General Alma Troubleshooting and Problem Reporting

Revised October 23, 2023

When I-Share institutions experience problems or have questions about Alma and Primo VE, first consider the troubleshooting tips below. You may be able to find the answer in existing CARLI or Ex Libris resources.

If you're unable to find the answer after troubleshooting, please contact CARLI first at support@carli.illinois.edu rather than Ex Libris.  Follow the problem reporting processes below to help both you and CARLI so that we can provide a clear, timely, and efficient response.  CARLI staff are collectively aware of what is going on in our unique I-Share consortial environment and its configurations, so chances are we can provide context in addition to help and direction.  Filing a ticket with CARLI first also helps us to identify broader issues that may be occurring across more than one I-Share institution so that we can escalate problems to Ex Libris Support for help, when needed, and copy you.

General Troubleshooting

Clear Browser History and Cache

Be sure you're always using the latest version of your preferred browser; if you are not, perform an update to the latest version.

As a cloud-based platform, Alma uses the same overall infrastructure with data loaded into pages with the same names. Eventually, you may have a large amount of old data in your browser history. It's a generally good idea to clear this history regularly so that older pages don't conflict with newer data. Also, Ex Libris will frequently recommend clearing your browsing history while troubleshooting a problem, as this can sometimes resolve sticky data issues.

Chrome
Edge
Firefox

Checking for Outages

Ex Libris SYstem Status

Ex Libris provides a page on the activity status of its cloud services at https://status.exlibrisgroup.com/. CARLI I-Share environments are hosted on Alma NA06 and Primo VE NA06.

On that page, you may also choose to configure email notifications for these servers which will send you system status emails when there is a known problem, when routine updates are scheduled, and when the updates begin and end.  Click the "Register Now/Log In" button and follow the directions to subscribe.

Alma-L and Primo email lists

Library staff may find the Alma-L list to be a quick way to judge whether problems are being experienced by multiple customers across the globe, or if problems are more local. Many Alma-L subscribers are pro-active about alerting the community when new issues appear in Alma, so this is sometimes the fastest way to know whether what you're seeing is also present elsewhere.

To subscribe to Alma-L, visit the Alma-L page on the ELUNA website.

To subscribe to the Primo list, visit the Primo page on the ELUNA website.

Researching Problems Not Related to an Outage

Search for CARLI Documentation

CARLI staff and CARLI Committees have written many pages of documentation to help I-Share institutions navigate Alma and Primo VE.  Use the Search box in the upper right corner on any CARLI webpage to search for keywords, or browse through our I-Share Documentation pages.

Search Ex Libris Documentation

Within Alma, use the Help menu option (?) to "Browse Online Help" or get "Help For This Page".  The "Help For This Page" option will open the Ex Libris documentation page about the screen that you are on in Alma.

Ex Libris' Alma and Primo VE documenation is indexed by Google, so doing a search for keywords and topics will frequently find a Help page on the topic!

Search or browse the Ex Libris Knowledge Center for Alma or Primo VE topics.

Search or browse the Ex Libris LibGuides for Alma or Primo VE topics.

Reporting Problems

When reporting problems, or even when asking questions, please be as specific as possible and try to answer as many of the following questions as you can.  Not every problem is generalizable, and CARLI staff will need to try to replicate your experience.

Who: User or patron experiencing the problem, or user group(s) that have the issue?
What: MMS ID or barcode of one or more titles/items; Primo VE permalinks or search URLs?
When: Time the event occurred?
Where: What zone (IZ, NZ), library, menu, search?
Why: Describe the context. What you were trying to do? What steps did you take to get the error or issue?
How: Length of time for slow response time reports?

Documenting Pages and Objects in ALma

URLs within Alma are not reliable, persistent links to the content that you see. Instead, please describe to us the menu options you followed to your current location. For example, "I went to the Resources menu and chose Search Resources"; or "I started in the Fulfillment menu and clicked on Checkin/Checkout, then Manage Patron Services".

Remember that some Alma screens may look very similar to other screens with slightly different options depending on the functional context.

When reporting on specific records and objects with problems, include the record identifier, e.g., MMS ID, Item ID or Barcode, Portfolio ID, user Primary ID, etc. You may also identify the search and criteria that you used.

Documenting pages in Primo VE: Using Permalinks

If reporting an issue with a record in Primo VE, please include a permalink for an example title or citation.  You can copy the Permalink from the Full Record page in Primo VE by clicking the "Permalink" action in the "Send To" section of the page.

If the question is about search results, please send the URL from your browser of the search results page and describe what search you were performing, including the Search Scope slot being used.  The Search Scope determines which indexes are being used in the search, so searching for the same terms in a different scope will affect the results retrieved.

Creating Screen Captures

Screenshots in Word documents or PDF files illustrating the problem or issue and sent as an attachment to CARLI Support can be very helpful. Please do not embed images in your email to CARLI Support as those images are frequently stripped from our ticket tracking system.

Creating screen captures on Windows 10 (Microsoft Support)

Creating screen captures on Mac (Apple Support)

Creating video Captures

Short videos (with or without sound) illustrating the problem or issues can be very helpful.  You can submit a link to the file when you contact CARLI Support, or upload the file to your institution's Box folder or xxxftp directory on the CARLI Files server.

Capturing video on Windows 10 (Microsoft Support)
How to Capture Video Clips in Windows 10 (PC Magazine)

Capturing video on Mac (Apple Support)

"Report to Ex Libris" function for electronic resources

When configured in Alma, this feature allows library staff to report content errors in Community Zone (CZ) Electronic Collections or Portfolios directly to Ex Libris for correction.  Note: Use this feature for collections/portfolios that have been activated in your Institution Zone (IZ); if the activation is in the Network Zone (NZ), please report the problem to CARLI at support@carli.illinois.edu.

Short CARLI video on how to use the "Report to Ex Libris" function - running time 6:43

Ex Libris documentation Best Practices for Submitting Content Support Cases

Creating a Performance Tracking File

Alma's help menu includes an option to create a performance tracking file for situations where Alma as a whole or individual pages are not responding properly. You may send CARLI the file as an attachment with your message to support@carli.illinois.edu.

Alma Performance FAQ

Creating a HAR (HTTP archive file)

There are some situations, particularly those involving network connection errors or authentication issues, where Ex Libris will want an HTTP Archive File. See the following knowledge article for information on creating and updating the HAR file for submission. You may send CARLI the file as an attachment with your message to support@carli.illinois.edu.

Google Apps, HAR Analyzer. Browser-specific instructions appear on the bottom of this page.
Alma Creating a HAR File Knowledge Article