FAQ Why Not Found

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Document dated: 19 Oct 2019 (updated Oct 2021)

What to look at when an episode is not media processed or found at a provider

An episode may be rejected or fail to process by SickGear for many valid reasons.

The following 10-minute checklist will help you to find out why...

1. Run a manual search (select episode then click button [Go]) on the rejected episode and look for reasons near the end of the logfile (see notes^{i, ii})
2. Does a show 'Wanted quality' match an item at the provider website (logs will highlight quality matches). Take care, a 'Wanted quality' -must- match before an 'Upgrade quality', perhaps disable upgrades to simplify testing
3. Do any ignore/require words match on the search settings page
4. Do any custom ignore/require words match (logs will list matches)
5. Do shownames match, 'showname(2035)' does not match 'showname', see alternative names
6. Do season and episode numbers match, see editable episode numbers
7. An invalid username/password/digest/apikey for a provider will hinder search
8. Provider settings "Perform search tasks" and "Episode search..." affect when and what to search
9. Items are skipped based on "Only allow releases that are" provider settings
10. Items are skipped based on ratio and/or number of peers specified at provider settings
11. Items older than config/Search/Media Search/"Usenet retention" are rejected
12. Is the show 'Air by date', and is that option enabled in edit show
13. Is the show 'Anime', and does the option need to be enabled in edit show
14. If the show is 'Anime', does the result match the show Allow/Block list settings
15. Is the episode marked Failed at menu 'Manage'/Failed Downloads (enable@config/Post Process)
16. If the episode was searched, and then removed from downloader client, restart SG to flush cache

Notes
ⁱ See the 'About' page; your /logs files folder is at the same location as the 'Config file'
ⁱⁱ Ensure config/Advanced/"File logging level" is set to 'Debug and the next 3 levels'

The stability of SickGear has proven that the chance of one of the above being true is extremely likely.

TL;DR Step 1 is critical for finding out why SickGear does not snatch an item.

• Example investigating what is happening during auto search

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