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This page walks through the most common problems users encounter in 1Archive and the steps most likely to resolve each one. Work through the steps in order, later steps are less common but cover edge cases the earlier ones might miss.

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Drive not detected

If you plug in a drive and it does not appear in the 1Archive source list, work through the following checks:
1

Confirm the drive is physically connected

Check that the cable is fully seated at both ends. Try unplugging and replugging the drive.
2

Try a different USB port or cable

Faulty ports and cables are a common cause of intermittent detection. Swap the cable or port and wait a few seconds for the operating system to remount the drive.
3

Verify the drive is readable by your operating system

Open Finder (macOS) or File Explorer (Windows) and confirm the drive appears there. If it does not, the issue is at the OS level, the drive may need reformatting or have a hardware fault.
4

Check whether the drive has been scanned before

A connected but previously unscanned drive appears in the source list with a Scan button rather than as a full source. If you see this, click Scan to index it. Once scanning completes, the drive will appear as a full source.
A drive that was scanned previously will continue to appear in your catalog even when disconnected. If you are looking for an already-indexed drive, it should already be visible, check for a “disconnected” label on the source card.

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Scan stopped or is taking a long time

Scans on large drives can take anywhere from several minutes to a few hours depending on the number of files and drive speed.
1

Wait and monitor progress

1Archive shows scan progress on the source card. Let the scan run to completion before concluding something is wrong.
2

Check drive health

Slow scans on older drives sometimes indicate sectors being re-read due to errors. On macOS, you can check drive health in Disk Utility. On Windows, use the drive manufacturer’s diagnostic tool or chkdsk.
3

Try restarting the scan

If the scan appears to have stopped entirely (no progress for an extended period), quit 1Archive, relaunch it, and start the scan again from the source card.

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Search returning no results

1

Check which search mode is active

1Archive has multiple search modes: filename search, AI Image Search, and transcript search. Make sure the mode you are using matches what you are looking for.
2

Verify your internet connection for AI Image Search

AI Image Search requires an internet connection. If you are offline, switch to filename search or browse sources directly.
3

Make sure the source has been scanned

Files only appear in search results after their source has been fully scanned. If a drive was recently connected and not yet scanned, its files will not be searchable.
4

Try broader or different search terms

Search results are limited to 100 files per query. If your terms are very specific and the file exists, try simplifying them. For transcript search, the video must have been transcribed, not all videos are transcribed automatically.

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Face clustering not working

1

Check your internet connection

Face clustering requires an active internet connection. If you are offline, the clustering operation will fail immediately. Reconnect to the internet and try again.
2

Run Detect People on each source first

Clustering groups together faces that have already been detected. If you have not run face detection on a source, there are no faces for clustering to work with. Right-click a source in the sidebar and choose Detect People, then wait for detection to complete before running Cluster Faces.
3

Confirm you have enough faces per person

Clusters with fewer than 4 detected instances of the same face will not appear. If your library has only a few photos of a given person, they will not form a cluster. Add more photos featuring that person to your sources and re-run clustering.
4

Re-run clustering after adding new sources

After detecting people on a new source, click Cluster Faces again. Clustering is incremental, new faces are grouped with existing clusters where possible.
The Re-cluster All Faces option deletes all existing face clusters and rebuilds them from scratch. Any manual person names and groupings you have set will be lost. Use this only when you want to start fresh.

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Can’t delete a source folder

If the Delete option for a source folder is unavailable or returns an error, the folder is not empty.
1

Open the folder and review its contents

Navigate into the folder to see which sources it contains.
2

Move or remove each source

Drag each source out of the folder to the root level, or remove sources from your catalog if they are no longer needed.
3

Delete the now-empty folder

Once all sources have been removed, right-click the folder and select Delete.

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Can’t add a member to a restricted source folder

Adding members to a restricted source folder requires the Admin role in your organization. Editor and Viewer roles cannot modify folder membership. If you need to add a member and do not have admin access, ask an organization admin to make the change or to update your role.
If a recipient reports that a share link is showing an error or is no longer accessible:
1

Confirm the link has not been revoked

Open the collection in 1Archive and check whether the share link is still active. A revoked or deleted link will stop working immediately for all recipients.
2

Generate a new share link

If the original link was revoked or you are unsure of its status, generate a new share link from the collection detail view and send the updated URL to the recipient.

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App crashes on startup

1

Relaunch the app

If 1Archive displays an error dialog with a Restart button, close the dialog and relaunch the app manually from your Applications folder or taskbar. The restart button closes the app entirely.
2

Check system requirements

Confirm your system meets the minimum requirements for 1Archive. The app requires a supported version of macOS or Windows and sufficient available RAM for preview generation.
3

Reinstall 1Archive

Download the latest version from the 1Archive website and reinstall it. Reinstalling preserves your local catalog and settings.
4

Contact support

If the app continues to crash after reinstalling, reach out to support with a description of when the crash occurs. Including any error messages you saw before the crash will help us diagnose the issue faster.