You cannot sign in
Almost every failed sign-in is one of three things, and they look identical from the outside. Either Google never finished consenting, or you signed in with an address that belongs to no workspace, or the account is fine and nobody has added it to a workspace yet. Check them in that order; the third is the most common and the least like a fault.
What you see#
One of two symptoms. Either the Google screen returns you to the app and you are still looking at the sign-in button, or you get in and every screen is empty with nothing to work on. The second is not a broken account and it is worth recognising quickly, because the fix is somebody else's action rather than yours.
There is no password to have got wrong. Google sign-in is the only way in, which removes a whole class of causes and narrows the remaining ones to consent, identity and membership.
The causes, most likely first#
| Cause | What it looks like | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| No membership yet | Sign-in succeeds; the app is empty | Somebody already inside the workspace |
| The wrong address | Sign-in succeeds; nothing belongs to you | You — sign out and use the address your access was granted against |
| A stale or reused return | You land back on the sign-in screen with no error worth reading | You — start again from the app rather than reloading or re-opening the return |
| Consent declined or blocked | Google itself stops you, before Connect is involved | You, or whoever administers your Google organisation |
| The browser is not keeping the session | You sign in successfully and are asked again on the next screen | You — the session is a cookie; private windows and blocked cookies both break it |
| The session was ended elsewhere | You were working, and now you are not | You — sign in again; see You were signed out |
What Connect completed, and what it did not#
- Completed, in the empty-app case
- Authentication and identity binding. Connect knows exactly who you are; there is simply no workspace that lists you.
- Not completed, in the empty-app case
- Workspace resolution — because there was nothing to resolve to. No error was raised, because nothing failed.
- Completed, in the bounced-return case
- Nothing on the Connect side. No session was created and no record was written.
- Not completed, in the bounced-return case
- The exchange that turns Google's answer into a session. A refused state leaves no half-session behind — you are exactly where you were.
In neither case is any business data touched. A failed sign-in cannot alter a workspace, and cannot expose one: nothing is resolved, so nothing is in scope.
What you can do now#
- Go back to the app's own address and start the sign-in again from there, rather than reloading the page Google returned you to.
- Check which Google account the browser used. An alias or a personal address authenticates perfectly well and belongs to nothing.
- Try an ordinary window with cookies allowed. A session is a cookie matched to a stored record; a browser that discards it will ask you again immediately.
- If you get in and the app is empty, stop troubleshooting. Ask whoever set up the workspace to confirm your access — that is the whole fix.
What an administrator can do#
- Confirm a membership exists for the exact address the person signs in with, and that it is active — an inactive membership is not a member with fewer rights, it is not a member.
- Confirm the role, if the complaint is that a particular settings screen refuses. Configuration is gated on the administrator role and says so plainly when it refuses.
- Check nobody has been added twice under two addresses; one person, one membership per workspace is the rule the record enforces.
- For a departure, end the person's sessions deliberately rather than waiting for them to expire.
The flow behind all of this, including what a first sign-in does and does not do, is Signing in for the first time.
When to escalate#
Escalate when a membership demonstrably exists, is active, and the same address still resolves to nothing — that is the only version of this that is not explained by the four causes above. Include what you tried, which address was used, and roughly when. Do not send screenshots of the return address from Google: it carries a one-time value, and it is of no use to anybody afterwards.
Questions#
I have forgotten my password — how do I reset it?
There is no password to reset. Password sign-in is not available in Connect; Google is the only identity provider. If you cannot get into your Google account, that recovery happens with Google rather than here.
Why does it work in one browser and not another?
Almost always cookies. The session lives in one, and a browser configured to discard cookies, or a private window that clears them on close, will keep asking you to sign in even though each sign-in genuinely succeeded.
I can sign in but see nothing. Is my data gone?
No. An empty app after a successful sign-in nearly always means the account is not a member of the workspace you expect — the data is in a workspace you are not resolving to. Nothing has been deleted by anything you did here.