Troubleshooting

Each entry describes a problem, how to fix it, and where to read more.

The import fails or The Stacks can’t read the doc¶

• Set the doc’s sharing to Anyone with the link as Viewer.

• Share every Drive file the doc references, such as images and videos, the same way. If even one file is private, the import fails.

• Paste a Google Doc URL. The draft interface doesn’t accept other sources.

See Importing from Google Docs and Before you import.

The import fails on an equation or a link¶

Equation objects (Insert → Equation) and smart chips (anything inserted by typing @) break the import. Write math as LaTeX and paste links as plain text. See What carries over.

The import fails on a figure¶

Every :src: must be a public URL. Placeholder text or an empty value fails the import. See Figures and other media.

I can’t find my draft¶

Unfinished drafts are listed in the Your unfinished Pubs section of the Create a pub page.

My edits on The Stacks disappeared after re-importing¶

Re-importing replaces the title, subtitle, abstract, and body with the content of the Google Doc. If you work from the Google Doc, make your changes there instead of on the draft page. See Importing from Google Docs.

The title, subtitle, or abstract wasn’t picked up¶

• The title is the first paragraph using the “Title” paragraph style.

• The subtitle goes directly after the title, in a :::subtitle block of 280 characters or fewer.

• The abstract goes in an :::abstract block.

See Document structure.

A directive shows up as plain text¶

• Put the opener (:::media) and closer (:::) on their own paragraphs, with nothing else on the line, not even a leading space.

• Put each attribute on its own paragraph, formatted :key: value.

• Press Enter for a new paragraph, not Shift+Enter.

• Type directives as normal text, not in Google Docs’ “Code block” element.

See How directives work.

Formatting, footnotes, or drawings are missing¶

The Stacks keeps semantic formatting but drops visual styling: highlight, font color, fonts and sizes, underline, strikethrough, line spacing, and page breaks. Footnotes, text boxes, and drawings are dropped too; export drawings as images and add them as media. Suggested edits and comments aren’t imported, so accept or reject them first. See What carries over.

A section is missing from the table of contents¶

Only Heading 1 and Heading 2 appear in the table of contents. See Document structure.

The acknowledgments or competing interests block looks wrong¶

The heading inside each bordered block must be Heading 4. See Document structure.

A figure doesn’t float or wrap text¶

left and right only float narrow figures, roughly 65% width or less. The value must be lowercase. See Alignment.

A figure’s width is ignored¶

:width: needs a unit, like 100% or 400px. See Figures and other media.

A figure reference isn’t replaced with a number¶

• Include the #: :ref{#growth-curves}.

• Type it as plain text, not as a Google Docs link.

• Check that it matches the figure’s :id: exactly. IDs are case-sensitive and can’t contain underscores.

See Referencing figures and tables.

Figures are numbered twice¶

The Stacks numbers figures automatically. Remove your own numbering from the captions. See Figures and other media.

A YouTube video doesn’t play¶

Use the embed URL, like https://www.youtube.com/embed/0peLwtqQX7I, not the watch?v= URL. See Alignment.

A table has no header row, or its alignment is lost¶

Make every cell in a row bold to format it as a header row. Column alignment set in Google Docs is not kept. See Tables.

A code block isn’t recognized¶

Paste the code with Paste without formatting (⌘+Shift+V or Ctrl+Shift+V), inside triple-backtick fences. See Code.

Math doesn’t render¶

Don’t put bold or italic formatting inside the dollar signs, and put $$ fences on their own paragraphs. See Math.

A collapsible section looks wrong¶

Use only one :::summary per :::details, directly after the opener, and don’t nest it inside another directive. See Collapsible content.

A link within the doc is broken¶

• For a heading, type the heading’s slug as the URL, like #our-results, rather than using the “Headings and bookmarks” picker.

• If you renamed a heading, update links to its old slug.

• A bookmark must be at the start of a paragraph and followed by plain text.

See Links within your doc.

A citation is missing from the reference list¶

Only :ref links become citations. A bare DOI string, a visible link to a journal, PubMed, or bioRxiv page, and the Google Docs “citation” feature all render as ordinary text or links.

• Select exactly the four characters :ref, with no surrounding spaces, before adding the link.

• Separate citations in a row with a single space.

See Cite a paper with a DOI.

A citation of software or a website doesn’t resolve¶

The url in the @Misc entry must exactly match the :ref link. Put the :::bibtex block at the end of the doc, after the acknowledgments, and start each entry with @ on its own line. See Cite software and other sources without a DOI.

I can’t publish on The Stacks¶

Publishing is currently restricted to participants in projects at Arcadia Science and at the Astera Institute. See Who can publish.

The Release publication… button isn’t available¶

A required field is still missing. The list above the button tells you what to fix. See Release / publish.

My publication has no DOI¶

DOIs are only minted if your organization has DOI minting turned on. See Versions and DOIs.

I can’t change the slug, license, or DOI¶

These are locked once the publication is first released. Other changes ship as a new version.

Edit opens an old draft¶

If a draft of the next version already exists, Edit opens it instead of starting a new one. See Drafts and versions.