Troubleshooting & Undoing Mistakes
The things that are not obvious from the screens: what an action really costs, how to get back, and when only Field Link can help. Everything else in the product tells you what it does as you go.
What can and cannot be undone
| You did this | What it costs | Way back |
|---|---|---|
| Deactivate a missionary | Nothing. They leave the map and the kiosk; photos, letters, QR codes and links all stay. | Activate on the row. This is the right button for furlough or a completed term. |
| Delete a missionary | The record, family members, photos, letters and videos, and the printed QR code / shared link. | Re-import your last ZIP export (keeps the old id, so printed QR codes work again), or ask Field Link to restore it (below). |
| Remove a photo with the ✕ | The file, immediately — this is not part of the form's Save/Cancel. | Upload it again, or restore from a ZIP export that included photos. |
| Delete an organization in use | Its missionaries keep everything but show no organization. | Add it again and pick it on each profile, or re-import your export and choose Overwrite on those missionaries (a plain re-import re-creates the organization but does not relink people). |
| Delete a user | Their sign-in. Nothing they entered is touched. | Invite them again (new setup link, choose the role again). To take access away for a season instead, switch them to Inactive on the Users page. |
| Delete a kiosk key | The display using it stops and shows a recovery screen. No missionary data is involved. | Make a new key and open its URL on the display. Disable is the reversible version: the display reconnects by itself a few seconds after Enable. |
| Change the theme | Nothing permanent. | Pick the old one and save. A pick you did not save is simply dropped when you leave the page. |
Your export is only a backup if it includes media
Settings → Import & Export has three boxes for photos, prayer letters and videos. With them ticked (the default) you get a ZIP that can bring a deleted missionary back complete, under the same id, so bulletin QR codes keep working. Unticked, the download is a small text-only file: names, bios, locations and organizations, but no pictures or letters, and nothing says so when you need it most. Take a ZIP export after any big change.
Users, kiosk keys, two-factor settings, the theme and kiosk display settings are not in the export. They are quick to set up again.
When only Field Link can help
The platform keeps hourly backups for a year. If something is gone and you have no export of it, send a support request from Support in the sidebar (or e-mail support@fieldlinkmissions.com) with the church name, what was lost and roughly when. The same goes for a Super Admin who has lost both their authenticator and their recovery codes: nobody at the church can reset that, only Field Link.
Talking to Field Link support
Support in the sidebar lists every request you have sent and the conversation on each. New request sends one; you get a confirmation e-mail with a reference such as FL-3F2A9C1D. When Field Link replies, the reply arrives by e-mail with an Open the conversation button that lands on that request, and the Support entry in the sidebar shows a count of unread replies. Write back from the request itself; the team is notified by e-mail. Replying to a request marked resolved or closed reopens it. Requests are private to the person who sent them; other admins at the church do not see them.
You can also reach support by e-mail at the support address shown on the Support page's confirmation e-mail; a message from the e-mail address on your account opens a request under your church, and a reply that keeps the FL-… reference in its subject is added to the same conversation. The first reply may come from an automated assistant that reads this documentation and answers when the answer is in it; it is marked as such on the Support page and in the e-mail. A person reads every request, and once a person has replied, the assistant does not write on that request again.
Things that look broken but are not
- The lobby TV still shows someone you just hid, or the old colours. The display checks for changes about once a minute, so give it two. If it is still wrong, reload it: Ctrl+Shift+R on a keyboard, or press and hold the top-left corner of a touch screen for four seconds.
- The TV says "This kiosk key is no longer valid". Someone disabled, deleted or rotated its key under Kiosk. Disabled → click Enable and it reconnects on its own. Deleted or rotated → copy the URL of a key (Kiosk → Settings → Copy URL) and open it on the display. Only the Windows app and the Raspberry Pi image show a 6-character code to type into Link kiosk; a browser or smart-TV display never does.
- "Too many incorrect codes. Try again in 15 minutes." Five wrong two-factor or recovery codes pause sign-in for that account for 15 minutes, and a correct code is refused during the pause. Wait it out; another admin can cover meanwhile.
- You were sent to the sign-in page while saving, and the change is gone. The account was signed out in another tab or its password was changed on another device, which ends every session for safety. Sign in again and retype; the sign-in page says when this has happened.
- The public map says "0 Missionaries". Each profile has Show on web map plus an Active state. Deactivate on the Missionaries list is one click with no confirmation and sits beside Delete; check the list for "Inactive" badges and the ✗ marks in the Web column.
- A spreadsheet import was refused with "a cell is missing or extra". One row has fewer or more columns than the header, usually a column deleted in Excel. Nothing was imported. Download the example CSV from the Import panel, match its columns exactly, and import again.
- A link went to the wrong address. A missionary invite link cannot be recalled by e-mail, but the Invite dialog shows how many unused links are open and can revoke them all at once. Whatever arrives through a link lands as Pending review and is not public until an admin approves it, so a stray submission can simply be deleted.
- The dashboard says the church is suspended. If the banner mentions the subscription, renew it under Subscription and everything comes back as it was. If it says Field Link paused the account, nothing on your side changes it: contact support.
Before Sunday
- Open the public map in a private browser window and the kiosk URL on the TV: you see exactly what the congregation sees, including anything hidden by mistake.
- Keep a second Super Admin. A lone Super Admin who is locked out, on holiday or has left is the one situation the church cannot resolve on its own.
- Take a ZIP export (media boxes ticked) after adding a batch of missionaries or letters.