and press Resend. You can also copy the invite link and send it to them yourself.
- "This invite link has expired or has already been used" means exactly that. Send a new invite with Resend.
- If their email address will not be accepted when you invite them, check Settings → Platform → Who can join (Settings is in the account menu). Only email addresses ending in a domain that is switched on there can be invited. Switching a domain on or off can be undone at any time.
- "Invites are not configured in this environment." Ask a developer — Invites not configured.
An AI feature says to wait
Writing an email with AI and the plain-English search both have limits, to keep the branch inside the free allowance for AI.
- Each person can make about 20 AI generations an hour and about 40 AI-assisted searches a day. When you reach yours, the message says when you can try again. Other people are not affected.
- The client list's filters still work without AI in the meantime.
- If everyone is refused at once, the branch's shared allowance for the day has run out. It resets once a day, at about 8am UK time.
If it happens most days, ask a developer — AI limits reached often. They will check whether the limit or the usage is the problem before changing anything, because raising it can start to cost money.
An import failed or found nothing
- Open Data imports. Each run shows whether it finished, how many organisations it found and how many it added.
- Found nothing usually means the filters were too narrow, or everything they matched is already a client. The charity import guide explains each filter.
- Failed runs say so on the same page. Try once more. If it fails twice, ask a developer — Import failed, and tell them which import and when.
Changes will not save, all over the app
What you see: saving anything — a note, a status change, a new client — fails with an error, for everyone, while pages still load.
What is probably happening: the database may be full. It has a fixed size on the free plan.
This needs a developer: ask for Database full. Until then, avoid running imports, which add the most data.
A CAM is leaving
Do this before they go, so none of their clients is left without an owner.
- Open Team management and choose their name.
- Choose Suspend (they can no longer sign in; this can be undone with Reactivate) or Delete account.
- 180Connect then opens a page titled Hand over [their name]'s work: choose who takes each of their clients and open tasks, then confirm.
Delete account cannot be undone. Suspend them instead unless you are sure. Their past activity stays on each client's history either way.
Something else
If something is broken and none of the above fits:
- Note what you were doing, what you expected and what you saw — the exact wording of any message helps most.
- Note the time, and whether it happens to colleagues too.
- Send that to a developer.