Project is read-only
Why a project says Read only, saves fail and its forms stop taking submissions, and how the workspace owner reactivates it from Billing.
A read-only project still opens, but changes in it aren't saved and its forms stop taking submissions. It's read-only because your workspace has more projects than its plan keeps active. To bring it back, the workspace owner opens Billing, chooses the Usage tab and clicks Reactivate on the project's card. That needs a project licence that isn't in use.
If the message or notification says the workspace is read-only, not one project, the cause is a failed payment and Reactivate doesn't help: the owner clicks Update payment method on Billing. See If the message says the workspace is read-only.
Check this first
Open the project: every page has a banner at the top, This project is read-only. On the Projects page its card says Read only. A change you try in the project is refused with "This project is read-only because it has no project licence. Reactivate it in Billing, under Usage." A teammate's message ends "Ask the workspace owner to reactivate it." instead.
- You own the workspace: go to Reactivate the project.
- You're a teammate: ask the workspace owner. Only the owner can reactivate a project, and the Billing page you can open is for your own workspace. Once a cancelled plan has ended, the workspace's projects stop opening for teammates altogether: teams are on Premium and Business. The teammate's Projects page then says that the workspace isn't on a plan with teammates, and names its owner.
If the message says the workspace is read-only
A banner that says This workspace is read-only, and the message "This workspace is read-only while payment recovery is required. Update the payment method in Billing to continue." (for a teammate: "This workspace is read-only while payment recovery is required. Ask the workspace owner to update the payment method."), are a different case. A payment for the plan failed and wasn't fixed in time, so no change goes through in any of the workspace's projects, whatever their cards say. A customer who submits a form sees "This form is temporarily unavailable while the workspace owner updates billing."
The owner's Billing page shows a Payment recovery required notice above its tabs. Reactivate doesn't help here: the owner clicks Update payment method. See Payment failed.
Why a project becomes read-only
Each project licence keeps one project active, and Free keeps 1 project active. When a workspace is left with more active projects than that, the extra ones become read-only:
- A paid plan was cancelled. The workspace returns to Free when the paid period ends. With more than one active project, the owner picks the one to keep under Project to keep active on Free, on the Cancel subscription card.
- Project licences were lowered. The change waits for the next renewal. While reviewing it, the owner ticks the projects to keep, under the heading that starts Choose exactly.
The projects that weren't chosen become read-only on the day the change takes effect. ReTestimonial never chooses for you. If no valid choice is on record that day, for example because the chosen project was deleted in the meantime, every project that's still active becomes read-only and the owner reactivates the ones to keep.
What stops in a read-only project
Your testimonials, widgets, forms and settings are kept. You can still open the project, read its testimonials and download them with Export to CSV in the inbox's Options menu. Everything that changes the project is refused:
- approving, editing and deleting testimonials, and saving widgets, forms, Walls of Love and settings;
- imports, including scheduled review syncs;
- Smart Invites: new invites are refused, events that reach your invite webhooks are skipped, and a customer part-way through a sequence is cancelled when their next email comes due;
- new gift card rewards.
Forms stop taking submissions
A read-only project's forms close at once. Their links show a page-not-found error, and a customer who already had a form open sees "This form is unavailable because the project is read-only." when they submit. Nothing they sent is saved, so ask them to submit again once the project is active.
Widgets and Walls of Love stay live for a limited time
The project's widgets, Walls of Love, share pages and video embeds stay live for up to 30 days from the day it became read-only, then go offline until it's active again. On the Billing page's Usage tab, Usage by project gives each project's date: "Your widgets and Walls of Love stay live until" a date, or "were taken offline on" a date.
A custom domain keeps working for the same period. When it ends, the domain is disabled and a Custom domain disabled notification says so.
Reactivate the project
Only the workspace owner can reactivate a project.
- Click your profile picture in the top-right corner, choose Billing and open the Usage tab.
- Under Usage by project, find the project. Its badge says READ ONLY.
- Click Reactivate. A message with the project's name followed by "reactivated." confirms it.
The project can be changed again straight away. Its form links open again, and widgets, walls and share pages that had gone offline are live again.
What doesn't come back by itself
- A custom domain that was disabled. Open the project's Domain page and click Re-enable. See Custom domain not connecting.
- Smart Invites sequences that were cancelled. Choose Restart sequence… for each customer you still want to email. See Invite emails not sending.
If Reactivate says "No unused project licence is available"
The full message is "No unused project licence is available; increase quantity or deactivate another project". Every licence you have already keeps a project active: the line at the top of the Plans & capacity tab shows how many are in use. Get a spare one in either of these ways, then click Reactivate again:
- Add a licence. On a paid plan, raise Project licences under Change plan or project capacity, click Review billing change, then Confirm and pay. It applies right away, and you pay only the difference for the rest of your billing period. See Change your plan, project licences or seats. One subscription holds up to 100 licences. On Free, upgrade first: see Upgrade to a paid plan.
- Delete an active project you no longer need. That frees its licence.
More licences don't reactivate a project by themselves: click Reactivate for each one.
If Reactivate says "Payment recovery must finish before reactivating a project"
The workspace itself is read-only after a failed payment. Update the payment method first: see Payment failed.
If Reactivate says "Video upload cleanup is still finishing"
Video uploads that were left unfinished when the project became read-only are still being cleared away. Wait a little, then click Reactivate again.
Delete a project you no longer need
The owner can delete a read-only project instead of reactivating it: in the project's settings, open Danger Zone and click Delete Project. Deleting is permanent. A read-only project wasn't using a licence, so deleting it frees none. See Delete a project.
Still stuck?
Contact us and include:
- the project's name, and whether you own the workspace or are a teammate;
- the message you saw, word for word;
- what Usage by project shows for the project: its badge and its date.
Next steps
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