This guide will help you understand the most common input errors and how to resolve them.
If there’s an issue with your input, your Phantom or Flow will display an error message such as Invalid input or Input already processed.
How to fix Invalid input error message
An Invalid input error means the Phantom input format is incorrect or not configured properly.
For the purpose of this guide, we will use LinkedIn Profile Scraper. This Phantom requires LinkedIn profile URLs as input. If you mistakenly provide a search URL instead the Phantom will return an Invalid input error.
Check input format
1. Open the Phantom’s setup.
2. On the Input step, under Profiles to scrape, check the type of data you can use as input. This will vary depending on the Phantom you are setting up.
For LinkedIn Profile Scraper, LinkedIn profile URLs are required as input. You can enter a single profile URL or use a CSV or Google Sheets file containing multiple URLs.
3. Enter a correct format for your input data, following the instructions displayed in the setup screen.
4. Click Save & close in the top right corner.
2. Re-launch the Phantom with the updated settings.
Check Spreadsheet is set to "Anyone with the link" can view
If you’re using a spreadsheet as input, make sure that your spreadsheet permissions are set to "Anyone with the link" can view, otherwise the Phantom will not be able to access your date.
To do this:
- Click the Share button in your Google sheets.
- Go to General access.
- Select "Anyone with the link" and "Viewer."
Check Spreadsheet settings
If you’re using a spreadsheet as input, the Phantom or Flow will read column A by default. But if your data is located in a different column (for example, column B), you’ll need to specify that in the Phantom's settings.
If the right column isn’t selected, the Phantom will return an Invalid input error.
1. Open the Phantom’s setup.
2. Expand the collapsable Spreadsheet settings menu in the Input section Profiles to scrape.3. Name the column that contains the Input data (e.g., "Profile URLs"), and select it from the dropdown menu. If your spreadsheet contains multiple columns, make sure to specify where the relevant data is stored.
4. Click Save & close in the top right corner.
5. Re-launch the Phantom with the updated settings.
How to fix Input already processed error message
This error indicates that your Phantom has already processed all the data from the input, and there’s nothing new to work on.
Depending on your needs, you can either provide new input or reprocess the same data.
Provide a new input
Avoid updating the input of Phantoms that automate multiple actions (Flows), as this might break the automation sequence. Instead, create a new automation to process new data.
1. Open the Phantom’s setup.
2. On the input step insert your new data source.
Reprocess the data to get updated results
If you need to reprocess data to get updated results, there are a few ways to do it:
- Duplicating the Phantom
- Deleting and reinstalling the Phantom after downloading its results file (this helps save slots).
If the Phantom has a Watcher mode feature, you can enable it to reprocess data on every launch automatically. This option is available in the Behavior step of the Phantom, and applies only to certain Phantoms.