When processing fails
An upload can fail in two different places, and the two mean different things.
| State | What happened | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Validation failed | The file was checked and rejected before any analysis started. Nothing was processed. | Fix the file and upload it again, from the same dialog. |
| Processing failed | The file was accepted, analysis began, and it did not finish. | See Processing failed below. |
Validation failures are the common case, and they are entirely fixable by you.
Validation failed
What you see
A red banner appears at the top of the app — Validation failed in [bot name] — and the bot in your list shows Validation failed instead of a score, with a Details link and an Upload button.
Dismissing the banner does not clear the state; the bot keeps showing it until a good file goes through.
The Details dialog
Details opens everything you need to fix it in one place.
Errors. A count and the list itself, for example The header is missing one or more required columns: session_id, utterance, timestamp, channel, and side. Long lists are collapsed; Show all expands them.
Read all of them before you change anything. Fixing the first error and re-uploading only to hit the second is slower than fixing both at once.
- Data Format Help guide — the full specification. See Prepare your data.
- Template — a correctly formatted example file to edit or copy the shape of.
- The prompt — a ready-made instruction you paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or whichever AI tool you use, together with your file. It returns the file in the format Inquio accepts.
The prompt is usually the fastest route when the data is fine but the file is laid out differently — different column names, both sides of a conversation on one row, timestamps in another format. Editing the export by hand is worth it only when the problem is small and you know exactly what it is.
New upload. Attach the corrected file here and select Upload & generate without leaving the dialog.
Common causes
Whatever the message says, the underlying problem is almost always one of these: the header does not carry all five required columns, the file is not UTF-8, or timestamps are not in the expected format. See Prepare your data.
A failed upload costs you nothing
It does not use up your allowance. On Starter, a rejected file does not consume your one card per 30 days. Correct it and upload again straight away, as many times as you need.
It is not billed. Nothing that failed is charged, and neither are conversations skipped as duplicates because they were processed in an earlier upload. You pay only for conversations Inquio actually analyzed for the first time.
So there is no reason to hesitate over an uncertain file. Trying it costs nothing and the rejection tells you exactly what to change.
The file passed validation, analysis started, and something went wrong on our side.
Processing failed
What you see
A red banner names the bot, and the bot in your list shows Processing failed with a Details link. In place of the usual score and buttons there is a waiting indicator — the upload has not been abandoned.
The dialog says the same thing: we hit a problem with your file, our team is working on it, and you will be told when it is resolved.
What you should do
Nothing, in most cases.
This is the one failure you cannot fix yourself, and it is also the one you do not have to. Inquio knows it happened, the team is on it, and you are notified when it clears. Re-uploading the same file will not help, and your file is not lost.
If it matters to you that this particular dataset is analyzed by a particular date, or if the state has sat there longer than you can wait, write to help@inquio.ai and mention the bot name.
Your other bots and report cards are unaffected and stay usable throughout.
What happens to your existing data
A failed upload affects only that upload
Report cards you already have are untouched and stay readable, and the bot keeps its name, industry and history. A failure on a new card never damages an older one.