Most problems are one of ten things.

This is the most common message we get, and it is almost never a fault.

• Check junk mail. That is where it is roughly nine times out of ten.
• Confirm which door you are at. Staff sign in at the console; attendees sign in on the event page. The two lists are separate, and being on one does not put you on the other.
• Check the address is the one you registered with — a work address and a personal one are two different people as far as the system is concerned.
• Ask for another link. They expire in 30 minutes by design, and there is no limit on requests.
• An organizer can settle it in seconds. The message log in the console lists every message sent, who it went to and whether their provider accepted it — and a Send new link button beside each one. If the log shows delivered, it is in their junk mail.

Almost always one of four rules doing its job. The page names the reason on screen — read that first, because it is the actual one.

• Most often their two lines are not filled in yet. Attendees have to say what they do and the one topic that matters most before they can take a seat, because their hosts see both. The refusal now says so and scrolls them to the two fields, which sit at the top of the event page under "Your hosts will see".
• The event may still be in Draft. Attendees cannot book until you set it to Open in Settings.
• Someone from their company may already hold a seat in that round. The rule is one seat per company per round across the whole event, not per table, so two colleagues cannot both book the same round even at different tables. It can be switched off in Settings.
• The table may be full. They can join its waitlist and will be offered the seat if one is released.
• They may be the host of that table in that round, in which case they already have a seat at it.

Open the message log in the console before doing anything else — it is on every plan.

• The log shows each message, the address it went to and whether it arrived. Nothing listed for someone means they never asked for a link, and the address may be wrong on your list.
• Addresses we can no longer reach are listed under Deliverability with the reason. A permanent bounce or a spam complaint stops further sending to that address automatically, and Send new link will refuse rather than keep trying.
• Correct the address with that person rather than resending — repeated sending to a bad address is what damages delivery for everyone else on your event.
• If a whole domain is affected, it is usually their mail server rather than ours. Their IT team can allow our sending domain.

It is on the Share tab of your event, not in your browser address bar.

• Open the event and go to Share. The link is at the top with a copy button, and the same link works for everyone on your list.
• If it says booking is in Draft or closed, people can open the page but cannot book. Open it on the Settings tab when you are ready.
• The same tab has editable drafts for announcing it — Open Doors does not send those for you.
• It also has the link as a QR code: a print-ready sign, or the code on its own for a slide.

Use your sample event. That is exactly what it is for.

• Every account starts with a sample event, marked sample in your event list: invented hosts, made-up attendees, already filled in.
• It does not count toward your plan — not the event, not the attendees, not the tables. Exploring it costs you nothing, even on a plan that allows one event a year.
• It stays in draft, so nobody outside your team can see it. Nothing you do in there touches a real event.
• If it is missing, tell us and we will add one.

That is expected. Importing does not notify anyone.

• Adding people to the list only lets them sign in. Open Doors sends them nothing until they go to the event page and ask for a link themselves.
• Send them the link. It is on the Share tab, along with a draft announcement you can edit and send from your own list.
• Check the event is Open, not Draft — someone following the link to a draft event is told booking has not opened yet.

Nothing is written until you confirm, so a failed import has changed nothing.

• Drop the file in rather than pasting — an Excel or CSV file straight from your computer avoids every formatting question.
• If you pasted, check the preview. It names which columns it recognized. A name split across First Name and Last Name is joined for you, and Organization, Business, Employer and School all count as company. If it still only found email, your headings are unusual — rename them to Email, Name and Company, or drop the file in instead.
• The preview lists every skipped row with the reason: no email address, something that is not an email, or a duplicate. Fix those rows and import the whole list again — people already added are updated, never duplicated.
• If the file is very large, export just the list rather than the whole workbook.

Cancel it — do not just close booking.

• Closing booking means the schedule has settled and the event is still happening. Attendees who open the page are told they can still see their seats, which is the wrong message if it is not going ahead.
• Cancel on the Settings tab. Anyone opening the page or scanning the printed code is told the event is canceled.
• Bookings are kept so you have a record of who had seats, and you can put it back to draft if it goes ahead after all.
• Open Doors does not tell your attendees for you — send that message from your own list.

Withdraw the table. Do not try to move people by hand.

• Withdrawing releases every seat booked at that table and those attendees rebook themselves.
• That is deliberate. Staff never reassign anyone, which is what keeps the room first come, first served and stops anyone claiming it was arranged.
• If a replacement host arrives, publish a new table. It appears to attendees immediately.

Nothing already booked is affected.

• The message names the limit you reached and what the next plan allows.
• Events are counted over a rolling twelve months, so closing an event does not free a slot.
• Attendees never see any of this.