Troubleshoot discussions and subscriptions

The subscriptions feature is not available    A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it. Also note that on a discussion server running Windows SharePoint Services, you cannot create subscriptions by using the Web Discussions toolbar. For information about creating alerts, which replace subscriptions in Windows SharePoint Services, see Windows SharePoint Services Help.

You might not have permission to subscribe    Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to subscribe. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the proper permissions.

The Web Discussions feature is not available    A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it.

The page might need to be stored on the discussion server    When using discussions with Windows SharePoint Services, you can discuss only files stored on the discussion server. You cannot discuss files stored on a different server.

You might be using the wrong discussion server    Discussions are stored separately, not with the Web page or document. If you're using a server different from the one on which the discussions are stored, you won't see the discussions. Make sure you are connected to the correct discussion server. Try selecting Current document's server if you have multiple discussion servers available. See your server administrator for details.

There might be a problem with the discussion server or the network    If the discussion server is not running properly or there is a problem with your connection to the server, you won't be able to see the discussions. Try refreshing the page later, or contact your server administrator.

You might not have permission to read discussions    Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to read discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the View Web Document Discussions right.

The discussions might need to be refreshed    Recently added discussions might not automatically appear on a page. On the Web Discussions toolbar, click Discussions, and then click Refresh Discussions.

The discussions might be hidden or closed    On the Web Discussions toolbar, try one of the following:

• Click Expand All to show all discussions, and click Show/Hide Discussion Pane to display the Discussion pane.

• Click Discussions, then click Discussion Options, and then select the Show closed discussions check box.

The Web page or document might have been moved or renamed    Discussions are stored separately from the page. Moving or renaming a page breaks the links between the page and the discussion comments. Saving a file in a different format (such as using the Save as Web Page command in Microsoft Office applications) also breaks the links to discussion comments, because a new file with a new name is created.

• If a page and its discussions are stored on the same server, you can maintain the links between the page and discussion comments by using Web Folders or My Network Places in Microsoft Windows Explorer, or by using Microsoft FrontPage, to move or rename the page.

• If a page and its discussions are stored on separate servers, you can restore the links between the page and discussion comments by moving the page back to its original location or by renaming the page with its original name.

You might be working offline with an older browser    To view your discussions while working offline, you need to use Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later.

The Web page or document might have been edited    Inline discussions are associated with a particular paragraph, table, or graphic. Sometimes the paragraph, table, or graphic might be edited in such a way that the link between it and the discussion is broken. When this happens, the discussion is displayed in the Discussion pane rather than in the body of the document. Deleting a paragraph, table, or graphic deletes any discussion that is attached to it.

The Web page or document might have been moved or renamed    Discussions are stored separately from the page. Moving or renaming a page breaks the links between the page and the discussion comments. Saving a file in a different format (such as using the Save as Web Page command in Microsoft Office applications) also breaks the links to discussion comments, because a new file with a new name is created.

• If a page and its discussions are stored on the same server, you can maintain the links between the page and discussion comments by using Web Folders or My Network Places in Microsoft Windows Explorer, or by using Microsoft FrontPage, to move or rename the page.

• If a page and its discussions are stored on separate servers, you can restore the links between the page and discussion comments by moving the page back to its original location or by renaming the page with its original name.

The Web Discussions feature is not available    A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it.

The discussions might need to be refreshed    Recently added discussions might not automatically appear on a page. On the Discussions toolbar, click Discussions, and then click Refresh Discussions.

You might not have permission to add a discussion    Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to create discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Author Web Document Discussions right.

You might not have a connection to the network    If don't have a connection to a network, you can still view and filter discussions on a page, but you can't add any new discussions. Microsoft Office maintains a list of recently opened files and any discussions associated with those files by replicating those files on your hard disk. The replication feature is available only if you are running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later.

When you add an inline discussion to a Web page or document, Insert Discussion in the Document icons appear only at the end of every paragraph consisting of more than 30 characters, in every table cell that contains more than 5 characters, and at the end of every graphic that has a height or width of at least 30 pixels.

You might not have permission to participate in discussions    Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to participate in discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Author Web Document Discussions right.

You might not have permission to close discussions    Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to close discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Close Web Document Discussions right.

You may be using an older version of Microsoft Office Server Extensions    To close discussions, your discussion server must be running SharePoint Team Services from Microsoft or Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it.

You might not have permission to edit or delete discussions    Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to edit and delete discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the proper permissions. You can edit and delete only those discussion comments that you create.

If there are no inline discussions on a Web page, then Expand all Discussions , Collapse all Discussions , Previous , and Next aren't available. If the subscriptions feature has not been enabled on the discussion server, then Subscribe is not available.

The option to display names might be turned off     Do the following:

1. On the Web Discussions toolbar, click Discussions, and then click Discussion Options.
2. Under Discussion fields to display, select the Display name check box to display your name, or select the User name check box to display your logon name.

Your user information might not be correct    If you've logged on to someone else's computer and are adding discussion text to a document, that person's display name might be appearing in the discussion header instead of your name. Do one of the following to make your name appear correctly: