When something goes wrong

The good news first: a failed save never loses your text. Whatever you typed into Description stays in the box, so you never need to retype — fix the problem or wait, then tap Submit again.

“Some answers need fixing.”

This red message means one of your three answers did not pass the checks. Look at the fields: the one with the problem has a red note directly under it saying what is wrong — most often a required answer left empty (“Description is required.”, “Submitted By is required.”). The note disappears as soon as you edit that field.

What you do

1. Read the red note under the marked field.
2. Fix that answer.
3. Tap Submit again.

“Network error” or a message about failing to fetch

Your device could not reach the server at all — usually no signal, or Wi-Fi that has dropped.

What you do

1. Check your connection.
2. Tap Submit again. Your text is still in the form.

“Save failed (…)” with a number, or a message about the spreadsheet

The form reached the server, but the server could not finish the save — most often a problem between the server and Google Sheets, or a piece of server configuration missing (a message beginning “Server is not configured” is always this). These are not things you can fix from the form.

What you do

1. Try once more — a one-off hiccup clears itself.
2. If it keeps failing, copy the exact error message.
3. Send it to the person who looks after the app, together with roughly when it happened and which site you were filing for.
4. Keep your spec text somewhere safe (it is still in the form; copy it out if you need to close the page).

Checking the app’s own health

The app has a built-in health check that anyone can open in a browser — it tells you whether the app can reach the spreadsheet, without you needing any technical setup. It is the first thing the person who maintains the app will ask about, so checking it yourself can save a round trip.

What you do

1. In your browser’s address bar, go to the form’s address and add /api/health?deep=1 to the end of it.
2. You will see a block of plain text. Look for "ok": true near the top and "sheetReachable": true further down.
3. If either says false, the problem is on the server side, not your device — pass the whole text on to the person who looks after the app. It never contains any secret, so it is safe to copy and send.

One caveat worth knowing when reporting a problem: the health check describes whatever version of the app is currently running. It can report everything green even when a recent update to the app failed to go out — so “health says ok” and “the change I was promised isn’t there” can both be true at once.

“Saved” — but the row is not in the spreadsheet

Check the tab. Each site files into its own tab, and the green confirmation names the site it filed under. A spec submitted with the wrong site selected is sitting in the other site’s tab — the form cannot move it, but you can cut and paste the row between tabs in the spreadsheet, or delete it and resubmit with the right site chosen.