My client never got the sign-off code
The code is an ordinary email, so it can be filtered, delayed or sent to an address nobody reads. Here is how to tell which.
Troubleshooting · 3 min read
Approving work needs a six-digit code, and that code travels by email. Almost every report of "the code never came" turns out to be one of four things, and you can rule them out in order without waiting on support.
- It was filtered. Ask them to check spam and junk, and any corporate quarantine digest. A first-time sender to a company address is the usual cause.
- The address is not the one they read. The code goes to the address typed into the approve form, not to the address you have on file. A typo there sends a perfectly good code somewhere nobody is looking.
- It arrived and expired. A code lasts ten minutes. If they opened the email an hour later it will be refused, correctly.
- They used it already. Codes work exactly once, so a second attempt with the same digits fails even though the email is sitting right there.
If they entered the wrong digits repeatedly, the code stops accepting guesses after five attempts and they need a fresh one. That is a deliberate limit rather than a fault: a six-digit code with unlimited attempts is not a check.
Requesting another code is the fix for all of the above, and it is safe to do. There is a ceiling of five requests for the same deliverable and email address in any fifteen minutes, so if the button stops working, wait rather than assuming it broke.
Note: You can watch this from your side. Preview the client view to confirm the deliverable is still open for approval, because a deliverable that is already signed off will refuse to issue a code at all.
Important: Never read a code out to a client over the phone from your own screen. You cannot see it: Stria stores only a keyed hash of the code, not the code. Anyone offering to look one up for you does not have it either.
Open Deliverables — in your Stria workspace.
More on troubleshooting
- "A timer is already running" when I try to start one
- The Sentinel is not flagging anything
- My revision limit is not stopping anything
- My effective hourly rate is blank or looks wrong
- My client says the review link does not work
- I cannot add another client or deliverable
- My billable share shows a dash, not a percentage
- Why is my booking rate missing or low?
- The deposit is paid but the files are still locked
- Why has my client not had a payment reminder?
- The verification page says the content changed