--- title: "Troubleshooting — Egenverk Docs Viewer" description: "Common problems in Docs Viewer and what to do about them, such as an empty reader, missing files, Plugins-screen links, What’s new and search." canonical: https://egenverk.se/en/plugins/docs-viewer/docs/troubleshooting lang: en updated: 2026-10-14 alternate: https://egenverk.se/plugins/docs-viewer/docs/felsokning.md --- # Troubleshooting Egenverk Docs Viewer · v2.10.0 · WordPress 5.0+, PHP 7.4+ · Updated 2026-10-14 ## The viewer is empty If **Tools → Docs Viewer** says **No documentation yet**: - Click **Scan for docs**. - If it says **Ask an administrator to run a scan.** and there is no button, your account lacks the `manage_options` capability. Ask an administrator to run the scan. - If the scan still finds nothing, no plugin or theme has a documentation file at its root or in `docs/`. - On multisite after network activation: each site builds its index on its next admin visit by an administrator. ## A file or a plugin is missing - Did you change files over FTP or git? Click **Scan for docs**. The automatic rescan only happens when the change is made through WordPress. - At the root of a folder only Markdown and text files (`.md`, `.markdown`, `.mdown`, `.txt`) are shown. Other formats are shown only when they are in `docs/`. - PHP files are never shown, and the folders `node_modules`, `vendor`, `.git`, `bin` and `build` are skipped. - Plugins that are a single PHP file directly in `wp-content/plugins` are not scanned, because they have no folder of their own. The same goes for must-use plugins that do not sit in their own folder under `wp-content/mu-plugins`. - Inside `docs/`, the scan goes at most eight levels of subfolders deep. - Plugin folders whose name contains a colon are skipped. ## File could not be read The file was there at the last scan but cannot be read now, for example because it was moved or deleted. Click **Scan for docs**. ## The links are missing on the Plugins screen - Open the plugin in the viewer and check that **Show “View Docs” link on the Plugins page** is switched on. When it is off, neither **View Docs**, **Changelog** nor **What’s new** is shown. - **Changelog** is shown only when the plugin has a `CHANGELOG` or `readme.txt` at its root. - The links are shown only to users who can open the viewer. - Themes and must-use plugins have no row on the Plugins screen and so get no links. - The network admin Plugins screen has no links; use the site's own Plugins screen. ## Changelog does not open at my version The link opens the section whose heading is the installed version. When there is no such section, the file opens at the Changelog heading. The version is matched as a whole version, so 2.2.1 does not match 2.2.10. ## What’s new is not shown or has disappeared - Only plugins are tracked, not themes or must-use plugins. - The plugin needs a Markdown `CHANGELOG` or a `readme.txt` at its root. A plain-text `CHANGELOG.txt` is not enough. - The link is not shown when the links are switched off for the plugin. - The link disappears for everyone once an administrator has opened it, and otherwise after 30 days. It is also removed if the plugin is downgraded below the announced version. - If Docs Viewer finds no release sections to cut, the whole changelog is shown. ## Search finds nothing or too much - Type at least two characters, or the viewer says **Type at least 2 characters to search.** The field takes at most 100 characters. - **No documents match.** means no scanned document contains the query. - At most 100 files are listed. Narrow the query if you get too many results. - Search only goes through scanned documents, never source code outside `docs/` or PHP files. - Files that are not UTF-8 are read as ISO-8859-1. ## A link or image in a document does not work - A relative link opens in the viewer only if it points to a scanned document of the same plugin, or to a folder with a README. Otherwise it is shown as plain text. - A relative image is shown only if it is inside the plugin's own folder and has an image file extension. Otherwise the image's alt text is shown. ## The document does not look like it does on GitHub The formatter covers what plugin documentation tends to use, but not everything. Raw HTML is shown as text, and reference-style links, footnotes and underlined headings are not supported. See [The viewer](viewer). ## No admin notices on the viewer screen That is on purpose. All admin notices are hidden on the viewer screen so they never end up in the middle of a document. They show as usual on other admin pages. ## An old bookmark to Docs Viewer The viewer used to live at `admin.php?page=egenverk-docs-viewer`. That address redirects to **Tools → Docs Viewer** with the same plugin, file and search. Update the bookmark to the new address, see [Reference](reference). ## Still stuck [Contact us](mailto:hello@egenverk.se) and tell us which versions of Docs Viewer, WordPress and PHP you have. ## Resources - [Product page](https://egenverk.se/en/plugins/docs-viewer) - [Changelog](https://egenverk.se/en/plugins/docs-viewer/changelog) - [Docs](https://egenverk.se/en/plugins/docs-viewer/docs) - Previous: [Data and privacy](https://egenverk.se/en/plugins/docs-viewer/docs/data-and-privacy) - Next: [Reference](https://egenverk.se/en/plugins/docs-viewer/docs/reference)