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Troubleshooting

Fixes for problems that come up. Start with the status pill — click it in the top bar for a detailed popover. Most issues trace to something it already knows about.

Quick fixes to try first

  1. Restart Recall. Quit and relaunch. Fixes a surprising amount.
  2. Check the status pill. Which indicator is red? That's your starting point.
  3. Check for updates. Settings → Auto-Updates → Check for Updates. Update if one's available.
  4. Restart the computer. Sometimes the right answer.

Connection (Server indicator red)

Local mode (Full install)

Recall Core should start automatically with the app. If Server is red:

  • Give it 5–10 seconds after launch — Core takes a moment to come up.
  • Check the logs at <data root>/logs/core.log.
  • Certificate trust issue? See HTTPS certificate trust below.
  • Still red after a minute? Quit Recall (use Task Manager / Activity Monitor if needed) and relaunch.

Server mode (UI-Only install)

Server is red means the remote Recall server is unreachable.

  • Settings → Connection → Test Connection. Read the error message.
  • Timeout: the server isn't responding. Check with your administrator.
  • Certificate error: the server's TLS cert isn't trusted. Your admin needs to look at the server cert.
  • Invalid URL format: fix the URL. It must be HTTPS.

HTTPS certificate trust (Windows local mode)

Recall Core generates a self-signed certificate at %LocalAppData%\Recall\system\certs\core_localhost.crt and tries to install it automatically on first launch. If policy prevents that, install it manually:

Import-Certificate -FilePath "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Recall\system\certs\core_localhost.crt" -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\CurrentUser\TrustedPeople"

If that fails, try Cert:\CurrentUser\Root instead.

After the cert is trusted, restart Recall.

Word integration

Word indicator red — Word not detected (both platforms)

  • Open Microsoft Word and open (or create) a document.
  • Wait ~3 seconds for the status pill to refresh. The indicator should go green.
  • If it doesn't, restart Recall.

Windows-specific

The Word Bridge starts with Recall. If it's not reachable:

  • Some antivirus software blocks local servers. Whitelist recall_ui.exe and the Word Bridge process.
  • Restart Recall.

macOS Word integration

"No permission for automation" with no dialog. macOS only shows the Automation prompt when an app explicitly asks or attempts to send an Apple Event. Trigger it manually:

  1. Settings → Word Integration.
  2. Confirm Recommended — Apple Events is selected.
  3. Click Request Word Permission.
  4. Allow the prompt when it appears.

If no prompt appears even after clicking Request Word Permission:

  • Make sure Word is installed and has been opened at least once.
  • Quit and relaunch Recall, then retry.

Permission previously denied. System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation → Recall → tick Microsoft Word. If Recall isn't in the list, click Request Word Permission to force it in.

Advanced mode: add-in doesn't connect.

  • Confirm the self-signed cert is trusted (Keychain Access → find core_localhost → Always Trust).
  • Confirm the manifest URL in Word points at the right localhost port.
  • Close and reopen the task pane in Word.

Search returns nothing

  • Confirm your matter has documents and they're in the Ready state (not Extracting or Indexing).
  • Try keyword mode with simpler terms.
  • If you recently changed embedders, wait for the index rebuild to finish.
  • Semantic mode returning no hits? Confirm the Embedder indicator is green in the status pill.

Models won't load

Embedder red:

  • The selected embedder file may be missing. Settings → Semantic Search → confirm the selected model is downloaded. Re-download if not.
  • ModernBERT requires a local support process that starts with Recall. If your antivirus or firewall blocks it, the Embedder indicator stays red. Whitelist Recall and restart.
  • Switching embedders requires a full rebuild. During the rebuild, the Embedder stays green but search returns partial results.

Generator red:

  • Check the selected generator is downloaded (Settings → Generation).
  • If Generation is set to Disabled, Generator shows as effectively off — that's expected.
  • Custom GGUF generators that aren't instruction-tuned chat models often produce errors at load.

Downloads fail

  • Downloads come from Hugging Face. If your network blocks it, downloads won't succeed. Try on a different network.
  • Partial downloads are not resumed. Retry and the whole file re-downloads.
  • Check disk space.

Document upload fails

  • Is it a PDF? Only PDFs are accepted.
  • Is the PDF password-protected? Remove the password before uploading.
  • Is the PDF corrupt? Try opening it in a PDF viewer to confirm it works.
  • Out of disk space? Check your data root's drive.

Document stuck in Extracting or Indexing

  • Extraction runs in the background queue. If the queue is paused or the CoreService restarted, it may stall.
  • Restart Recall — extraction resumes automatically on next launch.
  • If a specific document is corrupt, it can block the queue. Delete it and try a fresh upload.

Clerk produces garbage

  • Confirm the selected generator is the bundled Llama 3.1 or Phi-3.5. Custom generators not tuned for instruction-following often produce garbage.
  • For Edit: select a full sentence or passage, not a fragment. Context matters.
  • For Assist: make sure a matter is selected; Clerk grounds its answers in the matter's documents.

Auto-updates aren't working

  • Recall checks for updates 30s after launch and every 4h. The check runs in the background — no UI.
  • Force a check: Settings → Auto-Updates → Check for Updates.
  • If the logs mention the install path isn't recognized, you're likely running Recall from a non-installer source (e.g. extracted zip). Download a fresh installer and run it.
  • "Failed to check for updates" in the logs usually indicates a network issue reaching the update server. Try again later.

See Auto-Updates for more.

Data locations reference

If you need to check files directly:

OS Path
Windows %LocalAppData%\Recall\
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Recall/

Key subfolders:

  • orgs/ — per-organization data (matters, documents, pins, search index)
  • models/ — downloaded model files
  • custom_models/ — any custom GGUF models you've added
  • system/certs/ — the self-signed HTTPS certificate used in local mode
  • logs/ — operational logs (useful when reporting an issue)

Still stuck

Report the issue to The Retrieval Company at retrieval.company. Include:

  • Your platform and Recall version (gear menu → Settings shows the version in a footer)
  • What you were doing when it broke
  • Relevant lines from logs/core.log
  • Screenshots of the status pill popover