Troubleshooting
Diagnose common MARCUS access, source, answer, citation, sharing, and knowledge-workflow problems safely.
Most MARCUS problems can be narrowed to one of four places: the active workspace, the source lifecycle, the evidence search, or the final presentation and save step.
Current data boundary: Do not paste PHI, patient-specific clinical facts, credentials, secrets, full private documents, or screenshots containing prohibited information into support messages or issue reports.
Audience and Availability
This page is for all MARCUS users. Some recovery controls, such as reprocessing a source, revoking access, changing settings, or regenerating a knowledge artifact, appear only when your permissions and workspace configuration allow them.
Start With the Failure Path
Failure path
How MARCUS handles an incomplete step
An interrupted source or answer should remain visibly incomplete rather than being presented as successful.
Work begins
MARCUS starts preparing a source or answering a question.
Problem detected
A connection, source, search, or generation step does not finish.
InterruptedNot complete
MARCUS keeps the item out of the successful or ready state.
Needs attentionReview the message
The visible state explains what can be checked or changed next.
Correct and retry
The clinician can retry after the underlying issue is resolved.
Retry path
Use this order:
- Confirm the active organization and project.
- Confirm that the required source is present and ready.
- Open the answer's citations and inspect the selected evidence.
- Check for a visible connection, save, permission, or feature-availability message.
- Retry only the step that failed.
Repeatedly submitting the same broad question rarely fixes a missing or unready source.
Sign-In, Organization, or Project Problems
| What you see | Likely causes | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-in does not complete | Incorrect credentials, locked account, unverified email, expired session, or required single sign-on | Follow the displayed sign-in path; use the approved account-recovery or administrator route |
| MARCUS asks you to choose an organization | Your account belongs to more than one organization | Select the organization that owns the intended project |
| A project is missing | Wrong organization, missing access, archived project, or different project-access policy | Switch organization, check archived projects if available, then ask a project owner |
| A control is missing | Your access does not permit the action or the feature is disabled | Confirm context and ask an administrator whether the control should be available |
| Content looks unfamiliar | You may be in the wrong organization or project | Stop before changing anything and recheck the workspace name |
Do not solve an access problem by asking another person to send credentials, session links, or copied private source content.
Upload and Processing Problems
A file is rejected before upload
Check whether the file is:
- an accepted PDF, Word, PowerPoint, plain-text, Markdown, CSV, or HTML file
- nonempty and readable
- within the current size limit shown by the interface
- within the workspace storage allowance
- a duplicate of content already in the project
The current default file limit can be configured by deployment, so rely on the limit displayed in your workspace.
Some files succeed and others fail
MARCUS can process several uploads concurrently and can report partial success. Read the result for each file. Do not re-upload the successful files merely because another file failed.
A source remains queued or processing
- Refresh the source list after a short interval.
- Confirm that the item has not been cancelled or marked failed.
- Check whether other processing work is completing.
- Ask a project owner or administrator to investigate if the state does not advance.
Upload completion and search readiness are separate. Wait for Ready or Indexed before judging answer behavior.
A source failed
Use retry when the same approved file should be processed again and the control is available. Replace the upload when the file is corrupted, unreadable, a poor scan, or the wrong version.
Do not keep duplicate copies of a source as a troubleshooting method. Duplicates can make evidence review harder.
A cancelled or deleted source still seems present
Refresh the project and check the source status. Cleanup can involve stored passages as well as the visible file record. If the item persists, report the source title and status without attaching prohibited content.
The Source Is Ready but the Answer Does Not Use It
Check these points in order:
- Project: Is the source in the active project?
- Scope: Is the question restricted to another collection or selected source set?
- Version: Is the expected source the current approved version?
- Text quality: Can MARCUS display a sensible excerpt or briefing?
- Question wording: Does the question name the document topic and the information sought?
- Evidence location: Is the relevant content in a table, image, appendix, or scan that may not have extracted cleanly?
Try one narrow, source-oriented question, such as:
Which section of the approved protocol describes the reassessment interval?
If the source still does not appear, inspect the source rather than making the question more leading.
The Answer Is Too General, Incomplete, or Unsupported
Answer flow
How MARCUS prepares an answer
MARCUS narrows the search to the selected project, chooses useful passages, and keeps their source details attached.
Ask
The clinician enters a question in the project workspace.
Confirm scope
MARCUS checks access and limits the search to the allowed context.
Find passages
Several search methods identify potentially relevant evidence.
Prioritize evidence
The most useful passages are compared, ordered, and prepared for use.
Draft the answer
MARCUS writes a response using the selected evidence.
Attach citations
Source references and passage details travel with the final response.
Evidence linked
| What you see | What it may mean | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| A no-evidence response | MARCUS did not find enough support in the indexed scope | Check source readiness, project scope, and whether the evidence actually exists |
| A broad summary with weak detail | The question is broad or the evidence spans several topics | Ask one focused question with a defined document scope |
| No citations | Evidence search or answer assembly did not produce reviewable support | Do not rely on the answer; inspect the source set and report the issue |
| Citation labels but no excerpt | The passage preview is unavailable or access to the source failed | Try opening the source; report the citation label and source title |
| The excerpt does not support the claim | The answer and evidence are misaligned | Follow the source text, stop using the claim, and report the mismatch |
| Only one side of a conflict appears | Search did not find the other source or the question hid the disagreement | Ask explicitly for differences and name the approved documents |
| An older source dominates | Multiple versions are present or the old wording matches more closely | Remove or isolate obsolete drafts where permitted |
Do not interpret a relevance, coverage, or support indicator as a probability of clinical correctness.
The Answer Stream Stops or the Result Does Not Save
MARCUS streams answers while they are generated. The client can attempt limited reconnection, and partial text may remain visible.
- If the connection drops, wait for the reconnect message before resubmitting.
- If you select Stop, the partial answer remains incomplete and should not be treated as a finished response.
- If generation completes but saving fails, the visible answer may remain while the conversation history does not. Copy only non-PHI working notes if your organizational policy permits it, then retry in a new conversation.
- If the same interruption recurs, record the time, page, organization name, project name, and visible error message. Do not include the question text if it contains prohibited information.
Citation or Source-Panel Problems
- Open the numbered citation.
- Note the source title, section, page, and citation number.
- Switch between the formatted excerpt and exact stored passage when available.
- Open the source asset if your access permits it.
- Check whether the source itself contains the claimed wording.
Report:
- what you expected the citation to support
- the citation number and non-sensitive source title
- whether the excerpt was missing, wrong, or inaccessible
- whether the issue persisted after refresh
Do not paste the full private source passage into an unapproved support channel.
Knowledge Tools Are Empty, Queued, or Rejected
| What you see | What it may mean | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No Knowledge Pages | Generation has not started, the feature is unavailable, or there are too few useful sources | Confirm source readiness and feature availability |
| Awaiting themes | Theme discovery is running before page planning | Wait and refresh later |
| Generation already running | A background job is active | Do not start repeated duplicate runs |
| Page rejected | Evidence, claim, or coherence checks did not pass | Improve source coverage or narrow the topic before retrying |
| Empty graph | Fewer than two ready sources or few detected relationships | Add or verify relevant sources |
| Empty matrix cells | The selected documents do not support the requested fields | Leave gaps explicit; do not infer missing evidence |
| Missing briefing | Optional enrichment is incomplete | Confirm the source itself is ready for questions |
Generated knowledge artifacts can fail while core document search remains usable.
Sharing and Collaboration Problems
A shared link does not open
The link may be expired, revoked, or copied incorrectly. Ask the creator to verify its status. Do not replace a revoked link with a longer-lived public link unless the content and audience are still appropriate.
A recipient can see the answer but not the source
This is expected for a public answer snapshot. It does not grant project-document access. Distribute the approved source through an authorized institutional system.
A public link contains inappropriate information
Revoke it immediately and follow the privacy or security incident process. Do not reproduce the content in the incident ticket unless the approved process specifically requires it.
What to Include in a Safe Issue Report
Include:
- date and approximate time
- page or workflow
- organization and project names, if those names are not sensitive
- browser and device type
- source status, citation number, or visible error code
- exact steps using generic, non-PHI wording
- whether refresh or a single retry changed the result
Do not include:
- patient information or patient-specific facts
- passwords, tokens, keys, or session cookies
- private connection details
- full source documents or sensitive screenshots
- information copied from another person's account
Expected Result and How to Verify It
A successful recovery should resolve the failed stage without changing unrelated sources or access.
Verify that:
- the active organization and project remain correct
- only the intended file, question, share, or artifact was retried
- a source is actually ready before testing it
- an answer has reviewable citations
- a revoked link no longer opens
- a regenerated artifact identifies its evidence
- no prohibited information was added during troubleshooting
Continue Reading
- Previous: Safe Use and Limitations
- Next: Clinician Handbook Home
- Related: Upload Your First Document, Troubleshooting Weak Answers, and Questions, Answers, and Citations