Troubleshooting

The problems people actually hit, in rough order of how often they hit them.

The archive page returns 404

Visit Settings › Permalinks and click Save once. WordPress caches URL rules and needs telling to rebuild them after any plugin adds or changes a slug. Nothing on that screen needs changing; saving is the whole fix.

A gallery shows nothing

• Check the display’s filters. Filters combine, so a person plus a year plus an album can easily match zero photos. Clear them one at a time.
• Check the items are published, not drafts.
• Check the shortcode’s id matches a display that still exists.
• Use Preview in the display builder. If the preview is full and the page is empty, the problem is the shortcode; if both are empty, it is the query.

Photos are enormous, or stretched, or one per row

Almost always a theme stylesheet overriding the gallery’s own CSS, usually a rule on img or on figures. Inspect one tile and look for a height or width from your theme rather than from .jmz-.

Masonry looks like a grid

Because the photos are all the same shape. Masonry interlocks varying heights; when every photo is 3:2 landscape there is nothing to interlock. Use grid, or include portraits.

The square-crop option disappeared

It applies to grid only, and hides for masonry and list, which always keep each photo’s own proportions. Switch the style back to grid and it returns.

Columns does nothing in list view

A list stacks full-width rows, so Columns has nothing to divide. Rows across is its equivalent there; the Columns box is greyed out rather than hidden so it is clear it still exists.

Captions lost their spacing

Retype the separator with the spaces you want, including the ones at each end, and save. Spaces in the two separator boxes are preserved exactly.

Deleting a photo did not remove the file

By design. The delete dialog offers both; Cancel takes the safer path that keeps the file in the Media Library. To remove files as well, choose OK at the first prompt.

A field I deleted still has data

Also by design. Removing a field hides it and leaves its values in the database, so re-adding a field with the same key restores everything. To actually erase the values, clear the field across every item with the bulk editor before deleting it.

Changing a field type broke my values

Type changes never convert existing data. Export to CSV, fix the column in a spreadsheet, and import it back.

Comment forms are showing on item pages

Comments on item pages are a JMGallery setting, off by default, under Settings › Single item page. Turning comments off under Settings › Discussion only reaches items created afterwards, which is why a library imported earlier keeps its forms.

A Pro item page layout fell back to Classic

Pro is not running. A lapsed licence keeps the chosen layout rendering; a deactivated or missing Pro plugin does not. Check the version line at the top of the admin app.

A hover effect changed after updating Pro PRO

Pro 1.6.0 split two effects so that strength only sets how much, never which way. A display on Zoom at Subtle or Light now zooms in: switch it to Zoom out. A display on Black & white at Strong or Heavy now greys on hover: switch it to Colour on hover. See Captions, backgrounds, hover.

Downloads are not appearing PRO

Four things must all be true: a field keyed download exists, it is switched on for that item, the item is published, and there is a local file — a YouTube or Vimeo link has nothing to hand over. And the item must not be for sale: one with both a price and a buy link never offers a free download.

The watermark is not showing PRO

• Check the licence is active and Pro is running: the version line at the top of the admin app shows both plugins.
• Check your host has PHP GD, and FreeType for text mode. The watermark settings list which formats this server can stamp; a photo in any other format is shown without a watermark.
• Stamped copies are generated on demand, so the first load after a settings change is slower than the rest.
• Watermarks never appear in the admin, in the Media Library, or on a download. Look at the front end.

The original still appears in the page source

If the original is smaller than your chosen preview size, it is the preview — there is nothing larger to serve. Check the file’s real dimensions before assuming the cap failed.

The Elementor widget is missing PRO

It needs Elementor 3.5 or newer and an active licence. On a lapsed licence the widget is unregistered; pages already using it keep rendering.

Pro seems to do nothing

Check the version line at the top of any JMGallery screen. It shows the free version and, when Pro is running, the Pro version beside it. If Pro is not listed, it is not booting — usually because the free plugin is missing, older than Pro expects, or installed under a different folder name. Pro prints the exact reason and the exact fix as an admin notice.

Uploads fail partway through a large batch

Server limits. Ask your host for upload_max_filesize 64M, post_max_size 64M, memory_limit 256M and max_execution_time 300. Photos that finished are already saved; drop the rest in a second batch.

Still stuck

Include the version line from the top of the admin app, your WordPress and PHP versions, your theme, and the shortcode or display involved. That is usually enough to identify the problem without a back-and-forth.