Fixing Common Problems
Most problems in Scholarly announce themselves with a message that names the cause. This guide covers what those messages mean and what to do next, grouped by where you hit them.
If something here doesn't match what you're seeing, send it to us — see Feedback and Bug Reports.
Uploads
"This file is over the ___MB limit"
Each plan has a per-file size ceiling, and Laureate's is the largest. The message names your current limit. Either upload a smaller file, split a long document, or upgrade.
Very large files are checked before the upload runs, so you find out immediately rather than after a long wait.
"Unsupported file type"
Scholarly accepts PDFs, Office documents, video, audio, images, and text files. Anything else is rejected by name rather than failing quietly. If a file should be supported but won't go in, converting it to PDF and re-uploading is the reliable fallback.
See Supported File Formats for the full list.
An empty file, or a file we couldn't read
An empty file is caught before you wait on an upload. A file that uploads but can't be read shows a recovery option on that source — use it, or remove the file, and the rest of your sources carry on.
"Some sources were not added"
Every AI creation has a limit on how many sources you can combine at once, and it rises with your plan. When you add more than that, Scholarly adds what fits, tells you exactly how many it left out, and why. Remove a few sources, or upgrade for a higher ceiling.
See Plans and Limits.
Office files with odd names
Office documents import regardless of what the file is called, including names with spaces and non-English characters. Uploaded files keep the name you gave them — Scholarly no longer renames your documents during processing. You can rename anything yourself from its title.
AI creations
A creation that failed
Use Retry when the failed creation offers it. Scholarly retries some temporary provider failures automatically. Depending on the creation and the failure, retrying may resume saved work or start a fresh generation; check the message and any recovered sources before submitting.
If it fails repeatedly on one source, that source is the likely culprit. Try the same creation with that file removed.
A creation that seems stuck
Long jobs — video lectures, podcasts, deep research — keep running after you close the tab and appear on Home with their progress. Check that status first. If the job fails, use its recovery action; if progress remains unchanged and you need help, send support the item and its status.
See Background Tasks.
"You have reached your AI creation limit"
You've reached the creation allowance shown for your plan. Check the message for a reset date and the available upgrade or credit-pack options. Some free allowances do not reset. Your existing work is unaffected.
See Plans and Limits and AI Credit Packs.
Flashcards that skipped part of a source
When a deck can't cover every section of a long source, it tells you what it left out instead of silently shortening. Completed cards are kept. Generate a second deck from the remaining pages using the PDF page selector.
"Flashcard creation took too long"
Try again with a smaller source, or narrow a long PDF to a page range.
Recordings
"Transcription did not detect speech"
Play back the saved audio first — the recording itself is kept either way. If you can hear speech, process it again. If you can't, the problem was the input: check the right microphone was selected, or record again closer to it.
Your browser can't record
Some browsers, particularly older Safari versions, don't support in-page recording. Scholarly tells you straight away and points you at the upload path instead — record with any app you like and upload the audio file.
A recording page that won't load
Scholarly distinguishes a temporary loading problem from a recording that genuinely isn't there. A temporary one offers a Retry button; take it.
The upload limit for recordings
Your per-file size limit is answered before you start recording, not after, so a long session doesn't turn out to be unusable at the end.
See AI Meeting Notes.
YouTube and web links
"Enter a valid YouTube video URL"
The link must be a normal video URL. Standard watch links, youtu.be links, and individual Shorts links are supported. Use a link to one video, rather than a playlist or channel page.
A video with no transcript
Scholarly works from a video's transcript. If the video has none available, there's nothing to build on — the message says so rather than producing an empty result.
A long video that seems to hang
Long videos take time to fetch a transcript, and this now reads as a wait rather than a failure — in chat too, which holds on rather than giving up. Leave it running.
A removed or private video
A video that has been taken down or made private is named as exactly that, so you're not left guessing.
See YouTube Sources.
Sharing and links
A shared link asks for access
The item is private and you haven't been invited, your access was revoked, or you're signed in with a different email than the one invited. Use Request access on that page — see Sharing and Collaboration.
A shared link won't open when signed out
Public links work without an account. If one doesn't open, check the owner hasn't switched it back to Private — that invalidates the old public link.
Audio or video won't play in another app's browser
Links opened inside another app's in-app browser (a messaging app, for example) can be restrictive. Playback works there now, but if anything misbehaves, open the link in your normal browser.
Account and billing
A sign-in link that didn't arrive
Check your spam folder, then request another. Magic links expire — an old one won't work.
See Account and Login.
"Your session has expired"
Refresh the page and try again. Nothing you've saved is lost.
A plan change that was interrupted
If a previous plan change didn't finish, billing settings offer to clear the unfinished change so you can start over. Your current plan stays active throughout.
See Billing and Subscriptions.
The whole app feels slow or won't load
Occasionally a temporary problem on our side interrupts loading. Scholarly now reports this as temporary and retries rather than failing outright, so waiting a moment and refreshing usually resolves it. If it persists for more than a few minutes, let us know.
Still stuck?
Tell us what you were doing and what you saw. Bug reports that name the specific item and the exact message get fixed fastest.
Related
- Plans and Limits — what each plan allows.
- Supported File Formats — what you can upload.
- Background Tasks — why closing the tab is safe.
- Feedback and Bug Reports — how to reach us.