Troubleshooting: Experiment Signatures, Note Visibility, and Protocol Performance in Labstep

This article addresses three common questions about experiment workflows in Labstep: how adding notes affects pending signature requests, how workspace permissions affect note visibility, and how to improve browser performance when expanding complex protocols.

1. Signature requests and note additions

Issue

Adding comments or notes, or editing body text, after requesting a signature seems to prevent the recipient from signing or to invalidate the pending request.

Technical explanation

Editing experiment text or adding notes does not automatically lock, block or revoke an active signature request. The signing workflow stays active while the content is edited.

Resolution steps

If a user is unable to complete a signature request:

• Verify signer permissions: Ensure the signer has the Editor role in the workspace, or is a collaborator on the experiment.
• Check the status panel: Open the Signatures side panel to confirm the request was not canceled or revoked by another user.
• Inspect error prompts: If a button is grayed out, capture a screenshot of the user’s role settings and contact Support.

2. Note visibility across team members

Issue

Notes added to an experiment by one team member are only visible to the author and not to other collaborators.

Technical explanation

Notes inherit their access permissions from the parent Workspace and Project. If a note is hidden from specific team members, the parent workspace is restricted or shared with an access level that is too low.

Resolution steps

• Go to Workspace Settings > Members and confirm that all relevant team members are added to the workspace.
• Check each member’s role (Owner, Editor, Viewer, or a custom role). A custom role can restrict what a member can see or do.
• Use @mentions inside notes to notify specific team members directly.

3. Protocol performance when expanding steps

Issue

Expanding complex, multi-step protocols within an experiment causes rendering lag or temporary editor slow-downs.

Technical explanation

Large protocols with nested sub-steps, inline media and multi-column tables generate a heavy Document Object Model (DOM) payload. Expanding these structures at the same time forces the browser to render a lot of data at once.

Resolution steps and best practices

• Keep steps collapsed: Keep unused nested steps collapsed until they are needed to reduce the browser rendering load.
• Clear the browser cache: Do a hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) or clear the browser cache to remove stale session data.
• Use an incognito window: Test in an Incognito / Private window to rule out browser extension interference.

Quick reference