I can't see something I've drawn?
If you've drawn something, but now it's not shown on the map, here's some things to check:
Is its drawing layer turned off?
Is the item on a scenario that's turned off?
Is the opacity set to 0% in the appearance properties?
Is the Giraffe engine paused?
Is it below something else in 3D space?
Can't Ctrl+Z
Some non-QWERTY keyboard configurations do not map correctly to shortcuts. Use the Undo/Redo buttons in the drawing toolbar's ••• menu instead. See Edit and Advanced Tools.
Common reasons an edit is blocked
If an edit doesn't seem to do anything, check these first.
You're looking at the project as View-only, or through a published or embedded link. Both stay read-only no matter what you try, even for the project's own owner in the case of a published link, and show "You do not have edit permission." when you attempt to edit. Open the real project instead, and ask the project owner or a space admin to raise your access to Edit or Admin if you need to make changes.
You can only draw inside a project, not while browsing a Space.
If the engine is paused, features and flows stop re-solving. See Improve Project Performance for when to pause it on purpose, and remember to resume it when you're done.
A handful of layer-specific guardrails can also block an edit — see Layer guardrails below.
Layer guardrails
Giraffe blocks a few layer actions on purpose. Here's what triggers each one, and what to do about it.
Why can't I draw on this layer?
Giraffe blocks drawing directly onto an invisible layer. If the active layer is hidden, drawing a new shape shows: "You are trying to draw on an invisible layer. Click on another layer, or make this layer visible."
Activating a layer from the Layers panel normally makes it visible for you automatically, so this mostly comes up when a layer's visibility changes some other way after you activated it, like a parent group getting turned off. Make the layer visible again, or activate a different one, then draw.
Why can't I lock the layer I have selected?
Giraffe won't let you lock whichever drawing layer is currently active, the one you're drawing on right now. Clicking a layer's row, or its activate marker, makes it the active layer.
The lock button stays visible on the active layer but does nothing when you click it, and its tooltip still just says "Lock Layer." Giraffe doesn't show a reason on the button itself, which is the single most common source of this question.
Activate a different layer first, then lock the one you actually wanted to lock. If you're locking several layers at once, Giraffe silently skips the active one and still locks the rest, rather than blocking the whole action.
Why can't I hide the layer I have selected?
Same underlying rule as locking: Giraffe won't hide the active layer, or a group that contains it. Unlike locking, hiding does explain itself: the eye icon's tooltip reads "Can't hide the active layer," or "Can't hide — the active layer is inside" when it's a group.
Activate a different layer first if you need to hide this one.
Why can't I delete this layer?
Giraffe blocks deleting a drawing layer if any of its features were placed there by a block or flow, rather than drawn directly. Deleting a layer like that would silently break whatever generated those features.
The toast names the layer(s) blocking the delete and offers a Select raw sections button to jump to the real source data instead. Delete or edit the source there, or remove the block/flow relationship, then delete the layer.
Why can't I edit something on this layer?
A drawing layer someone has locked manually can't be edited until it's unlocked. Check the padlock icon next to the layer in the Layers panel: filled means locked. Click the padlock, or right-click the layer and choose Unlock, to edit it again.
Validation errors when saving or drawing
Giraffe blocks a few kinds of invalid input before they cause bigger problems:
A self-intersecting polygon can't be saved. Redraw the shape so its edges don't cross.
A layer, scenario, or property name has to be unique in the project, and a handful of property names are reserved by Giraffe itself. Choose a different name if you're blocked.
Pasting more than 10 layouts into a project only copies the first 10. Each layout is also capped in size, so an extremely complex layout may not copy in full.
Opening a project with retired features
If a project uses geometry or tools from an older, no-longer-supported version of Giraffe, you'll see an Unsupported project features dialog. You can open it in the last app version that supported those features, remove the unsupported content to keep working in the current version, or continue anyway if you just need to look something up.
Browser and device requirements
Keep your browser up to date
Giraffe works best on the latest version of your browser. Update Google Chrome if you haven't recently.
Unsupported browser or device
Giraffe is built for desktop and laptop browsers. It blocks phones and tablets outright, and blocks any non-Chromium browser, or a Chromium browser older than version 101, with a warning screen. Switch to a recent version of Chrome or Edge on a desktop or laptop to continue.
Clipboard permissions block copy and paste
Check your browser's site permissions. When there's a pop up requesting access to the clipboard, allow it. To fix, go to chrome settings and change permissions for Giraffe.
Chrome running low on memory
Giraffe requires more processing power and memory than a typical website. It's processing a lot of graphics and data.
Close any memory-hogging desktop programs, like messaging or design software.
Plan and seat limits
Some actions are capped by your workspace's plan rather than by anything you did wrong:
A Team plan workspace is capped at 10 members. Inviting past that shows a seat-limit message with the option to contact sales or update your subscription.
Some features, like sharing with an entire team, template sharing, and creating a new Space, are only available on Team or Enterprise plans. A disabled control with an "upgrade to access" tooltip usually means this.
If your workspace's billing has lapsed, everyone sees a Workspace Error screen instead of the app. A workspace admin can trim seats to fix it from that screen. Anyone else should contact their workspace's billing admin.
Editing at the same time as someone else
Giraffe shows live cursors so you can see who else is in the project. There's no lock on what they're editing. If two people edit the same flow, layer tree, or usage at the same time, whoever saves last wins.
Error Codes
Giraffe doesn't use numbered error codes. Instead you'll see plain-text messages in toasts and the bottom status bar. Some of these messages are reused for several different underlying problems, so the same text can mean different things depending on where you see it.
Error | What it means | How to fix |
Section Error: <detail> (bottom status bar) | A processed feature failed. The bar appends the failure detail after the colon, and adds "(+N others)" if more than one feature is affected. This label covers a flow node error, a terrain elevation/projection failure, a 2D display-geometry failure, or a terrain draping failure. | Click the button to jump to the failing feature(s). If it has a flow attached, see Troubleshooting a Flow; otherwise try Recompute, or refresh terrain/draping |
Engine Error: <key> (bottom status bar, red) | The processing engine itself failed, not a specific feature | Pause and restart the engine; if that doesn't clear it, refresh the tab |
Engine Status: <type> (bottom status bar, yellow) | Normal - the engine is still processing recent changes, not an error | Wait a moment; refresh only if it never clears |
"Could not select N error section(s)" (toast, with a "Show hidden" button) | The feature(s) with the error live on a hidden layer or inactive scenario | Click "Show hidden layer(s)/scenario(s)" in the toast, or toggle visibility yourself |
"Changes not saved — you appear to be offline" (save-status tooltip) / "Can't save your changes right now — you appear to be offline. Your work is saved on this device and will sync automatically when the connection returns." (persistent toast) | Same cause, worded two different ways: you lost connection to Giraffe's servers | Check your internet connection - your edits are kept locally and sync automatically once you're back online |
"Could not update/create/delete data for <model>." (toast, e.g. "layers", "teams", "webhooks") | A generic save/create/delete failure reused across many unrelated data types; the real cause (permissions, network, validation) is often hidden or just says "unknown" | Retry the action; check you have permission to edit that item; refresh and try again. If it keeps happening, report the exact message and what you were editing |
"Error" / "Something went wrong" (panel crash, with a Reload button) | A generic crash screen shown identically whether it's the Property Editor, a block form, or the Flow editor that crashed | Click Reload. If it recurs, note exactly which panel was open and refresh the browser tab |
"Update failed: [...]" / "Failed to delete: [...]" / "Creation failed: [...]" (toast) | Reused across app, file, and project-attachment edits; the bracketed detail is the raw backend error, often just "unknown" | Retry; check permissions/connection. Report the bracketed detail if it says "unknown" |
"Error updating layer" (toast) | A layer edit (rename, style, boundary) failed to save | Retry the edit; confirm you have edit permission on the layer |
"Error: Layer not saved." (toast) | Generic fallback for any layer-save failure that isn't a straightforward permissions error - a server error, dropped connection, and a validation error all show this same text | Check your connection, retry, refresh the page; contact support if it persists |
"You do not have permission to edit this layer" (toast, wording varies slightly by where it's triggered) | Your role on this project/layer doesn't allow edits | Ask a project admin for edit access, or duplicate the layer to a project you can edit |
"Invalid boundary GeoJSON" | The boundary text you entered/pasted isn't valid GeoJSON | Check for syntax errors, or validate the GeoJSON before pasting it in |
"Could not read that image" | An uploaded image file couldn't be read - corrupted file or unsupported format, across several upload fields (attachments, content library, project images) | Try a different image, or re-export/re-save it and upload again |
"No geometries." | An action (new layer from selection, send to layer) needs at least one selected feature, but nothing was selected | Select one or more features first, then retry |
"Please fill in all required fields" | A required field is empty in whatever creation/save dialog is open (new project, bulk create, save-as) | Scroll the dialog and fill in every field marked required |
"Bake failed. No features to bake." / "Bake failed. Nothing to bake." / "Bake failed. Try baking fewer features." | Nothing was selected, or you tried to bake 250 or more features at once | Select at least one feature; bake in batches of fewer than 250 |
"You haven't drawn a project boundary yet" | Shown from "center on project" (bottom bar or command bar) when there's no boundary to center on | Draw a project boundary first |
"Your geometry is too far from the project origin..." / "You are drawing over too large an area..." (orange status-bar pill) | Your drawing is far enough from the project origin, or the boundary is large enough, that measurements may be inaccurate | Keep drawings closer to the project origin, or split a very large project into smaller ones |
"name is taken" | You're creating a group/usage with a name already used in this project | Choose a different, unique name |
"You don't have access to this project. Redirected to Home." / "Project could not be found. Redirected to Home." / "There was a server problem loading the project. Redirected to Home." / "Unknown error loading project. Redirected to Home." (redirect toasts) | "You don't have access to this project" means no permission. "Project could not be found" means the link is broken or the project was deleted. "There was a server problem loading the project" means a server error. "Unknown error loading project" means an unrecognized failure. | Request access / check the link / retry shortly / refresh and contact support if it repeats |