Troubleshooting: what to do when something goes wrong in the field

The previous chapters describe how each screen works. This one describes what to do when something doesn't go as expected. Each entry is titled with the words the question usually arrives with, followed by the cause and the concrete steps.

Before writing to support, it helps to have four pieces of information ready, because they're always requested: the Field Manager version (see Support window), the tablet model and its Android version, the project name, and the exact text of the error message or a screenshot. If the notice appears as a toast (a brief message at the bottom of the screen) and the text doesn't fit in the three visible lines, tap "Details" to read it in full before transcribing it.

Activation and license

"I can't activate: a red message appears"

Activation is done by scanning the activation QR from the Activate screen and needs an internet connection to complete: without data or wifi, the process doesn't finish even if the QR is valid. Also check that the terms and conditions box is checked before tapping ACTIVATE.

If the red message persists, don't describe it in your own words: copy the full text of the message and send it together with the Support code shown on the same screen. That code identifies the device, and without it the activation can't be diagnosed. See Installation and Activation.

The most frequent causes are two: the code has already been used (it is single-use) or the subscription has no free device left. Both are solved from the web portal by generating a new code for an available device.

"The app asks me to activate again while I'm out in the field"

Field Manager periodically checks the license status and tolerates up to 60 days without contacting the server. After that period, the license is deactivated until the device connects again. In the web portal, the device shows as "No contact" with the notice "license deactivates in N d".

For a long campaign without coverage: open the app once with internet before leaving, and again when you get back. That resets the countdown. If the license already deactivated, opening the app with a connection is enough; if it still doesn't reactivate, request a new activation code from the portal.

"The portal invitation link expired"

The invitation to join the web portal and the app's activation code are two different things, and they expire differently:

• The portal invitation to add an email to an existing account expires after 7 days. This is the usual case.
• If the invitation includes a coupon, it expires with the coupon, with a limit of 90 days.
• The app's activation code is single-use and valid for the subscription period.

If the invitation expired, there's nothing special to do: the account administrator generates a new invitation from the portal.

"I switched tablets: how do I transfer the license and the data?"

These are two separate procedures, and mixing them up is the most frequent reason for support requests:

1. The license is transferred from the web portal, with no support intervention needed. The step-by-step guide is in Transfer the license to another device.
2. The data is copied by hand: it's the project folder, photos included.

Transferring the license does not move the projects, and copying the folder does not activate the app on the new device. Both steps are needed.

There are two ways to copy the data:

1. Copy the entire project folder from /Documents/Fieldman projects to the new device, at the same path. This carries everything: the database.fmp, the photos in the DCIM subfolder, and any rasters stored inside the project folder. Rasters that live outside the project folder have to be copied separately, because the application reads them from their original location and only stores the reference.
2. Make a backup and restore it: the "Create backup" option builds a .zip with the database.fmp and, if selected, the photos and the audio. It's the convenient path for emailing it or uploading it to the cloud, but remember to tick photos and audio if you'll need them on the other end (see Project Manager).

If the project is large and only the structure matters —tables, styles, geocoders, layers— without the surveyed data, use "Create template" instead of copying the folder.

The application and the device

"The app closed by itself and shows a message when it comes back"

If the app closed by itself, one of these two messages may appear when you open it again:

• "The project folder was moved, renamed or deleted while it was open, so the app had to close it. Your last changes may not have been saved. Open the project again from its new location." This usually happens when the project folder is renamed or moved (from the file explorer, for example) while the database was still open. Solution: open the project again from its current location.
• "The app closed because it could not access the project database. Open it again; if the problem persists, check that the project folder is still in place and that the app has storage permission." Check that the folder has not been moved and that the file access permission is still granted (see Environment Permissions).

This message panel is the same one that can show other notices when opening the app (see Notices and notifications).

"The app closes by itself or freezes"

Every unexpected crash sends an automatic report to the development team, so the issue gets logged even if you don't write in. What's worth reporting is the exact operation you were doing, because that's what the report doesn't say.

Steps, in this order:

1. Restart the device. Most freezes are memory-related and are solved this way.
2. Check that there is free storage space: a project with many photos and rasters can fill it up.
3. If the crash always happens on the same project, create a new project and import the resources from the Resource Manager (see Resource Manager).
4. Before any testing, back up the project (see Project Manager).

"The walking track cuts off on its own"

This isn't a Field Manager failure: starting with Android 11, the system suspends background services when the screen turns off or when it decides to save battery, and track recording is one of them.

For a long track to be recorded in full:

• Grant location as "Allow all the time", not just "while using the app". That permission is enabled manually from Android settings (see Environment Permissions).
• Remove Field Manager from the manufacturer's battery optimization (usually shown as "unrestricted" or "don't optimize").
• Keep the screen on during the traverse, or at least prevent the device from entering deep sleep.
• Check the notification area for the capture service icon: if it disappeared, the system stopped it.

"The GPS doesn't get a fix, or the coordinates come out wrong"

Four different issues get confused under the same symptom:

• Slow first fix. The device usually estimates an approximate position from wifi or mobile data while it locks onto satellites. In the field, with no network at all, that help isn't available, and the first startup can take several minutes under open sky. It helps to turn the GPS on before getting off the vehicle.
• Precise location permission. If Android granted only the approximate location, the coordinates arrive degraded. Check it in the app's permissions.
• The position isn't recorded. If the configured required accuracy is stricter than what the device provides at that moment, the capture is rejected. See "Minimal capture precision required" in Preferences window.
• The coordinates look right but "in the wrong place". This is almost always the projection: check the project's reference system and the table's (see Projection and the table editor in Resource Manager).
• The Bluetooth receiver does not connect. If the configured device address is no longer valid, the app reports it instead of retrying silently: select the receiver again in "GPS source" (see Preferences window).

If you're working with an external GPS or DGPS over Bluetooth, you also need to select it in "GPS source" within preferences.

Import and export

"I import the shapefile and it stays 'importing' or doesn't load"

Before assuming a failure, rule out what resolves most cases:

• A shapefile isn't one file, it's four: .shp, .shx, .dbf and .prj. If only the .shp made it to the tablet, the import can't complete. Copy them all, in the same folder.
• The file must not be open in another program or marked read-only.
• Location matters. Android restricts access to certain folders (another app's private storage, network drives, some download directories). Copy the files to the device's documents folder — for example, next to Documents/Fieldman projects — and try again from there.
• Check the full file access permission, which since Android 11 is granted manually (see Environment Permissions).

If the same files used to import fine and now don't, that's an important data point and not a detail: state it explicitly when writing to support, together with the app version, because it points the diagnosis toward a version change rather than the file.

"I exported to SHP and it looks wrong in ArcGIS or QGIS"

In the vast majority of cases, this isn't a Field Manager failure but a limitation of the Shapefile format, which is geometry plus a DBF table and little else: field names are truncated to 10 characters, there are no aliases or domains, long text gets cut, and a table with mixed geometries arrives at the GIS split into several layers.

The full list of what's kept and what's lost is in Format specifications.

Two practical rules:

• For anything going to the GIS, export to GeoPackage, SHP or TAB, never Excel: the spreadsheet does not preserve column types or geometry as such. Of the three, GeoPackage preserves the data best.
• If you need to keep styles, filters or geocoders, those don't travel in a shapefile: use the native .fmr format.

"Tables appeared with the _1 suffix"

When you import a resource whose name already exists in the project, the app doesn't overwrite it: it creates another table, adding _1 to the name. The result is a project with two nearly identical tables, and a dynamic style or a filter pointing to the wrong one.

• Before importing, check the names in the Resource Manager and rename the source file if needed.
• This also happens with special layers: the Tracks table must not be deleted or added again by hand (see Special Layers).
• If duplicates already exist, check which one has the good data, reassign the style and the filter to it, and delete the other one from the Resource Manager. Deleting a table can't be undone: back up first.

Data, tables and drill holes

"The drill hole doesn't draw on the strip"

The strip log draws what a dynamic style tells it to; a table imported without a style shows up in the data browser but not in the strip. Check, in this order:

1. That the layer has a dynamic style assigned (see Dynamic Styles).
2. That the Hole ID, From and To columns were assigned correctly on import (see Import Data), and that From and To ended up as numeric values. A table coming from a spreadsheet can bring them in as text, in which case there's no interval to plot.
3. That the source file wasn't locked or open in another program at import time.
4. That the hole selector is pointing to the drillhole you expect to see: if the table has several, the strip only shows the selected one (see Hole selector).

"We're several people in the campaign: how do we work on the same project?"

Each tablet has its own project and its own data: there's no live sync between devices, so two people don't edit the same table at the same time. The way that works is to split the survey work by areas or by drill holes and consolidate afterwards.

• To share projects, use whatever cloud storage the company already has —Google Drive, OneDrive or whichever applies—: copy the project folder, or the .zip created by "Backup and send", to the shared folder.
• To consolidate what several people surveyed, export each table and import it into a single project (see Resource Manager).

"Can I give different permissions to each geologist?"

The application doesn't manage users or roles: there's no per-person login or per-table permissions, and anyone with the unlocked device can view and modify every project on it. The web portal account and the license are a separate matter: they identify the device and the subscription, not the person entering data.

Control is exercised through two channels: the device's screen lock and Android accounts, and backups, which let you roll back if someone modified what they shouldn't have (see Project Manager).

"I tap the row and the map doesn't centre"

If tapping the first column of a row doesn't move the map, it's because that tuple has no geometry assigned. This isn't a map or style problem: it's a data problem. Check the row in the data browser and, if needed, draw or assign its geometry from the editor (see Geometry Editor).

When none of this is enough

The "Report a bug in the app" button in the Support window opens WhatsApp with a prefilled message that includes the device's Support code. If you prefer to write by email, use [email protected] including:

• The Field Manager version and, if the problem is about activation, the Support code.
• The device model and its Android version.
• The exact text of the error message or a screenshot.
• What you were doing when it happened, and whether it used to work.
• If the problem is data-related, a project backup: from the Project Manager, the "Backup and send" option creates the .zip and shares it (see Project Manager).