Troubleshooting

Save the project file at the top level of the folder that the map uses, as .qgs or .qgz. Groundwork shows this message when the map comes from a QGIS project, and the folder no longer holds a project file.

Put a QGIS project, or a GeoJSON, GeoParquet, FlatGeobuf or GeoTIFF file, at the top level of the folder. Groundwork looks for these files only at the top level, not in a subfolder. A project at the top level can still load its data from a subfolder. You can export the layers to GeoJSON, or save the project into the folder with its data.

If the files are already in the folder, make sure that Dropbox finished the sync. Also make sure that you shared the folder that holds them.

Create a new map from the folder link. Select its project filename. This message appears when a map records no project filename and its folder holds several projects.

The pasted link is not from Dropbox, OneDrive or GitHub. For example, Groundwork does not open a Google Drive link.

Save the project file again from QGIS Desktop. The file is possibly damaged, or it is not a QGIS project. Let Dropbox finish the sync before you test again.

The project refers to data files that are not in the folder. Often, the sources of these layers still point to a place on your computer.

1. In QGIS, check the source paths of those layers.
2. Export or move the GeoJSON files into the shared folder.
3. Save the project again.

Groundwork skips only the layers that the message names.

The data files are in the folder, but Groundwork could not read them. Open each file in a text editor, and make sure that it is the GeoJSON that you intended to export. Also make sure that the folder finished the sync.

The same message appears on a map from a map server or a catalogue when several of the layers that you ticked did not load. In that case, see “Groundwork couldn’t load the layer …”.

Some of the layers that you ticked loaded, and some did not. This happens on a map from a map server or a catalogue. If one layer failed, the message says why. If several failed, the message starts “Groundwork couldn’t load these layers:”, lists them, and gives the reason for the first.

Correct the failed layers at the source. Then create the map again. On a WFS, OGC API - Features or STAC map, Groundwork does not try the failed layers again when the map opens. You cannot add them to that map later. On a QGIS Server map, Groundwork tries them again each time the map opens. The map still shows the layers that loaded, and still reads from its source.

Groundwork could not read a file as a layer. You dropped the file, or chose it on the Files source. A GeoJSON layer file is one JSON object, with the type FeatureCollection and a features list. Open the file in a text editor to check it. If it has data in a different format, first export it to GeoJSON in QGIS.

Groundwork fetches the part that reads FlatGeobuf or GeoParquet files the first time you add a file in that format, and that fetch failed. Reload the page, then add the file again.

Export the layer from QGIS again. The file’s features list has an entry that Groundwork cannot load as a feature, such as an empty entry where a feature must be.

Groundwork could not read some of the files that you dropped or chose on the Files source. The message gives the number of these files. It lists up to five of them, with the reason for each, and says how many more there were.

Correct each file that the message lists. The files that loaded are already on the map. To add the other files, drop the corrected files again.

Make sure that you invited them as a member of the folder. In Dropbox, a public link and folder membership are separate things. Also make sure that they sign in to the Dropbox account that got the invitation.

To change accounts, a person presses Switch account on the Dropbox or OneDrive panel of the Start page. Switch account keeps their maps. Reset Groundwork also clears the sign-in, but it clears their maps, edits, bookmarks and settings on that device as well. The sign-in screen cannot change accounts. See Sign-in does not work.

Set the map’s Sharing to Sign in to edit in the Map section of the settings menu, and send a new link. A link from a map set to View only is view-only for everyone who opens it. A map from a private Dropbox folder cannot be View only. Look for another cause in The edit or add controls are missing. When the user opens the new link, Groundwork updates the map that they already have. See decide who can edit.

Publish that data to a cloud folder, and connect a map to the folder. The layer came from a file opened directly on a device, and a link cannot include it. See what a link leaves behind.