The Sidebar is a web application that runs inside your favorite authoring tool. This means that a lot happens in the background and there may be different reasons why you can’t connect. We’ve made a list of some issues we’ve seen that can help you troubleshoot your connection.
You can solve some issues just by making sure that your Acrolinx URL is correct. Below we’ll show you which messages you might see in the Sidebar if you come across an issue with your Acrolinx URL.
For other issues, you need IT expertise to troubleshoot and solve. So, it’s a good idea to contact your Acrolinx administrator and they can take it from there.
If the Acrolinx URL you entered is incorrect, you’ll see a message like this: It looks like the Acrolinx URL is incorrect. Check the URL and try again.
Or maybe you forgot to enter "https" instead of "http"? You’ll see the message: You need to connect to Acrolinx using a secure Acrolinx URL. A secure Acrolinx URL starts with “https”.
What Should I Do?
Check with your Acrolinx administrator to make sure you're using the right URL. Try adding the port number and correct protocol (http or https).
This is the complete format of the Acrolinx URL: PROTOCOL://HOSTNAME:PORT
For example: https://demo-inc.acrolinx.com:443
Tip
Important! Sometimes it’s not easy to tell the difference between an incorrect URL or other connection problems. Even if it's just a typo in the address, you might see the message: We couldn’t connect to Acrolinx… So, checking your URL is the first thing to do if you can’t connect.
You’ve checked that the Acrolinx URL is correct but you still get the message We couldn’t connect to Acrolinx… when trying to connect? It looks like there’s another connection issue.
Contact your Acrolinx administrator and ask them to go through the following possibilities:
Acrolinx Sidebar Integrations should work when you secure Acrolinx with TLS. But there might be something special about your IT environment that blocks the communication between the Acrolinx Sidebar and Acrolinx Platform.
Acrolinx doesn’t support self-signed certificates. If you configure your Acrolinx Platform for an SSL connection, the Sidebar will only work if you install an SSL certificate from an independent certificate authority. If you used a self-signed certificate to secure the Acrolinx Platform, you won't be able to connect from the Sidebar to your platform.
Have you heard about the security issues with SHA-1 and MD5? Oracle has deprecated these algorithms in Java version 1.8.0_141. Check out the Java release notes. You'll need to use certificates that work with Java 11 or newer.
For some Acrolinx Integrations, you need to enable CORS on the Acrolinx Platform. If your Acrolinx administrator hasn’t enabled CORS, then that might be the reason why you can’t connect.
Here’s how you can enable Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) on your Acrolinx Platform.
If you’re behind a company proxy, trying to connect to a hosted Acrolinx Platform, you might see a message that says: It looks like this isn’t an Acrolinx URL or this Acrolinx Platform version doesn’t support the Sidebar.
And if you click Connect again, then the message might change, which can be confusing. This happens because your company proxy routes the page so that the Sidebar doesn’t get the page that it’s expecting. But all it really means is that the Acrolinx URL you’ve entered isn’t correct. So, check that your Acrolinx URL is correct.
Your organization might have a firewall that blocks the communication between the Sidebar and your Acrolinx Platform.
If your network communication is slow, you may not be able to connect to Acrolinx. For example, if you connect to the Acrolinx Platform using VPN (virtual private network) to access your company's network. Also if you’re using a weak internet connection to connect to the platform, you may have problems connecting, signing in, or loading the Sidebar.