Checking Upload and Processing Status
After uploading a document, Essal Office processes it in the background. Most documents are ready within seconds, but for large batches or high-resolution scans it can take longer. This article explains how to monitor the processing queue and what to do if something goes wrong.
The Task Status Indicator
While processing is underway, a status indicator appears in the top bar of the application. Clicking it opens the Task Status panel, which lists all recent and in-progress processing tasks with their current state.
Task Status States
- Status: **Pending**
- What it means: The document is queued and waiting to be processed
- Status: **Processing**
- What it means: OCR and indexing are actively running for this document
- Status: **Complete**
- What it means: Processing finished successfully — the document is ready
- Status: **Failed**
- What it means: Processing encountered an error — the document was not added to the archive
Completed and failed tasks are visible in the task list for a short period before being cleared automatically.
Reading a Failed Task
When a task fails, it shows an error message describing what went wrong. Common error reasons include:
- Error message: **Unsupported file type**
- Likely cause: The file format is not recognized or indexable
- Error message: **File corrupted or unreadable**
- Likely cause: The file is damaged or incomplete
- Error message: **Password-protected PDF**
- Likely cause: Password-protected PDFs cannot be processed — remove the password first
- Error message: **Processing timeout**
- Likely cause: The file was very large or complex; try uploading it again
Retrying a Failed Upload
If a task has failed, the most reliable approach is to re-upload the file:
- Fix the root cause if applicable (e.g. remove a PDF password, convert the file to a supported format)
- Upload the file again using the upload button or drag-and-drop
- Monitor the task list to confirm it completes successfully this time
Dismissing Tasks
You can dismiss individual completed or failed tasks from the task panel by clicking the × next to them. Dismissing a task only removes it from the list — it does not delete the document or retry a failed one.
If Most Documents Are Stuck in Pending
If a large number of documents remain in "Pending" for an unusually long time (more than a few minutes for normal-sized files), the processing queue may be backed up. This is typically temporary and resolves on its own.
If the backlog persists, contact your Essal Office administrator or the support team at support@essal.io with details of the issue.