Troubleshooting
Fixes for common problems, matched to the messages Groundwork shows.
“No .qgs file found in the shared folder”
Check you shared the project folder itself (not its parent, and not the .qgs file alone), and that the project was saved as .qgs. A .qgz file won’t be recognised.
“This folder holds no layers Groundwork can read”
The folder holds no QGIS project and no GeoJSON. Put one of those in it, either by exporting the layers to GeoJSON or by saving the project into the folder alongside its data. If the files are already there, check that Dropbox has finished syncing them, and that the folder you shared is the one holding them.
“Expected one .qgs file in the folder but found 2…”
The folder holds more than one project file, perhaps an old copy or a backup, and Groundwork can’t tell which to open. Move each project into its own folder and share that folder.
“This URL isn’t a supported cloud provider yet”
The pasted link isn’t a Dropbox, OneDrive or SharePoint folder link. Common causes: a link to a single file, or one from an unsupported service such as Google Drive.
“Not found in the shared folder: …”
The project references data files that aren’t in the folder, often layers whose sources still point somewhere on your local machine. Check those layers’ source paths in QGIS, export or move the GeoJSON into the shared folder, and re-save the project. Only the named layers are skipped.
“Couldn’t be loaded: …”
The data files are in the folder, but Groundwork couldn’t read them. Open each in a text editor to confirm it’s the GeoJSON you meant to export, and check the folder has finished syncing.
“… is not a GeoJSON FeatureCollection” or “… is not valid JSON”
A file you chose on the GeoJSON source couldn’t be read as a layer. A GeoJSON layer file is one JSON object whose type is FeatureCollection, holding a features list. Open it in a text editor to check, and if it’s data in another format, export it to GeoJSON in QGIS first.
“… holds features Groundwork could not read”
The file’s features list holds an entry Groundwork can’t load as a feature, an empty one where a feature should be, for instance. Re-export the layer from QGIS.
“This layer was not added” or “… layers were not added”
Some of the layers you chose when creating the map loaded, and some didn’t. The message names the first failure and its reason. The map still shows the layers that did load and still reads from its source; the ones that failed aren’t retried when it next opens and can’t be added to it afterwards. Correct them at the source, then create the map again.
“Failed to parse the QGIS project file”
The .qgs may be corrupted, or not actually a QGIS project. Re-save it from QGIS Desktop and let Dropbox finish syncing before testing again.
The map loads but looks different from QGIS
A layer drawn in a flat colour you didn’t choose means its style was dropped and the layer fell back to a palette colour. A layer with nothing drawn on the map at all points at the symbology type, since a few of them draw nothing. A layer drawing one rule’s symbol on every feature points at a rule condition Groundwork couldn’t read. What your styling looks like in the browser says what to use instead in each case.
A user can’t open a private folder
Check they’ve been invited as a member of the folder (a public link and folder membership are separate things in Dropbox), and that they’re signing in to the Dropbox account the invitation went to. The sign-in screen offers no way to change accounts, so someone already signed in as the wrong one has to clear it with Reset app, which also clears their maps and bookmarks on that device. See I’m asked to sign in and it doesn’t work.
A user opened your link but has no editing tools
The link was shared without Require sign-in to open ticked, which makes it view-only for everyone who opens it. Tick it and send a fresh link, and their copy updates in place. See deciding who can edit.
A layer is missing from your link
The layer came from a file opened directly on a device, which a link can’t include. See what a link leaves behind. Publish that data to a cloud folder and connect a map to the folder instead.