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Facebook Capture Troubleshooting

Common Facebook Errors and How to Resolve Them

💡 These steps follow the redesigned Page Vault Browser. Legacy screens may look a little different, but the workflow is the same! (The legacy browser retires July 15, 2026.)

When capturing Facebook content in the Page Vault Browser, you may encounter certain errors or issues. Below are common error messages and capture problems, along with troubleshooting steps to resolve them.

General Facebook Errors

Error Messages:

  • "There was an error uploading screenshots and metadata"

  • "Select Scroll Box error"

  • "No Comments Found"

Solution:

  1. Open the gear menu at the bottom of the side panel.
  2. Select Clear Cookies.
  3. Select End Session from the gear menu.
  4. Wait 2–5 minutes, then launch a new session by clicking Capture from your Portal.

If the issue continues, it may be due to Facebook flagging your credentials. Try using a different set of login credentials and follow the guidelines in our [Maintaining Examiner Accounts] article to ensure they appear genuine. We recommend making new accounts "live" for a few days before capturing. If you continue using your current credentials, taking a week-long break often improves capture success.

Capturing a Single Post Only Produces a One-Page PDF

Some Facebook posts may only generate a single page due to inconsistent platform settings.

Workaround:

  1. Manually expand the comments on the post.
  2. Click Capture page in the sidebar to open the Capture panel.
  3. Raise the PDF page overlap (try 25–30%) so comment threads aren't cut off between pages.
  4. Open the Capture type dropdown and select Specific scroll box.
  5. Click Test next to each detected scroll box until the post container highlights in the browser.
  6. Select the radio button for that scroll box.
  7. Click Start.

Standard Expander Freezing When Expanding Comments

If the Standard Expander freezes while loading comments:

  • Lower the Page limit: Before starting, set the Page limit to a smaller value (around 50 pages) to keep the job manageable. This replaces the legacy pixel-based limit.
  • Use Batch Social Media: Click Get post URLs in the sidebar to scrape a list of post URLs, then run them through Batch > Social Media > Bulk URL Capture in your Portal. This is often the most reliable path for large profiles or accounts that have hit Facebook rate limits, since the job runs on Page Vault's servers and is less affected by browser timeouts.

Unable to Sign Into Facebook in the Page Vault Browser

If you can log into Facebook in your own browser but not in the Page Vault Browser:

  1. Open the gear menu at the bottom of the side panel and select Reload Blocked Webpage (if prompted).
  2. In the same gear menu, select Clear Cookies.
  3. Select End Session from the gear menu.
  4. Wait 2–3 minutes, then start a new capture session from your Portal.
  5. Before logging in, open the gear menu, go to Browser Settings, and toggle on Skip Proxy.
  6. Log in to Facebook.
  7. Once signed in, toggle Skip Proxy back off before starting your capture.

Still Having Issues?

If problems continue after trying the above steps, use the Scrape and Capture option in our Batch Social Media tool. This method is often the most reliable for profiles with frequent errors or flagged credentials.