Troubleshooting

Everyday questions when you're using assistants someone has shared with you: signing in, finding your assistants, starting chats, messages that won't send, tidying up recent chats and the mobile app. If you also build assistants, there's a separate troubleshooting guide for owners covering credits, editing assistants and answering escalations.

Signing in

There's no password. We email you a secure link each time you sign in.

Go to the sign-in page and enter your email address
Click Send Secure Login Link
Open the email from Deputise and click the link, which brings you back to Deputise signed in

If you see a Sign in with Google button, you can use that instead.

Creating an account

On the sign-in page, click New to Deputise? Create an account
Enter your full name and email address
Complete the verification challenge if you see one
Click Create Account, and we'll email you a sign-in link to confirm your address

If someone has invited you to use one of their assistants, you don't need to create an account separately. The invitation link guides you through it.

Accepting an invitation

Click the link in the invitation email
If you're already signed in to Deputise in that browser, the assistant is added to your list straight away
Otherwise, click Send My Sign-In Link. We email a link to the address the invitation was sent to, and set up an account for you if you don't have one
Click the link in that email. You're signed in, with the assistant in your sidebar

An invitation link works for 7 days and is tied to the email address it was sent to. If you see a message saying the invitation was sent to a different address, sign out and sign in with that one.

If you already have an account, a new invitation may also appear in your sidebar marked Invited. Click it to see who shared the assistant, then choose Accept or Decline.

The email hasn't arrived

Check your spam or junk folder
Make sure you typed your email correctly. Deputise won't tell you if an address isn't recognised
Wait a minute or two
If it still hasn't come through, request a new link

The link says it's expired or already used

Sign-in links work once and expire after a short period. Go back to the sign-in page and request a new link, then use the most recent email, because older links won't work.

You see a "private beta" message

New sign-ups are restricted while private beta is enabled. If you've been invited to use someone's assistant, use the invitation link from your email rather than signing up directly. If you're trying to register on your own, contact us for access.

You signed in with Google before but it's not working now

Try the sign-in method you used before. If it is unavailable or fails, contact support with the error you see.

For your name, email address or notifications once you're signed in, see managing your account.

Starting chats

From top to bottom:

The New chat button
Your assistants, each a link into its chats
Any invitation still waiting on an answer, marked Invited
Recent chats, your latest conversations grouped by day, with a View all link to the full list
Help, Support and your account menu

On a phone, open the menu at the top left to see the sidebar.

Expecting an assistant that isn't here?

Check you're signed in with the address the invitation was sent to. Your account menu shows the address you're using
Look in your inbox, and your spam folder, for the invitation email from Deputise
If the invitation is more than 7 days old, or you can't find it, ask the person who shared the assistant to invite you again
If you hid the assistant, click New chat to open your assistants list, tick Show hidden, then choose Show from the assistant's menu
If the assistant used to be there, its owner may have deleted it or stopped sharing it. When an assistant is deleted, the conversations you had with it go with it, along with the notes it kept about you

Starting a new chat

Click the speech-bubble button on the assistant's row in the sidebar, or click New chat and choose the assistant from the list. Type your question and send it.

Clicking the assistant's name instead opens its space, showing every chat you have had with it.

Continuing a recent chat

Click the chat under Recent chats. Its history is saved, and the assistant remembers what you've discussed.

When the assistant can't help

Ask to speak to a person and the assistant passes your question to whoever built it. Replies appear in your chat. See when the assistant can't help for notifications and the 48-hour response window.

What the assistant remembers

Each new chat starts fresh, apart from the notes in the assistant's memory. To see them, open your assistants list and choose Memory from the assistant's menu. You can edit or delete a note, add one, or choose Clear all to remove every note. What the assistant remembers between chats explains how notes are saved and who can see them.

If saving a note fails because the assistant's memory is full, open Memory from your assistants list, delete a note you no longer need and save again.

When a message won't send

If the box where you type is locked, or your message comes back, the chat says why:

"Your question has been passed to…": you've asked for a person, and the chat is waiting for the owner. It opens again when they reply, or at the time shown if they don't. See when the assistant can't help
"This conversation has been closed.": the owner has ended this chat. Start a new chat with the assistant instead
"This assistant is temporarily unavailable while the owner manages their account.": the assistant can't reply for now. Try again later, or let the owner know
"You can send again in…": you've sent a lot of messages in a short time. Wait for the time shown
"You've reached today's message limit.": there's a daily limit on messages across all your assistants. Try again tomorrow
"Your session has ended.": sign in again to keep chatting
"Your message could not be confirmed as sent.": check whether your message appears in the chat before sending it again

A chat where you reported an answer is locked for good. Reporting an answer explains why.

Managing recent chats

Recent chats in your sidebar shows your latest conversations, grouped by the day they were last updated. Click View all to open the full list. Click a chat in either list to open it; on the full list you can also click the menu (three dots) and choose Resume chat.

Deleting a chat

Click View all next to Recent chats
Click the menu (three dots) on the right-hand side of the chat
Choose Delete chat and confirm

You can also delete the chat you're reading with the bin button at the top of the chat.

Deleting is permanent. The conversation and its messages are removed from view and cannot be restored. The privacy policy explains when stored data is deleted and which records are retained.

To tidy the list without losing a chat, do nothing: a chat you stop using sinks down the list as newer ones are updated.

Getting the mobile app

Native apps for iPhone, iPad and Android are on the way, with notifications and voice input. They aren't on the stores yet; the mobile page is where we'll announce them. In the meantime, Deputise works in any modern mobile browser.

Still stuck?

Raise a ticket from Support in the sidebar or send us an email. Include what you were trying to do and what happened.