> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.plastics.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Troubleshooting

> Specific failures, what causes them, and what to do next.

For problems inside the Outlook task pane, see [Outlook troubleshooting](https://docs.plastics.com/integrations/outlook/troubleshooting.md). For what the platform can and cannot do at all, see the [FAQ](https://docs.plastics.com/faq.md).

## A button or page is missing

> **Compare, Find Alternatives, the /datasheet command, or Upload Image is missing**
>
> On a branded storefront these four capabilities are controlled by the storefront owner on the **Product Discovery** agent page. All four are on by default, so an absent one has been switched off deliberately. Ask an org admin to turn it back on. They can also be hidden briefly while a page is still loading, so reload before reporting it.

> **The Agents or Build section is not in the sidebar**
>
> That section needs both a **merchant admin** role and the agentic capability enabled on your account. Ask an org admin for the role, and request the capability through **Support** in the account menu.

> **Analytics, Orders, or Pending Approvals is padlocked or absent**
>
> A padlock means the page is not included in the Essentials plan: opening it shows what the page does and a **Contact Plastics.com to Upgrade** button, which raises a ticket with our team. Pending Approvals missing with no padlock at all means something different, that your organization has no linked manufacturer record yet, so contact support and we will link one.

> **Recent chats, projects, and the padlock icons all disappeared**
>
> The sidebar is collapsed. Expand it and the lists and icons return.

> **I cannot reach the Integrations page, or a card is missing from it**
>
> The page itself is only available to merchant accounts, and non-merchants are sent back to the home page. Inside it, the Outlook Add-in and Website Embed cards sit in the **Admin** category and are shown only to org admins. If a vendor tile is missing instead, the page is filtered: switch **View Active** back to **View All**.

> **Organization is greyed out, or I cannot change my own role**
>
> A greyed-out **Organization** entry means you signed in with a personal or free email domain, which cannot be attached to an organization: sign in with your work email address instead. Role changes are separately limited to org admins, and nobody can edit their own row, so ask another org admin.

## Access is blocked

> **A Subscription Required window covers the merchant area and will not close**
>
> Your organization has no active subscription. If the window offers a payment button, pay there. Processing can take up to ten minutes, after which reloading the page clears the block. If the window has no button at all, there is no self-service route: contact support and we will set the subscription up.

> **Merchant access required, or Admin access required**
>
> Your role does not cover that action. Merchant pages need a merchant role and organization setup needs an org admin, so ask an org admin to change your role from the **Organization** page.

> **Connect is greyed out on the Microsoft 365 Mail card, or the connection expired**
>
> A greyed-out **Connect** means access has not been granted for your organization yet, and an org admin has to run the one-time organization setup on that card first. An expired connection is fixed by reconnecting from the same card.

## Chat, search, and answers

> **Couldn't send your message. Please try again.**
>
> The message never reached the assistant, and the failed message stays on screen with **Retry** and **Dismiss** next to it. Retry first. This one message covers every send failure, including an attachment that was too large, so if you attached a file, try sending the question without it to tell the two apart.

> **We found 0 plastics matching all of your criteria**
>
> Your filters are collectively too narrow. In grid view a **Filter Impact** panel appears under that message listing every active filter with the number of results you would get back by removing it, plus a remove control on each row, so drop the filter with the largest gain first. Property range filters are the usual culprit, because a product is excluded when it has no measured value for that property at all, not only when the value falls outside your range. Two or three ranges stacked together will empty a catalog whose datasheets are incomplete.

> **Property values look wrong by a large factor**
>
> Check **User profile**, then **Preferences**, then **Unit System**, and confirm whether you are on **Metric (SI)** or **Imperial (US)**. It is a per-person setting, so a colleague can see different numbers for the same product. Note that the preference changes displayed values only: property filter ranges always stay in the property's own base unit, so typing a number you read off an imperial product card straight into a filter will match nothing.

> **The assistant cannot find something I know is published**
>
> If **Organization-only answers** is on, the assistant is restricted to documents uploaded to your own knowledge base and cannot use the wider platform knowledge base. Check that toggle on the **Knowledge base** page. Also check the document's visibility there: a document set to **Internal only** is readable by your own team but invisible to buyers, so your customers get an unhelpful answer from content you can see. Set it to **Customer facing** if buyers should be able to get answers from it.

> **Clearing the filters does not bring the catalog back**
>
> Clearing filters does not change the selected material type, so if the catalog carries only sheets or only additives and the view is still set to plastics, it stays empty. Switch the material type, or choose all materials. A bookmarked or emailed filter link can also carry a family or application that has since been renamed, which leaves a chip that looks valid and matches nothing: clear it and pick again from the sidebar. If products are missing rather than all of them, storefront catalogs show only what the owner has made visible, so ask the owner to check that product.

## Uploads and imports

> **Failed to upload, naming one specific file**
>
> That file's type is not supported. Knowledge base uploads accept PDF and `.docx`, while technical datasheets and safety datasheets must be PDF. No more than ten files can go up at once, which reports separately as "You can upload up to 10 files at a time." When several files fail together, only the first one is named.

> **Unfortunately we could not parse this file**
>
> The document arrived but could not be read. If it was uploaded by mistake, remove it. If it is a valid datasheet, use **Report to Support** on that row to send the file to our team. That can be done once per document.

> **I uploaded a datasheet and no product appeared**
>
> If your organization has no manufacturer record of its own, uploaded datasheets go to our team for manual review instead of being processed automatically. Nothing is lost, but it will not reach your catalog straight away.

> **Failed to process CSV. Please check the file and try again.**
>
> Four things cause this: the file is not readable as CSV, a required column is missing, no row survived validation, or every row already exists as an active price record. Start from the downloadable template and keep all of `trade_name`, `warehouse_name`, `price_per_unit`, `unit`, `min_quantity`, `max_quantity`, `lead_time_days`, `valid_from`, `valid_to`, and `payment_terms`.

> **My pricing upload shows rows under Unmatched**
>
> Those rows carry a trade name that did not match a product in your catalog exactly. Open the upload and pick the right product from the suggested candidates, or correct the name and upload again.

> **Could not start website crawl**
>
> The address must begin with `http` or `https`, must resolve to a publicly reachable site, and cannot already be on your list. Private or internal addresses are rejected. If a source that was accepted later shows a failed status, retry it, and contact support if it keeps failing.

## Quotes, comparing, and inviting

> **Files exceed the 10MB limit and were not sent, or a quote will not submit**
>
> Individual attachments on an order or RFQ message are capped at 10 MB, and the message will not send until the oversized ones are removed. A quote request accepts at most ten files. If the quote itself fails to submit after that, nothing was recorded, so retry and then contact support.

> **Maximum 4 materials can be compared at once**
>
> The comparison tray holds four items, so remove one before adding another. A comparison also covers a single material type, so mixing types is refused: use **Clear Comparisons** and start again. Adding a duplicate is refused separately, naming the material already in the tray.

> **This email is already a user, or is already invited**
>
> The address already belongs to someone in your organization, or an invitation is still outstanding, so check the **Invites** tab on the Organization page before sending again. If sending fails outright instead, nothing went out: retry once, then email our support address directly.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.