This article covers the error messages and display issues you're most likely to encounter in Turtl, explaining why each one occurs and how to resolve it. Most are quick fixes you can action yourself, and where a message points to something on our side, we've noted when to get in touch.
When I click on the activation link, I get taken to the login page
Activation links are single-use. Once you have clicked the link, any subsequent clicks will redirect you to the login page or setup wizard rather than the activation screen.
To access your account:
Go to your company's Turtl login page (formatted as
companyname.turtl.co).Click "Forgot password".
Enter your email address and click "Continue".
Follow the link in the email you receive to set your password and log in.
Note: If you did not receive the password reset email, check your spam folder. See How to log in to Turtl for further troubleshooting steps.
I received a "Too many failed login attempts" error
This message appears when you have exceeded the maximum number of failed login attempts set by your account's security policy. Your account has been temporarily locked as a security measure.
To resolve this:
Wait for the lockout period to expire, then try again. The duration depends on your organization's lockout settings.
If you are still locked out, contact support@turtl.co and we can help unlock your account.
Note: Your organization's login lockout policy — including the number of attempts allowed and the lockout duration — can be adjusted upon request. See How to change your password and login lockout policies for details.
I received a "Save failed" error in the editor
A "Save failed" error means the editor was unable to save your latest changes. There are two versions of this message, with different causes:
Connection interrupted: You'll see a message asking you to check your network connection and try again in a couple of minutes. Keep your browser open to avoid losing work, check your connection, and saving should resume once you're back online.
Intermittent issue on Turtl's side: You'll see a message asking you to keep your browser open and contact support@turtl.co to avoid losing work. This can happen, for example, while the database is being updated.
To recover your unsaved work in either case:
Without closing the current tab, open the Doc again in a new browser tab. The most recently saved copy loads in the new tab.
Copy your unsaved content from the original tab into the editor in the new tab.
Save your work in the new tab.
Note: To avoid locking a Doc, always exit via the "Back to Doc" or "Back to Workspace" buttons rather than closing the browser or tab. Closing the tab while still in the editor records you as still having the Doc open, which can trigger the "Are you editing this Doc elsewhere?" message. See Creating FAQ for more.
Why am I seeing the "Are you editing this Doc elsewhere?" message?
This message means Turtl has recorded the Doc as still open in the editor somewhere, which locks it to prevent two people (or two browser tabs) from overwriting each other's changes.
The most common cause is not exiting a previous editing session properly. If you close the browser or tab while still in the editor, Turtl still records you as having the Doc open, even though you can't see it.
To avoid and resolve this, always exit a Doc using the "Back to Doc" or "Back to Workspace" button rather than closing the browser or tab. If you're seeing the message but don't have the editor open in another tab, window, or computer, it's almost always because a previous session wasn't closed this way. If it persists, contact support@turtl.co and we can clear the lock for you.
The text (white font) is not visible or displays in the wrong color on mobile
This is one of the most common questions about mobile display, and in almost all cases it is expected behavior rather than a bug.
Why it happens: Turtl automatically switches text between white and dark on the mobile view, based on the text box widget style or the page background color, to keep text readable. Two things can cause white text to appear in the wrong color (or disappear) on mobile:
Layered widgets: Turtl does not support widget layering on mobile. If your white text sits over an image or colored box that is layered behind it on desktop, the mobile view can't detect that layer — so it falls back to the page background and may switch your white text to dark, or leave it hard to read. This is also why layered designs look different on mobile: the background image displays as a standalone element above the text rather than behind it.
Custom text color: The automatic light/dark switching does not apply to custom colors, so a manually set color won't adapt on mobile.
To resolve this:
Set the text color to "None". Select the text, open the color picker (bucket tool), and choose "None" rather than white. With "None" selected, the text adapts automatically to the background and stays visible on both desktop and mobile. Setting it explicitly to white can prevent this automatic adjustment.
For layered designs, hide the layered image on mobile (in the widget's settings under the "Mobile" tab) and set the Content page's mobile background to match.
Check the mobile background styling. In mobile view, go to "Settings" → "Background styling" and confirm the text displays correctly against the selected background.
As a temporary workaround, use "Show desktop experience on mobile". This presents the same layered design on mobile while you adjust individual pages, and can be toggled on and off at any time without changing the Doc permanently.
For Title pages that get cut off on mobile, use decoupled mobile design. This lets you crop images to show just the right portion on mobile; for videos, upload a separate portrait version or a mobile image.
Note: The ability to layer widgets on mobile is a recognized feature request with our product team.
I'm seeing "An error has occurred, and we could not load the data. Sorry."
This message most commonly appears on the analytics dashboard when Turtl is unable to load data for the view you're on.
The most common cause is that there is no data to display yet. The dashboard shows this error when there are no published Docs collecting data. If none of your Docs have been published, there's nothing for the dashboard to report on. Once you publish a Doc, it will begin collecting data and the dashboard will populate.
To resolve this:
Check whether you have any published Docs. If not, publish a Doc and allow some time for reader data to be collected.
Refresh the dashboard and try again.
Try adjusting the dashboard's date range/timeframe, in case the current window contains no data.
Clear your browser cache and reload.
If you have published Docs with reader activity and the error persists, contact support@turtl.co with the dashboard URL and a screenshot. In some cases, this can indicate a backend issue our developers need to investigate.
PDF import through Hatch AI shows an error when the Brand has no layout template set up
When you import a PDF through Hatch AI, the design is rebuilt using a Hatch AI layout template that Turtl configures behind each Brand. Hatch AI can only build your content using one of these dedicated templates, one per Brand.
If Hatch AI is enabled on your account but the layout template for that Brand hasn't been configured yet, the import (or content creation) will error rather than complete. This typically happens in the short window after Hatch AI is first switched on for a tenant, while the layouts are still being prepared.
To resolve this:
If you need to get content in straight away, use the legacy PDF importer in the meantime. It appears alongside the Hatch AI option in the editor's import menu and doesn't depend on the Hatch AI layout template.
Contact support@turtl.co to confirm the Hatch AI layout template for your Brand is set up. Once it's in place, re-run the import and the error will clear.
Note: Hatch AI uses the layout template matching the Brand of the Doc being created. It can't use templates you've built yourself; those are separate from the Hatch AI layout templates.
I received an error when importing a PDF
When importing a PDF, you may see an error telling you the file can't be processed. The most common prompts are:
"Your PDF is too complex", or that it "has elements / a table / fonts we couldn't process"
"Your PDF is locked or password-protected"
"We couldn't process this PDF"
"Your PDF is too large"
"Your file wasn't a PDF"
"Your PDF was created in PowerPoint and needs to be exported again"
Each of these has specific resolution steps, from removing complex elements to re-exporting the PDF from its original program. For full guidance, see How to handle errors when importing PDFs and Converting PDFs to Turtl Docs FAQs. If you're unable to resolve it, contact support@turtl.co, or professional-services@turtl.co if you'd like the team to convert the PDF for you manually.