Troubleshooting and limits#

This page collects the numbers and the messages that the rest of the Reporting and Data Modeling guide mentions one at a time. Find the area you are in, match the message you see to the text in quotes or a code span, and read across to what it means and what to do.

Where a message is quoted, it is the product's own wording. Names in angle brackets, such as <name>, stand for your own report, sheet or filter.

Find your problem#

Limits#

Every number below is a limit of the product as it ships. An administrator can change the ones marked as settings. Nothing is cut silently: a report that passes a limit is refused with a message that says so.

The sheet and the report#

Reading data#

Saving, importing and pictures#

Viewer, download and burst#

AI#

Data models#

For the details behind a row, follow the page that owns it: The web report studio, The viewer, Download, burst and keep a view, Join views across sources, Hierarchies and AI insights.

Refused variable values#

A data model variable's value is placed into a query by the position of its {{Token}}. A value that does not fit its position is refused: the run fails, nothing is sent to the source, and the message names the variable. The full rules are in Data model variables.

If you see this message for a bare token in SQL:

The value for “Region” can't be used: it is pasted into the query without quotes, so it only takes a number (or, inside IN ( ), a list such as 1, 2, 3 or 'East', 'West'). For a text value, the data model's author should put quotes around it in the query: '{{Region}}'. Only as a last resort, for query text such as a column name, can the data model's author mark the variable as raw query text, which turns this protection off and pastes readers' values unchecked.

then the token sits bare in the query (WHERE region = {{Region}}), so it only accepts a number. The data model's author puts quotes around it: WHERE region = '{{Region}}'. A bare date such as 2024-01-01 fails the same way and is quoted the same way.

If you see the same message with a list, such as East, West, then write IN ({{Regions}}) and supply 'East', 'West'. A list is accepted only directly inside parentheses, and each text item needs its own quotes.

If the message asks for brackets or double quotes instead, then the view is MDX or DAX:

If the message ends "so on this connection a variable can only take a plain number unless the author marks it as raw query text. Rewrite that part of the query, or connect with a SQL Server or SQLite connection", then the query uses syntax that different databases read differently (a backslash, a # or // comment, $ quoting, brackets, a lone carriage return, or EXEC of a string) on an ODBC, OLE DB or CData connection, or anywhere it runs a string as SQL. Rewrite that part of the query, or use a SQL Server or SQLite connection. Pass values to dynamic SQL as sp_executesql parameters.

If the value is meant to be query text, such as ORDER BY {{SortColumn}}, then the author selects Raw query text, pasted as is on the variable's card, and limits the values to a list. The value is then pasted unchecked, so treat it as a power tool. See Use a value as query text.

If you see no error but no rows, and the query reads IN ('{{List}}') with a value like East','West, then the value is now one text string. Write IN ({{List}}) with the value 'East', 'West'.

If Preview shows "No value for required variable(s)" and names the variable, then enter a value in the Variable values pane, or set the variable's default on the Variables tab. At run time a required variable with no value is refused with a warning that names it.

If Preview says "East2 isn't one of the choices for Region. Pick a value from its list.", then the variable allows only its list. Pick from the list, or have the author turn on Also allow typing a value that isn't on the list.

License messages#

Web reports themselves need no license. Professional reports inside them do, and they are not released yet. Without the license, the controls stay on screen, disabled, and say why.

Professional reports do not show in the Capabilities block of the License tab, so these messages are the signal. A license change applies without a restart. See Licensing.

Common errors#

Data models#

The web report studio#

The viewer, downloads and burst#

Convert to Excel#

Converting deletes the web report and cannot be undone. Reportworq builds the workbook first, and if it cannot carry the report whole it stops and nothing changes. See Convert a web report to Excel.

If you only want a copy, use Export as Excel on the same menu. It leaves the web report and the jobs alone.

Jobs over web reports#

A job over a web report or a converted workbook fails closed: if anything cannot be refreshed, it says why and sends nothing, rather than sending stale data. Run messages from a web report source begin "Live report '':". Each ends "Nothing was distributed."

A job does not check a value against the data: a value the source does not have, such as a typo, gives what the source returns for it, often a report with no rows. Maps and professional reports go out as last saved, so a job that narrows a web report refuses a map it would send whole to every recipient.

For the rest of how a job treats a web report, see A web report as a job source and Key-cell formats and what a job keeps.

Still stuck#

Early release features can behave differently from the pages that describe them. Use Send feedback from the early release pill on the screen you are on, which attaches a screenshot and the details support needs. See Early release features and Send feedback. For problems outside reporting, see the Troubleshooting index.