A participant is stuck at the start of the exam

Before starting, each participant goes through several setup screens. If one of them doesn’t unlock, the participant cannot begin. This article lists the most common issues, what the participant should do, and what you can do on your end.

Taking Action for a Stuck Participant

In Monitor › Live, click ⁝ at the end of the participant’s row. Depending on your exam settings, you may see the following options:

• Disable screen recording: The participant can access the exam without sharing their screen.

• Disable spell-checker verification: The participant no longer has to disable their extensions.

• Disable the Evalmee app: The Evalmee app is no longer required for this participant.

The change takes effect immediately; the participant does not need to refresh the page.

The “Next” button does not appear or remains grayed out

The button is waiting for the current screen to be validated. Depending on the screen displayed:

• That’s all for now!: The exam is not yet available. The next steps will appear a few minutes before the exam starts. Just wait and refresh the page.

• Your exam conditions: “I understand” remains grayed out until the checkbox “I certify that I consent to the processing of my data by Evalmee…” is checked (exams with camera monitoring).

• Set up your equipment: The “My equipment is ready” button will only appear once the camera and microphone are working. See “The camera is not detected.”

• Identity verification: “Next” appears after you upload a photo of your ID.

• Your reference photos: “Next” appears once all three photos (front view, head to the left, head to the right) have been saved by tapping “Take Photo” and then “Confirm Photo.”

• Screen sharing: “Next” appears only once the entire screen is shared. If an error occurs, only the “Update Screen Sharing” button is displayed. See “Screen sharing is denied or not possible.”

• Spell-checking tools: No button is available as long as a prohibited extension is active. See “An extension is blocking access.”

• Your sworn statement: The “Start” button remains grayed out until the checkbox “I agree to complete this exam on my own and not to cheat” is checked, or until the exam is opened. The button turns blue when the exam is opened.

Screen sharing is denied or not possible

What the participant sees: a red error message under “Share My Screen.” Possible messages:

• “You must share your entire screen, not a window or tab.”: In the browser window, the participant must select “Entire Screen,” not a window or tab. The “Refresh Screen Sharing” button prompts the selection again.

• “You must use only one screen to take the exam.”: The participant must unplug or disable any additional screens.

• “Make sure you’ve accepted screen sharing.”: They’ve declined or closed the screen-sharing window. In Chrome, they must also allow “Window Management” as requested by the browser.

• “You must enable screen sharing in your computer’s settings”: On a Mac, the browser does not have permission to record the screen. The participant opens System Preferences > Privacy & Security > Screen and System Audio Recording, checks the box next to their browser, and then restarts the browser if necessary.

After several attempts, the link “Having trouble sharing your screen?” appears and opens a help page.

What you can do: Disable screen recording for this participant.

The camera isn’t detected

What the participant sees: In the “Set up your hardware” step, the “Camera” (or “Microphone”) line displays “Access blocked,” along with the “Allow access” and “How to unblock” buttons. A message might say, for example, “It appears your webcam is blocked by your browser.”

What they should do:

1. Click "Allow Access," then accept the browser’s request.

2. If access remains blocked: In Chrome, click the crossed-out camera icon in the address bar, then click “Always allow…”. In Firefox, remove the temporary block. In Safari, go to Preferences > Websites > Camera and select “Allow” for Evalmee. Then click “Try Again.”

3. Check that the camera isn’t covered by a physical cover and that no other application (such as a video conferencing app) is using it.

What you can do: suggest using a different browser or a different computer. The camera steps (hardware, reference photos) cannot be skipped for a single participant. Disabling camera recording only stops the recording.

As a last resort, disable camera monitoring for the entire exam: on the “Configure” tab, under “Monitoring,” set “Camera Monitoring” to “Disabled.” This can be done during the exam, but you won’t be able to re-enable it while the exam is in progress, and it will be disabled for all participants.

If you need help, contact support: Support: live chat, hotline, and on-call support

The participant is using a work computer

Work or school computers are often restricted by their administrators: required extensions, disabled camera or screen sharing, and network filtering. Evalmee cannot bypass these restrictions.

• When the exam opens, a Compatibility Check card appears if the device fails any of these tests: Browser Compatibility, Storage Space, Graphics Acceleration, or Background Processing. Each error line explains the problem.

• The easiest solution is to take the exam on a personal computer or to ask the IT department to allow Evalmee.

• Have the device tested in advance using he @Recommended hardware configuration for participants

The participant is using an iPad, tablet, or smartphone

What the participant sees: “You must use a computer to take this exam” during the Screen Sharing step. Screen recording is not supported on tablets or smartphones.

What you can do: Disable screen recording for this participant from Monitor > Live. They will then be able to take the exam from their device. See Disable screen recording for a participant

An extension is blocking access

When the “Block Spell-Checkers” option is enabled, the participant sees the “Spell-Checking Tools Verification” step. It blocks access if a spell-checking or translation extension (Grammarly, DeepL, etc.) is active.

What the participant sees: the “Blocked Extensions” list and the message “Disable these extensions and reload the page to continue.”

What they need to do: Disable the listed extensions, then reload the page. The link “How do I disable browser extensions?” details the steps for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. In Chrome, go to the ⋮ menu > More tools > Extensions.

What you can do: Disable spell-checking for this participant.

Evalmee is required

If the exam requires the Evalmee app, the participant will see “Evalmee app required.” They must download the app, log in, and open the exam from within the app. To exempt them from this requirement, use “Disable Evalmee app” in the ⁝ menu.

The browser is not compatible

The message “Evalmee is not compatible with your browser version” prompts users to update their browser or use Chrome or Firefox. Recommend these two browsers to your participants.

FAQ