How to fix extraction blockers

Extraction has a handful of deliberate stops — a prerequisite that isn’t met yet, a record that’s been finalized, a page meant for another role. Each shows as a disabled button or a short message. This article maps every one to its cause and the way past it.

Setting up

Distribute is disabled and the setup card reads Screening not complete — Finalize decisions and resolve conflicts first. — Extraction can’t start on a half-screened set. Every paper needs a decision and every conflict a resolution; the card flips to Screening complete on its own once they do.
The setup card reads No extraction template — Click its Create shortcut to open the Template builder. A template only needs to exist for distribution to run, but extractors can’t open the form until it’s published — so publish before, or right after, distributing.
Distribute and Reset are both greyed out after assignments were generated — Someone has already saved or submitted a form, so the split can no longer be regenerated. Move papers with the Reassign tab instead — it never disturbs anyone else’s work. (While no responses exist yet, the page says so — no extraction responses exist yet. Use Reset to regenerate the distribution — and Reset still works.) On an archived project both stay disabled regardless.
Edit Template is greyed out, and clicking it opens Template Locked — The dialog names the reason: This template cannot be edited because N extractions have already been submitted. The only way back is to delete every submitted extraction — each extractor from their form, or the Owner from the monitor — after which the template is editable again. If nothing has been submitted yet, you don’t need any of that: Unpublish, edit, and Publish again.

Opening a paper

The form shows Template not ready — The template exists but hasn’t been published: This project does not have an active extraction template yet. Please contact the project owner to publish a template before submitting. Ask the Owner or an Assistant to click Publish in the Template builder; your queue and assignments are untouched.
My verification queue shows cards locked as Awaiting extraction, with no Start Verification — Nothing is wrong and nothing is yours to do yet: a paper is only verifiable after its extractor submits. The top bar counts them — N papers waiting on extraction — and each card unlocks the moment its extractor submits.
My extraction queue says No Extractions Assigned — The distribution hasn’t reached you: it hasn’t been run, or you joined the project after it ran. The Owner can bring you in from the Reassign tab — Add extractor…, then reassign papers onto you — without redoing the distribution.
The queue says Couldn’t load your queue — The request failed on the way to you, usually a dropped connection; nothing about your assignments changed. Click Retry.
A submitted paper opens read-only, with no Submit button — A verifier has validated it, which locks the record on both sides. If something fundamental was wrong, Delete is the redo path: it resets your assignment and the verifier’s, and the paper goes through extraction and verification again from scratch.
Extract and Verify are disabled and the header shows an Archived badge — The project is archived: everything is readable, nothing is editable. Only the Owner can unarchive it.

The AI extraction panel

The panel isn’t there at all — You’re the paper’s verifier. AI drafting is an extractor’s tool; verifiers check human-reviewed values, so their view doesn’t offer it.
It reads AI extraction has been disabled for your account by the project owner. — The Owner switches AI on or off per member; ask them to enable it for you (the control is described in Configure AI screening and covers extraction too).
An AI data extraction card with a See plans button sits where the panel should be — You’re the Owner and the project’s plan doesn’t include AI. See Plans and AI credits. Members on the same project see the panel with its button locked and the short reason AI isn’t available on this project. — there is nothing for them to change; it’s the Owner’s plan.
AI Auto-Extract is disabled, and hovering it reads A PDF must be attached to use AI extraction — The AI reads the full text, not the abstract. Use Upload PDF in the left panel to attach one, and the button wakes up.

Monitoring

The extraction monitor or overview shows Access restricted — This view is available to project owners and assistants. As a reviewer, you can work from your extraction progress and queue. Your own numbers live on My extraction progress.
The monitor says Couldn’t load assignments — A failed request, not a lost distribution. Click Retry before doing anything else — in particular, don’t re-run the distribution.
The monitor says No Extraction Assignments — Nothing has been distributed yet. Run distribution first.
Delete extraction data is greyed out on a reviewer card — The project is archived; unarchive it first.