---
title: Why someone cannot get in or cannot edit
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/troubleshooting/cannot-edit
description: Sign-in problems are nearly always the wrong email address. Editing problems are nearly always department scope.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# Why someone cannot get in or cannot edit



Two different problems that arrive worded the same way. "I cannot get in" is about an invite or
an address. "I cannot edit this" is about a department.

## A new starter cannot get in [#a-new-starter-cannot-get-in]

Four causes, in the order they happen.

**Nobody sent them the link.** Tideswell reserves the seat rather than emailing them, and the
confirmation after inviting says to tell them to sign in at your workspace's address with the
invited email. Send them that link.

**They signed in with the wrong address.** The invite is tied to one exact email. Signing in with
a personal address instead creates an account with no invite attached, and they land with no
workspace.

**The invite expired.** They last 14 days. Issue a new one.

**They were never invited**, or the invite was revoked. Check the pending list on
**Settings › Members**, per <Ref to="workspace-admin/members-and-roles" />.

## Somebody who used to be able to get in cannot [#somebody-who-used-to-be-able-to-get-in-cannot]

Check whether they were **deactivated**. A deactivated person loses access immediately and shows
greyed out on the roster with a status badge.

Note that the roster has no reactivate button, so this is not something you undo from that
screen.

## Somebody signs in but sees almost nothing [#somebody-signs-in-but-sees-almost-nothing]

They are in the workspace and in no departments.

Nearly everything in Tideswell is scoped to a team, so a person with an empty department list has
very little to look at. Open their **Departments** dropdown on the roster and tick the right
ones.

## Somebody cannot edit a specific record [#somebody-cannot-edit-a-specific-record]

This is the common one, and the answer is nearly always **which department the record belongs
to**.

Most task, project, milestone and planning permissions are checked against the **record's own**
department. Somebody who leads Marketing is a plain member in Warehouse, and on a Warehouse task
they get a member's controls.

Check the record's department first, then that person's standing in **that** team. Changing a
permission row will not fix a scope problem.

## Somebody can edit some things and not others on the same record [#somebody-can-edit-some-things-and-not-others-on-the-same-record]

Because the permissions are separate from one another.

On a task, editing fields, assigning, completing, managing blockers and commenting are five
different rights. Somebody can comment on a task they cannot reschedule, and that is working as
intended rather than half-broken.

Work out which one is missing using <Ref to="concepts/who-can-do-what" />, then ask for that one.

## An admin loosened a permission and it made no difference [#an-admin-loosened-a-permission-and-it-made-no-difference]

Two possibilities.

**They needed Settings.** The Settings area is gated on being an admin separately, so a
permission row never opens a settings screen to a non-admin. See
<Ref to="workspace-admin/permissions" />.

**It is a scope problem rather than a rank problem.** Setting a row to member does not help
somebody who is not in the department at all.

## Somebody cannot approve a purchase order [#somebody-cannot-approve-a-purchase-order]

Check whether they raised it or created it. &#x2A;*Nobody can approve their own request, and nobody
can approve an order they created.**

That is a business rule rather than a permission, and an admin cannot override it. Their own
requests appear in their queue read-only with the reason on the row.

If they are the only possible approver, that order cannot be approved by anyone and somebody
else needs the approve permission. See <Ref to="purchasing/approvals" />.

## Somebody is away and work is stuck behind them [#somebody-is-away-and-work-is-stuck-behind-them]

They can hand their standing to a colleague until a date they set, and it expires by itself. See
<Ref to="account/delegation" />.

Set it before going away rather than after.