Annotation FAQ & fixes

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The questions people ask most about annotation, and the errors they run into, with a direct fix for each. Hit an error? Jump straight to Common errors and fixes. If your answer isn’t here, reach out via support.

Common errors and fixes

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The submit button won’t enable	Every label attached to the queue needs an answer before you can submit	Answer every label, submit stays disabled until all have values; pressing Ctrl+Enter while any are empty lists which ones are still open
An item says it’s reserved by someone else	Another annotator already has the item open	Skip to Next Item, or come back once the other annotator submits or skips it
You can’t annotate because the queue isn’t active	The queue is in draft or paused	Ask a queue manager to switch it to active from the Settings tab
An item is assigned to someone else	Auto-assign is off, and the item was assigned to another annotator	Ask a queue manager to reassign it to you
Skip is refused on an item	The item is already completed, or it’s pending review on a queue that requires review	Completed items can’t be skipped; an item waiting on review has to clear review first
An Add Items call is rejected	The payload has more than 1,000 items, so the API returns HTTP 413	Split the items into batches of 1,000 or fewer, see Add items
A filter-mode selection is rejected	The filter resolves to more than 10,000 items	Narrow the filter, or add items in smaller batches
An export of a large queue fails	A synchronous export refuses queues with more than 1,000 items outright rather than truncating them, returning HTTP 413	Narrow the filter so it resolves to 1,000 items or fewer, see Export annotations
A numeric or text value is rejected on submit	The value falls outside the label’s configured min, max, step size, or length	Match the value to the label’s settings, see Label types & values
A queue name is rejected as already taken	Another queue in the same scope already uses that name	Choose a different name
A hard delete refuses to go through	Hard delete needs the queue’s exact name typed as confirmation, plus a force flag on the API	Type the queue’s exact name to confirm, the Delete forever button in the dialog stays disabled until it matches; via the API, pass force=true with the exact name

Roles and permissions

Who can annotate, and who can review?

Annotating a queue needs the annotator or manager role on it; without one of those roles, submitting is refused. Org and workspace admins get manager-level access automatically, without being added to the queue explicitly. Reviewing has its own role, see Review submissions for how it works, and Queue settings & limits for the full roles table.

Why don’t I see the Settings or Rules tab?

Both are manager-only surfaces. If you’re not a manager on the queue, and not an org or workspace admin, they stay hidden.

Scores

Why does the same trace show two scores from the same person?

Score the same trace from two different queues and you get two independent scores, not one overwritten value.

If I edit a score, do I lose the old value?

No. Changing a score’s value appends to its history instead of overwriting it. Previous values show in the annotation history panel on the item, listed as Previous 1, Previous 2, and so on.

Queues

Why is the Agreement tab empty?

Agreement measures how much annotators agree, so it has nothing to compare until more than one independent submission lands on the same items. See Track progress & agreement for what the queue needs to populate it.

What happens to items when a queue is archived?

The items stay in the queue. Archiving switches the queues list to Archived, and any rules attached to it pause. Restore it from the Archived view and it comes back in the status it had when you archived it.

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