Troubleshooting Failed Jobs
Diagnose and resolve common causes of sync failures and failed jobs.
When a job fails, BuddyActivity records an error in the Sync Logs. Start there — the error message will usually identify the specific problem. The most common issues and their fixes are listed below.
Job failed: Invalid user ID
Possible Causes
- •The user_id in your sheet does not match any WordPress user.
- •The user was deleted after the row was added.
- •You used a BuddyBoss member directory number instead of the WordPress User ID.
Fix
Go to WordPress admin → Users, find the virtual member, and check the User ID in the URL bar when you click "Edit". Update the sheet with the correct ID.
Job failed: Invalid group ID
Possible Causes
- •The group_id does not match any active BuddyBoss group.
- •The group was deleted or its ID changed.
- •You left group_id blank on a post-type row.
Fix
Go to BuddyBoss → Groups and verify the correct Group ID. group_id is required for all post-type rows.
Job failed: Parent activity not found
Possible Causes
- •The parent_id references a row whose activity was not yet created (e.g., the parent post is scheduled after the comment).
- •The parent row itself failed to process.
- •The parent_id value is incorrect.
Fix
Ensure parent activities are scheduled before their children. Check that the parent row processed successfully and its id matches the parent_id exactly.
Rows are not being processed
Possible Causes
- •The scheduled_at time has not yet passed.
- •Auto-sync is disabled and no manual sync has been run.
- •WP-Cron is not firing on low-traffic sites.
- •The sheet position pointer has passed the rows in question.
Fix
Run a manual sync to trigger immediate processing. Check the sync logs to see if the rows are being read. If they are not, consider resetting the sheet position.
Authentication failed / cannot connect to Google
Possible Causes
- •The JSON credentials pasted into settings are invalid or truncated.
- •The Google Cloud project's APIs have been disabled.
- •The service account has been deleted.
- •The JSON private key has been rotated.
Fix
Re-paste the full JSON from your downloaded credentials file. Verify the service account is active in Google Cloud Console and both APIs are still enabled.
No spreadsheets found in the dropdown
Possible Causes
- •The Google Sheet has not been shared with the service account email.
- •Google Drive API is not enabled.
- •The service account email used to share the sheet is different from the one in the JSON.
Fix
Open your Google Sheet, click Share, and add the client_email from your JSON file as an Editor. Verify Google Drive API is enabled in your Google Cloud project.
Duplicate activities appearing
Possible Causes
- •The sheet position was reset and rows were re-processed.
- •The id column has duplicate values.
- •A sync ran twice simultaneously due to slow server response.
Fix
Ensure all id values in your sheet are unique. BuddyActivity's idempotency system uses these IDs to prevent duplicates — duplicate IDs will cause only the first instance to be protected.
Still Stuck?
If you cannot resolve the issue using the steps above, contact support with the following information:
- The full error message from the Sync Logs.
- The row from your Google Sheet that failed (with any sensitive data redacted).
- Your WordPress version, PHP version, and BuddyActivity version.