Troubleshooting imports

A short checklist for failed imports, missing captions, and oversized files.

General checklist

Work through these steps in order when an import fails or produces unexpected results:

Confirm the file type is supported. Check Import formats, size limits, and fidelity for the current list.
Check file size. Very large files may exceed processing limits. Try splitting the content into smaller stories.
Verify your study language is set correctly. The tokenizer needs to know which language the text is in. See Choosing your study language.
Try a simpler source. If a complex Markdown file fails, paste the same content as plain text to isolate whether formatting is the issue.
Retry processing. Transient failures — network timeouts, temporary worker unavailability — often resolve on retry.

Verify captions exist on YouTube. Open the video on YouTube and check whether captions are available and enabled.
Check video availability. Private or unavailable videos, and videos whose captions require a YouTube login, may not import. Restrictions vary by video and browser session.
Try a different video. If one video consistently fails, test with a different well-known video that has manual captions. This helps determine whether the issue is with the specific video or the import pipeline.
Use speech-to-text when captions are missing. Paid accounts and administrators can transcribe audio or video to create subtitles and story text, for media up to 60 minutes. When native or creator-uploaded subtitles are available, prefer them because they are usually more accurate than an automatic transcription.

DRM-protected ePubs will fail. If the file came from a store that applies copy protection (Amazon, Adobe DRM), the importer cannot read it. Use an unprotected version of the file.
Too much front matter. The importer includes all non-navigation chapters from the book spine. If the result contains copyright pages, dedication pages, or other unwanted sections, trim them from the story text after import.
Near-empty result. Image-based ePubs (scanned books converted to ePub format) may have very little extractable text. Try a text-based version of the same book instead.

If the import succeeded but the story is missing expected features (no word definitions, no audio, no quiz):

Word definitions missing — the dictionary may not have coverage for every word. Tap a few common words to confirm whether the dictionary is working at all.
Audio not playing — for YouTube imports, the audio reference may not have linked correctly. For uploaded audio, verify the file format and reimport if needed.
Story stuck processing — very large stories or stories with complex media may take longer than expected. If the processing indicator remains for more than a few minutes, the pipeline may have stalled. Retry from the story menu.

Capture the error message text and the import path you used when contacting support. Include:

This context makes support tickets actionable without requiring back-and-forth to gather basic information.