Find your situation in the tables below. Most have an easy explanation you can check yourself in a minute.
Contents
On the public site
| What you see | Likely cause | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| My change is not there | Not published (still a draft), waiting for approval, or a cache | Check My drafts and My pending items; then reload with Shift held (Caches explained) |
| A page has disappeared | Hidden, removed, or moved | Look for it in the administration; check the trash (Undoing a mistake) |
| "Page not found" for an old address | The page was moved or removed | Ask your administrator for a redirect (How do I redirect old addresses?) |
| A picture is missing | Removed, hidden, or never published | Open the picture item in Media and check it |
| The menu is in the wrong order | The order of sub items | How do I change the order of sub items? |
| A translation does not show | That language is not shown on the site yet | Ask your administrator (Translating a page) |
| The design looks broken everywhere | A design or server problem | Not yours to fix: tell your developer or host |
In the administration
| What you see | Likely cause | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| A button is grayed out | You may not use it here or now | Point at it to read why (Roles and permissions explained) |
| A tab my colleague has is missing | Your role is different | Ask your administrator, saying what you need to do |
| Possible edit conflict | A draft of this item already exists | Continue your draft, or make a new one (When someone else is editing) |
| The form will not publish | A required field is empty or wrong | Read the red message at the top and at the field |
| The sign-out button is gray | You are editing | Store or discard your draft first |
| Search does not find a new item | The search index updates a few minutes later | Use the Content finder meanwhile (Finding something) |
| A yellow Demo mode banner on our real site | A setting on the server that must be removed | Tell your host at once (Demo mode) |
The whole site is down
- Check from another device or network, for example your phone without Wi-Fi. If it works there, the problem is your own connection.
- Check the address: is it typed correctly, with
https://? - Did something just change? An update, a move, the domain renewal date?
- Call your host with the time you noticed and what you see. The order of calls is on Who to call, and the owner's playbook is When the site is down.
Do not try to fix a server yourself; you could make it harder to repair.
Still stuck?
Note what you see, then ask for help. The more precise your notes, the faster the fix.
Related pages
- When you are stuck
- Reading an error message
- When something goes wrong
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
Become an Exponential Partner. Partners share their information, provide funding, contribute back and develop the products with us, and that is how Exponential grows. A partner website and dashboard are planned for mid-2027: please become a partner today to speed up our growth rate and land new features faster. Start with Partners: start here and How to apply.