Why Isn't My Formula Working?

Running into problems in Sapiengraph? Frustrated that your formulas aren’t working? Consult our handy-dandy troubleshooting guide to help fix your formulas. We’ve compiled a list of errors that you might encounter while trying our formulas.

#NAME?

Reason: Sapiengraph isn’t enabled.
Solution: Enable Sapiengraph by going to Extensions and pressing Launch Sapiengraph.

Reason: There’s a typo in the function.
Solution: Delete the function. Type the first few letters, select desired function from the drop down list, hit tab for Autocomplete.

Formula Parse Error

Reason: There is a typo or extra punctuation somewhere in the formula. Google Sheets cannot understand the instruction or execute the command.
Solution: Proofread the formula. Ensure you’re using double quotation " " marks and commas , instead of single quotation marks ' ' and periods .

Line 0

Exceeded maximum execution time (line 0)

Reason: Our formulas aim to retrieve data within an allotted time frame. If it fails to retrieve the information within that time frame, it will stop and display this error message.
Solution: Delete the error message and retype the formula so that Google Sheets can execute the command again.

#REF!

Reason: There is something blocking the formula from listing data.
When you’re searching for companies, people, or jobs, Sapiengraph will place the data in the same column under the initial query. If there is existing data (yes even white space), Google Sheets will not overwrite the data and it will show you the Array not expanding error.
Solution: Select the cells underneath your formula and hit delete. This will free up space so that the formula can populate the list.

Line 419

Line 419 refers to a generic error that covers a lot of different scenarios. Here are some of the problems you might encounter and how to solve each of them.

Error (line 419)

Reason: Extra punctuation between double quotation marks such as ) or /.
Solution: Double check objects in the formula to ensure there are no extra punctuation marks.

Reason: The country attribute requires the 2 letter Alpha-2 ISO 3166-1 code. For example: United States of America's code is US, not USA.
Solution: Look for the country attribute and change the name of the country to its 2 letter international code. You can find a list of internationally accepted codes here.

Error: Arguments contain one or more #REF! errors (line 419)

Reason: A column, row or page that was being referenced has been deleted.
Solution: Use ‘Undo’ to bring back the deleted cells. Alternatively, you can head to “Version History” to see if you can restore a previous version of your worksheet. If you are unable to do either of these, insert a new column and paste the required data. Click the cell with your formula, delete !REF, then redirect it to your reference cell.

Error: Arguments contain one or more [#NAME?] errors (line 419)

Reason: One of the attributes is missing the double quotation marks " ".
Solution: Double check the formula to ensure that string attributes are placed within double quotation marks. Strings are usually green in colour while numbers will usually be blue.

Error: Required parameter '___' is missing (line 419)

Reason: One of the required parameters is missing or an additional comma has displaced a required parameter.
Solution: Click on the cell and scroll through each parameter to ensure they are in the right place. Delete additional commas.

Reason: The data in a specific referenced cell has been deleted.
Solution: Check the referenced cell and paste the required data inside.

Error: One of the parameters only supports positive number value (line 419)

Reason: One of the parameters is a number that has been placed between double quotation marks " ".
Solution: Check the parameters that involve numbers and dates, then remove quotation marks " ".

Error: One of the parameters only supports string value (line 419)

Reason: One of the parameters is a string (a value that's stored as text) that needs to be constrained by double quotation marks " ".
Solution: Check the parameters that involve numbers and dates, then add quotation marks " ".

Error: Invalid value for ___ (line 419)

Reason: An attribute has been misspelled.
Solution: Double check the spelling of all your attributes or copy paste them from the little help box.

Reason: Attribute is not possible for the formula.
Solution: Scroll down in the little help box and check if the formula can use the desired attribute. Different functions may use different attribute names.
For example, the company search function uses name while the person search function uses full_name.

Error: Index out of bounds (line 419)

Reason: The number of records in the database is lower than the number entered in Index.
Solution: Use a number from the range listed in the error message.

Error: URLs should be in the format of ___ (line 419)

Reason: The https:// is missing.
Solution: Ensure the URL begins with https://. Most of Sapiengraph's formulas require the entire URL to be present.

Reason: The job URL is actually the URL of the search page instead of a direct link to the job.
Solution: On the search page, click on the arrow on the top right of the job and select Copy Link.

Reason: The URL uses a shortened or updated version of the website’s domain.
Solution: Change the domain from fb.com and x.com to facebook.com and twitter.com.

Error: Invalid ___. Accepted values: ___ (line 419)

Reason: The parameter is case sensitive, or does not match the available options.
Solution: Match the case of the available options and you use one from the drop list. Visit our Sapiengraph User Guide to see which ones are case sensitive.

Error: Arguments can't be blank/null (line 419)

Reason: The index has been left blank, or additional commas might have displaced the value for the index.
Solution: Simply delete the last , before the closing parentheses so that the Index defaults to 0. Alternatively you can type in 0 to get the default value. Delete any extra commas in your formula to make sure the index object is directly after the attribute.

Error: Scrape failed, please retry (line 419)

Reason: There’s a network error or sudden increase of traffic to Sapiengraph.
Solution: Delete and retype the formula into the same cell. If this fails more than 3 times or the issue persists, please contact us at [email protected].

Error: Not enough credits, please top up (line 419)

Reason: You don’t have enough credits to complete the query.
Solution: Head to your account on Sapiengraph.com to view our pricing plans, or check how many credits you need for each formula on our Sapiengraph User Guide.

Still stuck?

We suggest asking ChatGPT for help - it's great at helping you to debug. Try asking it, "Why isn't my formula working? I'm using a custom extension." Then paste in your formula afterward. It can help you spot typos and errors easily!

Hopefully, this article managed to solve the issues that you were facing. If you’re still having trouble with your spreadsheets, please reach out to us at [email protected].