Some of the most common questions we get here on the forum revolve around projects and why some observations don’t make it into them. To prevent the creation of multiple one-off topics, this topic is a central place where anyone experiencing this issue can post it.
Before you post here, please review the common causes for this issue:
The project is a collection project that has a place as one of its requirements. If so, then observations with obscured geoprivacy or large accuracy circles may not be included, as explained here.
The observation doesn’t meet the Quality Grade or other requirements of the project. For example, if the project only accepts Casual observations, most observations likely won’t be included in it. Read more about quality grades here.
If you’re trying to manually add an observation to the project and can’t find or select the project in question, then it’s likely a collection or umbrella project - observations meeting its requirements will be added automatically and cannot be added manually.
The date on the media / photograph may be incorrect and not match the time frame of the project. It is possible that the date setting on the camera has not be changed and hence may be older while the project may not pick up based on submission date.
The observation actually is part of the project, but the project “badge” does not appear on the user’s observation because that user has not joined the project.
The project and/or place were recently created. It may take a few hours for new projects to populate.
If none of these appear to be the cause of your issue, then post in this topic and include the URL of the project and URL(s) of the observation(s) in question.
Please fill out the following sections to the best of your ability, it will help us investigate bugs if we have this information at the outset. Screenshots are especially helpful, so please provide those if you can.
Hello,
iNaturalist iPhone help - version 2.8.7, build 558 user id: 2640232, username: lauren_anne_burnsy
I joined the project #NatureNearYou but my observations aren’t syncing / uploading to the project (they are uploading to my personal profile). I’m not sure what the issue is. I have selected iNaturalistAU as my network option and have location sharing on and enabled when I use the app.
This is somewhat urgent as I’m testing the project for Australian Conservation Foundation, with the project going live to our 700,000 supporters this Friday 22nd May.
Regards,
Lauren
Platform iOS
App version number, if a mobile app issue (shown under Settings):
Browser, N/A (using app)
URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages:
Screenshots of what you are seeing (instructions for taking a screenshot on computers and mobile devices: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/):
Description of problem (please provide a set of steps we can use to replicate the issue, and make as many as you need.):
I moved your query to this topic. If you’re trying to manually add obseravtions to the project (I assume this is the project), that’s not possible because this is a collection project. Any observation which meets the the project’s requirements will be added to it. If you can provide URLs of any observations you think should be in the project but are not, or screenshots of what you’re seeing, that would be helpful.
Hello. I just added my first project a couple days ago: Indiana Botanists Big Year 2020. After I set up the project and hit go, I was able to confirm that two observations that I had made earlier in the year were included as part of the project, when they both:
A). Popped up when I clicked on the “View your observations” link on my “Your Projects” page under “Indiana Botanists Big Year 2020”; and
B). Included the project name within these observations in the “Projects” section.
Yesterday, however, when I added more observations that meet the criteria for the project, while each of them appears when I attempt A (above), none of them is showing the project on the observation page, as in B. Nor have I been able to add the project manually on the observation page for each.
Yes, it’s true that the new observations are obscured, and yes, they are all near a state line, but why would one functionality of the project (i.e., A) recognize that these observations are part of the project while another functionality of the project (i.e., B) does not?
I’m very much a newbie at all this, so appreciate any assistance the community can offer. (And I hope I’m putting this question in the right place.)
it seems that even though they show up in a list of the project’s observations, the “project badge” on the observation page can take along time to appear or just never shows up.
“Standard” places like states and counties are excluded from this protection measure: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#placeindex - i.e. even if the geoprivacy rectangle/bounding box crosses that state line, the observation will be displayed as occurring within Indiana.
Please fill out the following sections to the best of your ability, it will help us investigate bugs if we have this information at the outset. Screenshots are especially helpful, so please provide those if you can.
Platform (Android, iOS, Website): All
App version number, if a mobile app issue (shown under Settings):
Browser, if a website issue (Firefox, Chrome, etc) : Chrome
URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages:
Screenshots of what you are seeing (instructions for taking a screenshot on computers and mobile devices: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/):
Description of problem (please provide a set of steps we can use to replicate the issue, and make as many as you need.):
Step 1: I observed 2 separate eastern box turtles within the area of the project (the project allows all types of observations).
Step 2: Neither of the observations can show up in my project.
Step 3: I’ve reviewed all setting and tried to directly assign the observations to the project, but there isn’t any explicit reason why eastern box turtles won’t show up in my project.
Thanks for the confirmation. I found similar responses through my own digging, but I’m not sure how to know a species will be obscured. There isn’t a list of species that might be obscured, is there?
Hi! This is a general question regarding observations in collection projects.
If a project is created and a person who has not joined the project makes an observation in the “place” where the project occurs, will the observation automatically be included in the project?
If not, is there project setting that can be changed to automatically include an observation made by someone who is not in that project or a prompt to request the observer join the project?
Yes, aside from the obscuration/accuracy caveat mentioned in the first post here. It would also depend on whether you have any Users requirements or have checked Project Members Only as a requirement. If you’ve checked “Project Members Only” then the project will only include observations made by those who have joined the project.
iNaturalist doesn’t automatically prompt someone to join a project.
I need help understanding what I am doing/not doing so that some of my observations show up in my project (for a class I"m taking) and other don’t.
I’ve uploaded about 15 observations for the project, and 5 aren’t showing in the project… and when I try to add it, the name of the project won’t show up, even if I copy/paste it from another window.
There’s an open bug report for this and you might consider adding some example URLs there - 
