Troubleshooting

Settings → Logs → Diagnostics is the first place to look when something fails in a way the on-screen message does not explain. It records what went wrong and which external tool each operation used. Paths in it are reduced to filenames, so it is safe to send with a support request.

Scanning

Scanning a folder takes minutes

Expected, if the files are large or on a network share. Classifying a subtitle track means reading it, and subtitle data is spread through the whole file, so a full scan reads every byte. A 36 GB folder over gigabit takes about six minutes — which is the network running flat out, not the app being slow.

Scanning speed explains it properly and covers the setting that makes scans near-instant when you only want filenames.

Subtitle tracks show “not scanned”

Either Scan and read subtitle track contents is off and the track’s label does not say what kind of track it is, or the track is already set to be removed and reading it could not change anything.

Neither is an error, and neither counts against you. Use the read N unscanned link on the file’s row to read them on demand.

Image subtitles have no real verdict

PGS and VobSub tracks are pictures of text and need OCR to be read. Tesseract, the OCR engine, is included in the installer, so this should not happen. If it does, those tracks are classified on timing alone, which can separate a forced track from a full one but cannot tell SDH from Full.

The evidence panel says “OCR unavailable: classified on timing alone” when this is what happened. On versions before 0.1.48 Tesseract had to be installed separately; updating fixes it. Otherwise check Settings → Diagnostics for a resolved tesseract line, and contact support with what it says. See Subtitles.

OCR results look like nonsense

Some is normal — Tesseract misreads a capital I as a pipe and has no glyph for the musical note on lyric lines, and the classifier expects both. Wholesale gibberish usually means a subtitle in a script the included English language data cannot read, such as Japanese, Chinese or Korean. Use Inspect Subtitles to see what it actually read.

Verdicts and tracks

The wrong subtitle is still being selected

Check the verdicts in Organise. Click the track and read the Evidence panel — every verdict shows its reasoning, and if the reasoning is wrong you can see which step went wrong and override it.

If the right track is being kept but your player still picks the wrong one, the issue is the default flag rather than the verdict. Prefer SDH subtitles over full subtitles in Settings → Naming & Tracks decides which one gets it.

Too many tracks are waiting on a decision

Minimum confidence to auto-apply is set higher than your files support. Drop it from High to Medium and fewer verdicts will be held back for review.

I chose MP4 but got an MKV

The file keeps a picture-based subtitle (PGS or VobSub), and MP4 can only hold text ones. Rather than fail the encode or drop the subtitle, FileVerdict writes that file as MKV. Remove those subtitles in Organise, convert them to text there (Convert to text, in the track’s panel), or burn one in under Compress → Subtitles, and the file stays MP4.

Track edits won’t apply to an MP4 or AVI

Non-Matroska files are edited with ffmpeg, which is bundled, so this should work. Some flags simply do not exist outside Matroska — hearing-impaired, commentary and original among them — and cannot be written to an MP4 whatever tool is used.

Renaming

It matched the wrong show

Click the Rename suggestion row and pick a different candidate, or search a different title. Choosing the right match also fixes the episode title.

If it consistently guesses badly on your library, paste your own TMDB key into Settings → General → TMDB API key, which switches the metadata source to TMDB. Coverage is markedly better, especially for non-English titles and episode names — Getting a TMDB API key shows how to get one. Files you have already scanned keep their earlier matches until you rescan them.

The episode title is missing

Either the metadata source has no episode title for that entry, or the lookup did not run — check whether Work offline is on. Offline, renaming falls back to reading a title out of the filename.

It renamed the file but my player still shows the old name

Some players read the title embedded inside the file rather than the filename. Switch on Always set the file’s container title to the recommended name in Settings → Naming & Tracks and apply again.

Queue

A job failed

The row reports why rather than disappearing. Diagnostics carries the fuller record.

The most common causes are running out of disk space partway through an encode, and the source file becoming unreachable — a network share dropping out mid-encode will do it.

An encode is taking hours

Check the encoder in Compress → Video. x265 at a slow preset is very slow by design. Hardware encoders — NVENC, Quick Sync, AMF — are dramatically faster at the cost of a larger file.

If you only wanted to change tracks or the filename, you do not want an encode at all: Apply without encoding in Organise does that in seconds.

Paused, but it’s still using the CPU

It should not be. Pause genuinely suspends the encoder process. If something is still working the machine, check whether another queue row is running.

Audio

A file is marked “Check audio”

One of its audio tracks has something worth reading before you encode. Select the file and open Compress → Audio: the note sits under the track it belongs to. Most are information rather than problems. A 7.1 track mixed down to 5.1 for AC3, a passthrough track that the container can’t carry being encoded with the fallback instead, and a bitrate held to its encoder’s limit are all examples. See Audio encoding.

Surround plays as stereo, or from the wrong speakers

This is most likely AAC 7.1 or Opus 7.1. The files are correct, but some players are reported to play AAC 7.1 as stereo and to send Opus 7.1 channels to the wrong speakers, or play nothing. Set the 7.1 row to Passthrough, or mix it down to 5.1. See 7.1 and your players.

The bitrate I chose is greyed out

It is more than the encoder can write for that layout. Opus takes at most 256 kbps a channel, AAC 288 kbps a channel, and AC3 640 kbps. This usually comes from a preset saved by an older version. The track is encoded at the limit, so nothing fails. Pick a bitrate from the list to clear it.

A track “can’t be passed through”

The container can’t carry that track as it is: MP4 can’t carry TrueHD, and WebM carries only Opus and Vorbis. With Passthrough fallback set to None, the file can’t be compressed. Set the fallback to AC3 or AAC, or set that track’s row to an encoder (Opus, for WebM), or switch to MKV, which carries any audio.

Licence

My key isn’t accepted

Check it was pasted in full with no trailing space. If the key is right, it may have reached its device limit — see Activating your licence.

I’ve run out of device activations

Deactivate an old machine from its own Settings → License panel. If that machine is gone, free it yourself from your licence page: sign in with the email you bought with and choose Free this device. It is still worth deactivating before wiping a PC, which frees the slot at once.

I’ve lost my licence key

Sign in to your licence page with the email you bought with. It shows your key, and every other licence bought with that address.

Data and updates

Did my settings survive the update?

Yes. Settings, presets, history and licence data live in your operating system’s app-data folder — on Windows, %APPDATA%\FileVerdict\ — outside the installation directory, specifically so an update cannot touch them.

Moving to a new PC

Deactivate the licence on the old machine first. Copy the app-data folder — on Windows, %APPDATA%\FileVerdict\ — to bring your settings and presets across. Any API keys will not come with it: those live in the operating system’s credential store, and need re-entering.

The app can’t find my files on a network share

Use the path bar at the top of the window to paste a UNC path or mapped drive letter directly, rather than browsing to it. If a scan starts and then fails partway, the share dropped — Diagnostics will show where it stopped.