# Project doesn't work

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/project-doesnt-work/62025>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [February 23, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/project-doesnt-work/62025 "2025-02-23T03:11:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![stephan\_kleinfelder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/stephan_kleinfelder/32/33405_2.png) [@stephan\_kleinfelder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/stephan_kleinfelder)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/project-doesnt-work/62025/1 "2025-02-23T03:11:59Z")

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Hi,

I created my first project ([https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/earwigs-attracted-to-light](https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/earwigs-attracted-to-light)) and I couldn’t add observations to it - even after many hours, it still doesn’t work.  
I tried to restrict it to certain taxa (but all that happened was that EVERY observation of those taxa were added automatically), and open it again.

I can add any observation I see to projects like “Earwigs”, “Ant nuptial flights”, “Mosquito Vectors”, “First Known Photographs of Living Specimens”, “Reared or bred insect larvae-nymphs” or “Never Home alone: The Wild Life of Homes”, but not to “Earwigs attracted to light”  
Why? :(

(e.g. this was the first observation I wanted to add, but it didn’t work: [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/262736288](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/262736288))

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**Author:** ![Vireya](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/vireya/32/10901_2.png) [@Vireya](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Vireya)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/project-doesnt-work/62025/2 "2025-02-23T04:02:44Z")

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It sounds like you need a traditional project, because “Earwigs attracted to lights” is not something you can collect automatically. You could have a collection project that collects all earwigs, or all earwigs in a particular place, but there is no way for a collection project to know what attracted the earwigs.

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**Author:** ![thebeachcomber](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/thebeachcomber/32/12748_2.png) [@thebeachcomber](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/thebeachcomber)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2025, 6:01am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/project-doesnt-work/62025/3 "2025-02-23T06:01:20Z")

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as @Vireya said, it is not possible to manually add observations to a collection project, you need to make a traditional project. Collection projects automatically collate observations based on filters like a taxon, place, or date range.

at [https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/new](https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/new), scroll to the bottom and click this:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/4/9/49a4b56db396512828918bfab4addcf515f72e78.png)

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**Author:** ![stephan\_kleinfelder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/stephan_kleinfelder/32/33405_2.png) [@stephan\_kleinfelder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/stephan_kleinfelder)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/project-doesnt-work/62025/4 "2025-02-23T20:42:18Z")

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Thank you! I totally overlooked the option for traditional projects.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/project-doesnt-work/62025/5 "2025-04-24T20:42:48Z")

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