When the Tomba add-on can't finish something, it says why in the sidebar, in the Excel pane or on the cell. Find your message below. Each one is quoted as Tomba shows it.
A Tomba formula that can't answer shows #ERROR! in Google Sheets, and #N/A or #VALUE! in Excel. Hover over the cell to read the message.
"Not signed in to Tomba"
A Tomba formula shows this when the add-on isn't signed in to your Tomba account:
Google Sheets: "Not signed in to Tomba. Open the Tomba sidebar (Extensions > Tomba > Open) and sign in."
Excel: "Not signed in to Tomba. Open the Tomba task pane (Home > Show Tomba) and sign in."
Step 1. In Google Sheets, go to Extensions > Tomba for Sheets > Open. In Excel, click Show Tomba on the Home tab.
Step 2. Click Sign in with Tomba and approve the sign-in on app.tomba.io. The full steps are in Google Sheets Add-on Email Finder and Microsoft Excel Add-in.
Step 3. Click the formula's cell and press Enter to run it again.
"Your Tomba session ended"
The full message is "Your Tomba session ended (signed out elsewhere, revoked or expired). Sign in again." The add-on's sign-in has stopped working, for example because you signed out somewhere else or it expired.
Open the sidebar or the pane and click Sign in with Tomba again. If it says "The sign-in code expired. Start again.", click Sign in with Tomba once more and approve the new code. See Approve a sign-in code from another app.
"The API key saved by the previous version of Tomba no longer works"
The add-on was updated to a new version. The new version tried to reuse the API key the old one had saved, and Tomba didn't accept that key. The message ends with "Sign in again."
Click Sign in with Tomba in the sidebar or the pane. You only need to do this once.
"Out of search credits" on a formula
Your account has no credits left for this lookup. The word in the middle can also be "verification" or "email count".
Google Sheets: "Out of search credits. Upgrade your plan at app.tomba.io/pricing."
Excel: "Out of search credits. Open the Tomba task pane (Home > Show Tomba) to see your balance."
Buy a credit pack or move to a bigger plan on the Upgrade page, or wait for your credits to reset. See I've used all my credits: what now?
"No search credits left this month" before a run
The sidebar or the pane shows this when you start a tool with no credits of the kind it needs:
"No search credits left this month. Upgrade your plan or add a credit pack."
"No verification credits left. Verification credits come with paid plans and credit packs."
The Free plan has no verification credits, so Email Verifier needs a paid plan or a credit pack. Get more credits on the Upgrade page, then run the tool again.
"Daily limit reached for this Tomba lookup"
Your plan allows a set number of lookups per day for each tool, and you've reached it for today. This limit is separate from your credits. A formula shows "Daily limit reached for this Tomba lookup: it resets at 00:00 UTC." A run stops at the limit.
Wait until 00:00 UTC (world standard time), then run the tool or the formula again. For higher limits, see How many searches can I run per second, minute and day?
"Tomba's rate limit was reached"
You asked for lookups faster than your plan allows per second or per minute. Nothing is wrong with your account.
Google Sheets: "Tomba's rate limit was reached. Wait a moment, then recalculate."
Excel: "Tomba's rate limit was reached. Open the Tomba task pane (Home > Show Tomba) to see the queue, then recalculate later."
Wait a minute, then click the cell and press Enter. A run in the sidebar or the pane waits by itself and carries on.
Why does my sheet say [STOPPED]?
When a run stops early, Tomba writes [STOPPED] and the reason in the rows it didn't reach, or on one row under the results:
"Sidebar closed" (Google Sheets) or "Pane closed" (Excel): you closed Tomba while it was running.
"Out of search credits": your credits ran out. See the credits sections above.
"Daily limit reached: it resets at 00:00 UTC": you reached your plan's daily limit for this tool.
"Rate limited by Tomba. Try again later": Tomba kept asking the add-on to slow down.
"Signed out of Tomba: sign in again, then run again": the add-on's sign-in ended.
Fix the reason, then carry on with Resume or Continue from row. See Why does the Google Sheets add-on stop on long lists?
"Free plan is limited to 10 results per request"
On the Free plan, Domain Search gives up to 10 addresses per company, from the first page only. You see one of these messages when you ask for more:
"Free plan is limited to 10 results per request. Upgrade to fetch more."
"Pagination is a Premium feature. Upgrade your plan to fetch additional pages."
On a formula: "The search results are limited to 10 email addresses on a Free plan."
Set Results or Results per domain to 10, use a limit of 10 in the formula, or upgrade your plan. On the Free plan, Similar Domains and Technology say "Bulk Similar Domains is a Premium feature. Please upgrade your plan to use it." or the same for Bulk Technology Detection.
"Preview only: Tomba looks this up when you enter the formula"
Excel shows this while you type a Tomba formula. Excel previews the answer as you type, and Tomba doesn't look anything up for a preview, so no credits are used. Press Enter to run the formula.
"Tomba formulas are not ready"
In Excel, Tomba's formulas start when the Tomba pane opens. The full message is "Tomba formulas are not ready. Open the Tomba task pane (Home > Show Tomba), then recalculate."
Click Show Tomba on the Home tab. Then click the formula's cell and press Enter.
"Tomba found no email address for…"
Tomba looked, but has no answer for this input. Examples:
"Tomba found no email address for Jane Doe at acme.com."
"Tomba has no email addresses for acme.com."
"Tomba found no email address for this LinkedIn profile."
In Excel, also "Tomba found nothing for this input."
This isn't an error with the add-on. A lookup that finds nothing uses no credits, except Phone Validator and email counts. Check the spelling of the name and the company's website, or try another tool. See Why doesn't the Email Finder return any result?
"The sheet is protected"
Tomba can't write its answers into a protected sheet or range.
Google Sheets: "The sheet is protected. Remove the protection in Google Sheets (Data > Protect sheets and ranges), then try again."
Excel: "The sheet is protected. Unprotect it in Excel (Review > Unprotect Sheet), then try again."
Remove the protection as the message says, or ask the file's owner to do it, then run the tool again.
"This spreadsheet has reached Google Sheets' limit of 10 million cells"
A Google Sheets file can hold up to 10 million cells, and this one is full. The message ends with "Use a new spreadsheet." Open a new spreadsheet, open Tomba there and run the tool again.
"Tomba lost the connection to Google Sheets"
The sidebar stopped hearing from Google Sheets. The message says "Close the sidebar, then open Tomba again (Extensions > Tomba)." Close the sidebar, then go to Extensions > Tomba for Sheets > Open.
"Excel is editing a cell"
The full message is "Excel is editing a cell. Press Enter or Esc in the sheet, then try again." Excel can't take Tomba's answers while you're typing in a cell. Press Enter or Esc, then run the tool again.
"History needs an API key"
The History page lists your past lookups. Tomba shares this list only with an add-on connected with an API key, not with Sign in with Tomba.
You can see your history in Tomba, on Requests History. Or, in the add-on, open Settings and click Use an API key instead. See How to find my API key?
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