Plugin troubleshooting

The connection test failed

Every message the test can return, and what to do, is in the table on Connect to FMS.

The test site shows real members, or real data on a test site

The key decides which copy of FMS the site reaches, not the FMS portal's switch. Look at the Environment line under Test FMS connection on the FMS settings page.

You see	Do this
Environment: Production on a test site	Its key came from production. Generate one in its sandbox and replace it in wp-config.php
Environment: sandbox … on the real site	Stop and tell Thomas at once
The test fails with FMS does not recognise this service key after a sandbox was deleted	The key's sandbox is gone. Generate a key in another sandbox

FMS also refuses a member's sign-in carried from another copy. The member signs in again and it works.

A member says they cannot read an article

Work down this list.

1. Are they signed in? The commonest answer. Ask them to sign out and in again. Check step 5 first: during an FMS outage, signing out drops the answer the website kept for them.
2. Does FMS say they have access? Find them in Members. If the subscription is missing or cancelled, that is your answer.
3. Is the post gated at the right level? Open it and read the FMS access box.
4. Has their access just changed? WordPress remembers the answer for about five minutes. Wait, or sign out and in.
5. Is FMS reachable? Press the connection test. If it fails, FMS is not answering. Members the website checked within the kept hours (24 by default) keep their access (the outage setting). Anyone else sees We can't check your membership right now. So does a member who signed out and back in during the outage: signing out drops the kept answer. Fix the connection. Asking them to sign out again will not help. If the setting is Keep content locked, every member is locked.

Raw shortcode text is showing on a page

Text like [fms_account] appearing to readers means the shortcode is not registered. Almost always the master switch is off. While it is off the plugin deliberately renders those shortcodes as nothing, so seeing the literal text means something else is printing it, such as a page builder widget holding the text rather than a real shortcode.

The log-in page is a bare, full-width form

The address is probably /login-2/. That happens when a second Log in page was created. The theme only styles the page at /login/, so any other page shows the form with no yellow backdrop and no card. In Membership pages, set Log in page to the existing Log in page and save. Then move the extra page to the bin.

Everything is locked, including free posts

Check the banner at the top of the settings page. If it says gating is off but FMS is still enforcing the gate, nothing else is gating content and FMS is being cautious. Check whether the old plugin was deactivated before the switch was turned on.

A member cannot get into the newsletter archive

Start with their page in Members. The Activity card shows each time the website sent them to the archive and how it ended. It usually answers the question on its own (what each line means).

Otherwise, work down this list.

1. Does their plan include the archive? Check their plan in Members, then look for the archive badge on that plan in Plans. Out of the box only Fanatic and team plans have it. If the website says We can't check your membership right now, the plan is not the problem: the website could not reach FMS. Check Health.
2. Are they signed in to the website? The archive has no sign-in of its own.
3. Did they use an old link? Each sign-in link works once, for two minutes. Ask them to open the archive from the website again.
4. Do they keep landing back on the website's archive page? If their plan includes it and they are signed in, their browser is probably blocking cookies for the archive's address. The archive stops sending them round after one try and says so. Ask them to allow cookies for it, or to leave private browsing.
5. What does the archive say? Every message it can show is explained on the member side of the archive.
6. Does the archive turn away a member the website lets through? The two must use the same capability. The archive server's ARCHIVE_REQUIRED_CAP must be archive_access, as on Newsletter archive. Ask whoever runs the servers. A clue: the Activity card says Opened the newsletter archive while the member saw a refusal.
7. Is the archive itself up? Check the newsletter archive card on Health.
8. Does the archive say "Our security service needs to check your browser again"? Cloudflare, in front of the archive, stopped one of the page's own requests. The member can reload the page. If it happens to everyone, whoever runs the servers adds the archive clause to Cloudflare's skip rule (ops/RUNBOOK.md §1, The archive page's own data calls).

"I signed out, but the archive still let me in"

Signing out of the website signs the member out of the archive too, on the same browser. Check these three things.

1. Did they sign out on a different device? That only ends the session on that device. Sign out on this browser too.
2. Did the website sign them out on its own (the session ran out)? The archive then keeps them in for up to 12 hours.
3. Did they last open the archive before plugin 0.36.1 was installed? Those sessions run out within 12 hours.

There is no sign-out button on the archive itself. Back to, in the account menu at the top right, only returns to the website.

The pricing page shows the wrong prices

Press Refresh plan catalog. WordPress caches the catalog on purpose.

Members-only content appeared in Google

That is usually the crawler bypass doing its job: verified search engines are allowed the full text so articles stay indexed. If it is not that, check whether the post is marked Always free.

Nothing here matches

Take a screenshot of the settings banner and the connection test result, and send both to Thomas. Those two together identify most problems immediately.