Altera shows a code such as ABC001 with each error or warning. This article explains the codes for this area of the app and how to resolve them. For codes from other areas, see Error and warning codes.

Error codes that appear when downloading files from remote sources (HTTP, FTP, Google Drive, etc.) and managing remote connections

The URL scheme is not supported. Currently supported schemes are HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.

The URL format is invalid for the specified source type. Make sure you've entered a valid URL.

The file was not found at the specified URL. Please check that the URL is correct and the file exists.

Authentication is required or you have insufficient permissions to access the file. Check if the file requires login or specific permissions.

An HTTP error occurred when trying to download the file. This could be due to server problems or invalid requests.

The downloaded file is empty (zero bytes). Please check the source file.

Failed to connect to the server. Check your internet connection and verify the URL is correct.

The connection timed out while trying to download the file. This could be due to a slow connection or server issues.

The file download failed due to a general request error. Check the detailed error message for more information.

An unexpected error occurred during the HTTP download. Check the logs for more details.

Failed to connect to the FTP server. Check that the server address is correct and the server is running.

Authentication failed for the FTP server. Verify your username and password.

Unable to access the file on the FTP server. The file may not exist or you might not have permission to access it.

An error occurred during the FTP file transfer. Check your connection and try again.

The downloaded FTP file is empty (zero bytes). Please check the source file.

A general FTP error occurred. Check the detailed error message for more information.

An unexpected error occurred during the FTP download. Check the logs for more details.

The remote connection you are trying to use cannot be found. This may be because it was deleted or because the identifier provided is incorrect. Please verify that the remote connection exists and that you have access to it.

No hostname was provided for the FTP server connection. When configuring an FTP connection, the hostname (server address) is required. Please check your remote connection settings and ensure that the 'Host' field is filled in with a valid FTP server address.

The local file specified for upload cannot be found on the system. This typically occurs when trying to upload a file to an FTP server, but the source file path is incorrect or the file has been deleted or moved. Please verify that the file exists at the specified location before attempting to upload it.

Unable to upload the file to the FTP server due to permission issues. This error occurs when you lack write permissions to the target directory on the FTP server. Verify that:

Contact your FTP server administrator if you need additional permissions for the upload location.

An error occurred during the FTP file upload process. This could be due to various reasons such as:

Check the detailed error message for more information about what went wrong during the upload process.

An unexpected error occurred during the FTP upload process. This is a general error code for unexpected issues that occur when uploading files to an FTP server. Check the logs for more details about the specific error that occurred.

Failed to create a required subdirectory on the FTP server during file upload. This error occurs when:

Common causes:

How to fix this:

An unexpected error occurred during the remote file upload process. This is a general error code for unexpected issues that occur when uploading files to any remote connection type (HTTP, FTP, SFTP, etc.). Check the error message and logs for more details about the specific error that occurred.

An unexpected error occurred during the remote file download process. This is a general error code for unexpected issues that occur when downloading files from any remote connection type (HTTP, FTP, SFTP, etc.). Check the error message and logs for more details about the specific error that occurred.

The upload transfer is missing the local file path in its metadata. This typically occurs when attempting to upload a file to a remote server, but the system cannot find the path to the local file that should be uploaded. Check that the transfer was configured correctly with the required metadata including the local file path.

The upload transfer is missing the remote destination path. This error occurs when attempting to upload a file to a remote server (FTP, SFTP, etc.), but the system doesn't know where on the remote server to place the file. The remote file path specifies the destination location and filename on the remote server.

How to fix this:

No files were found matching the specified wildcard pattern on the FTP server. This error occurs when attempting to download a file using a wildcard pattern (e.g., export_*.csv), but no files on the server match the pattern.

How to fix this:

Failed to connect to the SFTP server. Check that the server address is correct and the server is running.

Authentication failed for the SFTP server. Verify your username, password or key file.

Unable to access the file on the SFTP server. The file may not exist or you might not have permission to access it.

An error occurred during the SFTP file transfer. Check your connection and try again.

The downloaded SFTP file is empty (zero bytes). Please check the source file.

Could not connect to the WebDAV server. This may be caused by an incorrect hostname, the server being offline, or a network issue. The app tries HTTPS first, then falls back to HTTP.

Authentication was rejected by the WebDAV server. Check that your username and password are correct and that your account has access to the specified directory.

The requested file or directory was not found on the WebDAV server. Check that the remote directory path and filename are correct.

The downloaded file is in a format that is not supported for importing. Please check our documentation for supported file formats.

The remote file exceeds the maximum allowed file size. Please try with a smaller file or contact support for assistance.

Rate limit exceeded when accessing the remote file. Please try again later or with a different source.

You have reached your plan's limit for the number of remote connections you can create.

How to fix this:

You cannot delete this remote connection because it is being used by one or more active repeating jobs. Before deleting the connection, you must first either:

To find which jobs are using this connection, go to the Jobs page and look for scheduled jobs that reference this connection.

The Google Drive connection has no saved Google credentials, or the connection test could not reach Google Drive. This usually happens when the Google authorization was not completed or was revoked from your Google account.

Open the connection in Settings > Remote connections and reconnect your Google account.

Altera's access to your Google account has expired and Google refused to renew it. This happens when the authorization is revoked in your Google account, the Google password changes, or the account is disabled.

Open the connection in Settings > Remote connections and reconnect your Google account.

Altera could not read the contents of the selected Google Drive folder. The folder may have been deleted, moved, or shared with a different account than the one connected.

Check that the folder still exists and that the connected Google account can open it, then select the folder again in the connection settings.

Altera could not create a new spreadsheet in the selected Google Drive folder. The connected Google account may not have permission to add files to the folder, or the Google Drive storage quota may be full.

Check that the connected account can create files in the folder and that the account has free storage, then run the export again.

Altera could not download the selected file from Google Drive. The file may have been deleted, moved, or its sharing settings changed since it was selected.

Check that the file still exists and that the connected Google account can open it, then select the file again in the connection settings.

The export file was written, but Altera could not read it back to upload it to Google Drive. This is a temporary condition.

Run the export again. If it keeps happening, contact support with your job ID.

Altera created or opened the spreadsheet but Google refused the write. This can happen if the spreadsheet was deleted mid-export, if the connected account lost edit access, or if the data exceeds Google Sheets limits.

Check the spreadsheet in Google Drive and run the export again. For very large exports, see RMT087.

The Google Drive connection is used as an export destination, but no destination folder is selected. Open the connection in Settings > Remote connections and select a folder to export to.

The Google Drive connection is set to import a specific file, but no file is selected. Open the connection in Settings > Remote connections and select the file to import.

Altera could not read the details of the selected Google Drive file. The file may have been deleted or its sharing settings changed.

Check that the file still exists and that the connected Google account can open it, then select the file again in the connection settings.

The Google Drive connection is set to import from a folder, but no folder is selected. Open the connection in Settings > Remote connections and select the folder to import from.

The Google Drive connection is set to import from a folder, but no filename pattern is set. Open the connection in Settings > Remote connections and enter a pattern such as products*.csv to choose which file to import.

No file in the selected Google Drive folder matches the connection's filename pattern. The message shows the pattern that was used.

Check that the file is in the selected folder and that its name matches the pattern. Patterns are matched against the filename only, not the folder path.

Altera could not upload the export file to the selected Google Drive folder. The connected Google account may not have permission to add files to the folder, or the Google Drive storage quota may be full.

Check that the connected account can create files in the folder and that the account has free storage, then run the export again.

Google Sheets limits writes to 60 per minute per user. Very large exports can hit this limit even after Altera retries.

How to fix this:

Writing data to Google Sheets failed. This can happen if the spreadsheet was deleted, permissions were revoked, or the Google Sheets API returned an unexpected error.

How to fix this:

The URL could not be fetched because it points to a private or internal network address, or uses a URL scheme that is not supported. For security reasons, the app only downloads from public http:// and https:// addresses.

How to fix this:

Google limits every spreadsheet to 10 million cells across all of its tabs. The export failed because writing the data would push the destination spreadsheet past that limit. This usually means the spreadsheet already contains other large tabs, or old tabs from previous exports that are no longer needed.

How to fix this:

The SSH private key saved on the SFTP connection could not be parsed. The app supports RSA, ECDSA, and Ed25519 keys in OpenSSH or PEM format.

How to fix this:

The SSH private key saved on the SFTP connection is encrypted with a passphrase, but no passphrase was provided. Edit the connection and enter the key passphrase.

The SFTP server closed the connection before the export file was fully uploaded. This usually happens on the server side: an idle or transfer timeout, a maximum upload size, or a firewall that cuts long connections. Large export files are affected first.

Check the server's timeout and upload size settings, or ask your hosting provider about them, then run the export again. If the file is very large, reduce it with an export filter or split the export into several jobs.

The Google Drive folder selected for this connection no longer exists, or the connected Google account can no longer see it. This happens when the folder is deleted, moved to the trash, or unshared after the connection was set up.

Open the connection in Settings > Remote connections and select the folder again, then run the export again.

Google's Drive API refuses to export Google Sheets files larger than 10 MB. Altera works around this by downloading the spreadsheet through its Drive export link instead, which has no such limit. This error means that download failed too, for example because Google changed how the link works or the connected Google account lost access to the file.

In Google Sheets, use File > Download to save the spreadsheet as an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file, upload that file to Google Drive, and select it in the connection settings. Google Drive connections download Excel and CSV files directly, without the export limit. If this keeps happening for a spreadsheet the connected account can open, contact us.

The WebDAV server answered the upload with HTTP 413 (Payload Too Large): the export file is bigger than the largest request body the server accepts. The message includes the size of the file Altera tried to upload. This limit belongs to the server, not to Altera. It is usually set by the web server or PHP in front of the WebDAV service, for example client_max_body_size in nginx, LimitRequestBody in Apache, or upload_max_filesize and post_max_size for Nextcloud and ownCloud.

How to fix this:

An unhandled error occurred during the remote file download process. This is a general error code for unexpected issues.

Previous code: REM999.