Common Issues

Volunteer signup issues

"One or more of your selected shifts are no longer available"

Either someone else booked the last space while the volunteer was filling in the form, or their hold ran out. Selected shifts are held for 10 minutes while a volunteer registers, and an unconfirmed hold is released after that.

Solution: Go back to the shift selection page, choose a different shift or site, and complete signup. If everything in the area is full, they may be offered the waitlist.

For admins: If this keeps happening on popular shifts, raise the number of volunteers you want for the shift, or switch on the waitlist under Volunteers > Waitlist (Waitlist Settings). Volunteers are offered the waitlist when the whole area is full.

Volunteer didn't receive a confirmation email

After signing up, volunteers get a sign-in link to confirm their booking. The welcome and shift confirmation emails follow.

If they didn't receive it:

1. Check spam/junk folder – this solves most cases, especially for first-time volunteers
2. Check the Promotions tab – Gmail often routes these emails there
3. Check the email address on the volunteer's record under Volunteers – typos are common
4. Check Messaging > Email History – search by the volunteer's email address to see whether the email was sent, delivered, bounced or opened
5. Check the template – in Messaging > Email Templates, open the template and look at its Statistics and History tabs. Confirm the template is enabled for this campaign

Volunteer shows as "Unverified"

The volunteer registered but has not yet clicked the sign-in link in their email, which is what confirms their booking.

Why this happens:

• They may not have checked their email
• The email went to spam
• They entered the wrong email address
• A corporate email filter or security scanner opened or blocked the link (see Login & Authentication)

What to do:

1. Check the email address is correct
2. Ask the volunteer to request a new sign-in link from the campaign site
3. If the volunteer is present (for example, on event day), a coordinator can add them directly from the roster. Volunteers added by a coordinator are confirmed straight away

An unconfirmed booking is only held for 10 minutes. After that the space goes back to the pool.

Duplicate volunteer registration

If a volunteer signs up with an email that already has a record:

• PurposeTech recognises the email and sends a sign-in link to the existing record
• Their existing bookings are kept
• New bookings are added to the same record

What if they signed up with different emails? Use the Merge Tool to combine both records. Shift bookings, campaign records, feedback and email history move to the record you keep.

Volunteer can't complete registration on mobile

If volunteers report the signup page not working on mobile:

1. Check browser compatibility – PurposeTech works in current versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Edge
2. Disable ad blockers – some ad blockers interfere with form submissions
3. Check connectivity – poor mobile reception can cause timeouts during registration
4. Check password protection – if the campaign is still password protected (under Settings > Domains), they need the password

Volunteer wants to change their personal details

Volunteers can update their details on the My details page of the campaign site after signing in, but their login email is read-only. To change a login email, an admin or coordinator updates it on the volunteer's record under Volunteers.

Shift management issues

Can't add more volunteers to a shift

The shift has reached the number of volunteers you set for it. Options:

Volunteer can't cancel their shift

Volunteers cancel their own shifts from the campaign site while signed in. If they are having trouble:

1. Make sure they are signed in (they need to use the link or code sent to their email)
2. Check the registration cutoff under Settings > Campaign Settings. With a per-shift cutoff, volunteers can no longer change a shift within the cutoff period before it starts (48 hours by default). With a fixed cutoff, changes close on that date
3. An admin or coordinator can remove the volunteer from the roster on their behalf

Shifts not showing on the campaign site

If shifts aren't visible to volunteers, check these in order:

If the area is hidden, all of its sites and shifts are hidden too, even if their own settings say visible.

Shifts showing the wrong time to volunteers

Check the Timezone under Settings > Campaign Settings. Shift times are shown in the campaign's time zone.

Volunteer appears in the wrong shift

If a volunteer is in a shift they didn't sign up for:

1. Check whether an admin or coordinator moved them with the Move volunteer tool
2. Open the volunteer's record under Volunteers. The side panel has an activity timeline with their sign-ins and actions

Roster issues

Coordinator can't see their site

Coordinators work from the roster on the campaign website. An area coordinator sees the areas they are assigned to, on the days they are assigned. A site coordinator sees the shifts they are assigned to. If a coordinator reports a missing site:

1. Check their role under Volunteers (Area Coordinator or Site Coordinator)
2. Check the assignment: the area's Coordinators tab (including the day), or the site's Coordinators tab
3. Try having them sign out and back in so their session picks up the change

If someone also uses the admin portal, remember it is a separate account with a separate sign-in. See Login & Authentication.

"Add volunteer" button is disabled

This happens when:

• The shift already has its desired number of volunteers. Raise the number on the shift to open more slots
• The site is set to Cancel only (coordinators who are not admins can't add people to it)

Roster data not updating

The roster loads its data when you open the page. If changes made by another user aren't appearing:

1. Refresh the page – pull to refresh on mobile, or F5/Cmd+R on desktop
2. Check connectivity – poor reception can prevent data loading

Email delivery issues

Volunteers not receiving emails

Start with the most common causes:

1. Spam/junk folder – the single most common issue
2. Gmail Promotions tab – Google often routes these emails to Promotions, not Primary
3. Wrong email address – check for typos on the volunteer's record
4. Corporate email filters – corporate mail systems may block emails containing login links
5. Full mailbox – the recipient's mailbox is full (soft bounce)
6. Invalid email – the email address doesn't exist (hard bounce)

To investigate:

1. Go to Messaging > Email History and search by email address, subject or tag. You can filter by event type (for example delivered, bounced or spam complaint) and time range
2. Open Messaging > Email Templates, select the template, and check its Statistics tab

High bounce rate

A high bounce rate after a CSV import usually points to old or invalid email addresses in the file. Clean the list before importing again.

Emails going to spam

Emails are sent through Postmark. If volunteers report emails landing in spam:

1. Ask them to check junk/spam and mark the email as "Not spam"
2. Ask them to add your sender address to their contacts
3. Check your sender address – an Owner can change the address and name emails go from under Settings > Campaign API Keys. A new sender address has to be confirmed through Postmark before it is used
4. Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines – "FREE", "ACT NOW", "URGENT" can trigger filters
5. Contact support@purposetech.io if the problem persists

Email sent but volunteer says they didn't get it

1. Check Messaging > Email History – did the email actually send?
2. If it shows as delivered, the email reached their mail server. The issue is on their end (spam filter, wrong inbox)
3. If it shows as bounced, the email couldn't be delivered – check the bounce reason
4. If you can't find it at all, check that the template is enabled and that its schedule is set. On the reminder templates, the unscheduled-emails check lists volunteers who have shifts but no reminder scheduled (Owners only)

Salesforce sync issues

Salesforce sync is set up with the PurposeTech team, and Owners then manage it under Settings > Salesforce Sync.

Sync is not running

1. Check that the sync is switched on for this campaign under Settings > Salesforce Sync, and that the Salesforce campaign ID is the right one (18 characters)
2. Look at the sync status page (Volunteers > Sync) to see the most recent sync steps and whether any are stuck or failed
3. If the Salesforce connection has expired, contact support@purposetech.io to re-authenticate it

Records not syncing

If specific records aren't appearing in the other system:

• Check Sync Conflicts for an error on those records
• Check the sync window in the Salesforce Sync settings. If one is set, only shifts and area-coordinator assignments inside the window are synced
• Check whether the one-way (Salesforce to PurposeTech) option is switched on. If it is, PurposeTech records won't be written back to Salesforce

Which fields sync is fixed by PurposeTech and can't be changed in the settings.

Sync conflicts piling up

Each conflict shows the record, an error message and a status of Error, Resolved or Ignored. Open a conflict to read the message, fix the underlying record in Salesforce or PurposeTech, then choose Resolve Conflict. Several conflicts with the same message usually point to one underlying data problem, so fix the cause and not each record.

You can find conflicts under Volunteers > Sync or Settings > Sync Conflicts.

Admin portal issues

A menu item or page is missing

Admin access has two roles. Volunteer Admins can use Volunteers, Reports, Messaging, Team Members (to view and invite) and AI Usage. Owners can also use Design, Settings, Domains and Activity Map, create campaigns and tenants, duplicate campaigns, create custom email templates and use Segment send. If you can't see something, ask your Owner to check your role under Organisation > Team Members.

Can't switch tenants or campaigns

Use the tenant and campaign selector in the top bar. It lists the tenants and campaigns you have access to. Creating a new tenant or campaign, or duplicating one, needs the Owner role.

Settings changes not taking effect

Some settings (branding, email templates, header/footer) may take a moment to show on the campaign site:

1. Hard refresh the page – Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows)
2. Clear your browser cache – cached styles or templates may show old values
3. Try a private window – this rules out cache issues
4. Wait a few minutes – some changes, such as a new custom domain, take time to take effect

Admin portal loading slowly

1. Check your internet connection
2. Try a different browser – some browser extensions can slow things down
3. Narrow what you are looking at – use filters or search on large tables

Can't find a volunteer

If you're searching for a volunteer and can't find them:

1. Search by email – more reliable than name search
2. Check the campaign – the Volunteers list has a Current campaign toggle. Make sure you are looking at the right campaign
3. Try a partial name (for example "jane" instead of "Jane Smith")
4. Check your filters – role, tag, feedback and shift filters narrow the list. The AI Search box turns a plain-English description into filters

Still stuck?

If you can't find a solution here:

• Browse the FAQ for quick answers to common questions
• Check the specific guide for the feature you're using
• Contact PurposeTech support at support@purposetech.io
• Visit our Support page to submit a request