Ascend Documentation

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Troubleshooting ​

Common problems and how to fix them.

Submissions Aren't Coming Through ​

Check the form's status. Open the form designer and look at the publish bar:

  • Draft → the public URL returns 404. Click Publish.
  • Published but with the orange Unpublished changes badge → the public form is still serving the previous snapshot. Click Publish changes to push your edits live.
  • Closed → no submissions accepted. Reopen from the publish-bar menu.

Test the public URL yourself. Click View live in the designer and submit a test entry. If your test arrives in the database but real submissions don't, the form is fine — the issue is with how respondents are reaching the URL.

Check for ad-blockers. Some aggressive ad-blockers strip query strings or block POSTs to unfamiliar domains. Test in a clean incognito window.

A Field Has the Wrong Type ​

Field types are defined by the backing database property, not by the form. To change a field's type:

  1. Open the backing database (the publish bar shows "Writes to: …" — click it).
  2. Right-click the column header → Change type.
  3. Pick the new type. Existing data may be lost if the new type can't represent the old values.
  4. Return to the form designer — the field now reflects the new type.

Type changes affect every form bound to the database

If three forms write to the same status property and you change it from select to text, all three forms see the change. Audit before you switch.

A Required Field Is Letting Empty Submissions Through ​

This usually means the field is hidden by a logic rule. Hidden fields are never required, even if the toggle is on. Check the form's logic block for any Hide field or Show field rule that targets the field in question.

Other causes:

  • The required toggle is off in the per-field settings popover.
  • The field was added after the last publish — the public form serves the previous snapshot. Click Publish changes.

Conditional Logic Isn't Firing ​

SymptomLikely cause
Rule does nothing client-sideThe condition's value type doesn't match the field's value (e.g. comparing a number field with the string "5").
Field flickers on/offTwo contradicting rules target the same field. The last matching rule wins — re-check rule order.
Show field rule never shows the fieldThe condition is never met. Add a console log via the Preview to verify the field's value.
Skip-to-page jumps to the wrong pagePage breaks are referenced by ID, not position. Reordering page breaks can re-target rules — re-check the rule's target.

Remember: client-side logic drives the live UX, but server-side logic is the source of truth for what gets saved. Both run the same rule set.

File Uploads Failing ​

Likely causes:

  • Storage quota exceeded. Public submissions count toward the team's blob storage allowance. Check Settings → Billing → Storage.
  • File too large. Per-file limits depend on plan. Check the upload error message — Ascend returns 413 with the limit when exceeded.
  • Unsupported MIME type. File fields don't restrict types by default, but some fields configured as image-only will reject application/pdf etc.

"Form Not Found" on a Live URL ​

The slug is wrong, the form was unpublished, or the form was deleted. Try:

  1. Go to /forms in the dashboard.
  2. Find the form. Check its status.
  3. Click View live to get the canonical URL.
  4. Compare to the URL you were sharing. If they don't match — the slug you were using never existed (typos), or the form was deleted.

Slugs are permanent for a given form. They never change.

The Form Designer Says "Backing Database Missing" ​

Rare. This means the database the form was bound to was deleted out from under it. Options:

  • Restore the database from the trash if it was recently deleted.
  • Delete the orphaned form and start over.

Cascade deletes from the database side will normally take the forms with them — this state is unusual.

I Edited a Form But Respondents See Old Fields ​

Edits live in the draft. The public URL serves the published snapshot. Until you click Publish changes, your edits are invisible to respondents.

This is intentional — you can rebuild a form mid-campaign without anyone seeing a half-finished version.

Notification Emails Aren't Arriving ​

  • Check the email addresses are spelled correctly in Settings → Notification Emails (comma-separated).
  • Check spam / junk folders.
  • Verify the email isn't being intercepted by your provider's filters (DKIM/SPF for optivationai.com).
  • For a delivery audit, check Settings → Activity Log for the form's FORM_SUBMISSION_RECEIVED events — if those are firing but no email arrives, the issue is downstream of Ascend.

Submissions Are Slow ​

The submit endpoint runs synchronously: validate → re-evaluate logic → insert row → increment count → return. This usually takes well under a second. If submissions feel slow:

  • The backing database may be huge — autonumber field generation takes an advisory lock and computes MAX(autonumber) + 1 per submission.
  • A long network round-trip (respondent on a slow connection).
  • Notification emails are non-blocking — they don't slow the submission down.

Resetting a Form ​

There's no one-click "reset". To start fresh:

  1. Delete responses — bulk-select rows in the backing database and delete.
  2. Reset submission count — not possible from the UI; the count is monotonic. Create a new form if you need a clean counter.
  3. Reset the form fields — manually delete and re-add, or clone the form (roadmap), or start a new form bound to the same database.

Still Stuck? ​