How to Fix a File That Could Not Be Read

DonorDesk reads the words in an uploaded file so that it can be searched, suggested for an activity and quoted in a report. Sometimes a file cannot be read, and DonorDesk says so.

What the message means

On the evidence page you may see "The words in this file were not read." The reason is one of these:

• No readable text was found. A scanned document (a photo or a scan with no typed text) has no words for DonorDesk to read.
• We could not read this file. It may be damaged or password-protected.
• This is an image or a file type we cannot read words from.

The file is still kept and can still be downloaded. It just cannot be searched or quoted.

What to do

1. For a scan, type or paste the important text into the evidence Notes, or upload a typed copy of the document.
2. For a damaged or protected file, save a fresh copy (remove any password) and upload that.
3. For an image, add a short description in Notes.

Imports

When you import activities, indicators, a plan or evidence from a file, a file that cannot be read is refused with the same kind of message, and nothing is imported from it. A file over 20 MB must be split or pasted as text.