The Live Preview is one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal as a Search Admin. Here are a few things that might happen and what you can do — don't worry, these are all expected!
Live Preview Failed to Initialize
Occasionally you may run into errors where the Code Editor fails to initialize the live preview. In these cases, refresh the whole session by terminating the current session (Tools > Terminate Session) and initializing a brand new session (click back in to edit the branch).
Yext Logo or 404
If you see the Yext logo instead of your site, don't panic. This just means you refreshed the page while the preview was still rebuilding. Navigate back to the Code Editor and open up the console. Wait for the preview build to finish — it should look like this when it's ready:
Desktop/ (File Directory on Load)
If you see a file directory instead of a live site when you click Create Preview, this can mean a couple of things:
You don't have an index file. This could be intentional or it could be that you haven't created it yet. If you have defined any other pages, you should be able to access your experience by clicking on any of the
.htmlfiles.
- You have an index file but you added it as a staged change. The initial preview is based off your original repo and doesn't include staged changes. To incorporate those changes, click Update Preview.
- You have an index file, updated the preview, and it's still not working. This indicates a larger issue with your site. Make a trivial change to a file (e.g., add a space at the end of a line in your
config/directory) and click Update Preview. Then open the console logs (Tools > Console) and look for any error messaging to identify the issue.
Search Bar Doesn't Load
This means something is blocking the search bar from initializing — for example, the experienceKey may not be filled out yet or is invalid. If this happens:
- Check the required fields for your main files and make sure everything is provided.
- Make a trivial change to a file (e.g., add a space at the end of a line in your
config/directory) and click Update Preview. Then open the console logs (Tools > Console) and look for any error messaging to identify the issue.
Jambo Build Failed
You likely have syntax errors in your JavaScript. Check the console of your Code Editor to debug.
You could have a missing comma:
You could also have missing or non-matching brackets or parentheses. Make sure all objects ({}), arrays ([]), and functions (()) are properly closed.
Result Cards Not Rendering
Card names in the Theme are case sensitive. Make sure you specify the card name exactly as it exists in the Theme or in your repository when filling out cardType in a vertical JSON file.
If you specify the wrong card name, results won't render on the page. Inspect the page and go to the Console tab:
You should see an error like:
Caused By: Error: Component type jobs-standard is not recognized as a valid component. You might have meant job-standard?