--- title: "Troubleshoot Constellation" url: "https://kestrelwp.com/docs/troubleshoot-constellation/" description: "Fixes for common Constellation problems with memberships, caching, timezones and emails." published: "2026-10-06T20:27:13+00:00" modified: "2026-10-06T20:27:13+00:00" --- Most Constellation problems come from a handful of causes: how and when a membership was created, caching, your site’s timezone, and emails that aren’t turned on. Find your symptom below, or search this page for the message you see. ## When you’d use this - A customer paid but isn’t a member, or a member can’t see their content. - Members-only content shows to visitors. - Membership emails aren’t arriving, or arrive on the wrong day. - You see a Constellation notice in your admin and want to know what it means. ## Before you start Run through these first. They solve most reports: 1. **Use a city timezone.** Under **Settings » General**, set **Timezone** to a city (such as New York) rather than a UTC offset, so drips, end dates and emails follow daylight saving time. 2. **Check caching.** Page caching serves one copy of a page to everyone, which can show members-only content to visitors or lock members out. 3. **Check emails are on.** Membership emails are off by default under **WooCommerce » Settings » Emails**. 4. **Check the membership itself.** Open the customer under **Constellation » Members** and look at the status, start date and end date. ## Joining and access ### A customer bought the membership but isn’t a member - The order must be **Processing** or **Completed**. Orders that are pending payment or on hold don’t create memberships yet. - The order must belong to a customer account. Constellation requires an account at checkout when a membership product is in the cart, but orders you create in the admin for a guest don’t get a membership. - The product (or the variation bought) must be linked to the plan, on the product’s **Grant Access** tab or the plan’s **Products** field. - For orders placed before you linked the product, use **Grant Access** on the plan ([Create membership plans in Constellation](/docs/creating-membership-plans-to-provide-access-perks/#give-existing-customers-access)). ### A member can’t see content their plan includes - The status must give access: **Active**, **Complimentary**, **Free Trial** or **Pending Cancellation**. **Delayed**, **Paused**, **Expired** and **Cancelled** don’t. - The rule may be dripped. Check **Accessible** on the plan’s rule, or the post’s rules in its **Constellation** panel. - They may be logged in as a different account from the one that bought the membership. - Caching may be serving them the visitor’s copy (below). ### Members-only content shows to everyone, or members are locked out Caching plugins, host caching and CDNs can serve a page cached for one visitor to everyone. Exclude members-only pages from the cache, or turn off page caching for logged-in users. If you’re not sure, deactivate the caching plugin briefly and test again; if that fixes it, set up the exclusions before turning it back on. Also check the item doesn’t have **Disable restrictions** turned on in its **Constellation** panel, which keeps it public whatever the plans say. ### Dripped content opens on the wrong day Delays count from the member’s start date, in your site’s timezone. Set a city under **Settings » General » Timezone**. For memberships created by import, check the imported start dates and **Dates Timezone**. ### Non-members can’t buy the membership product A product restriction covers it, such as a rule on all products or on its category. Open the product’s **Constellation** box and turn on **Disable restrictions**. Constellation warns you about this when you save a plan: "It looks like that you have restricted one or more products that could grant access to this plan: this could make it impossible for shop customers to become members via purchase." ### A member’s discount doesn’t apply The member must be logged in, with a membership that gives access, and the discount rule must be **Active**. The product may be set to **Disable discounts**, or on sale while **Exclude products on sale from member discounts** is on. ## Admin screens ### The setup wizard or the Constellation panel won’t save Constellation’s setup wizard, and the **Constellation** panel and box in the post and product editors talk to your site through the WordPress REST API at `/wp-json/` on your domain’s root. They can’t load or save when: - **Settings » Permalinks** is set to **Plain**. Choose any other structure. - WordPress runs in a subfolder, such as `example.com/shop/`. For now, use plan rules on **Constellation » Plans** instead of the editor panel; the plan screens work either way. A security plugin or firewall that blocks the REST API for logged-in admins has the same effect. ### "Constellation is not compatible with WooCommerce Memberships. Please deactivate WooCommerce Memberships to use Constellation." Constellation doesn’t run while WooCommerce Memberships is active. Deactivate WooCommerce Memberships; if you’re moving from it, follow [Move from WooCommerce Memberships](/docs/importing-or-managing-members-in-bulk/#move-from-woocommerce-memberships). ### "WooCommerce Memberships data was detected in your installation" Constellation found WooCommerce Memberships 1.x data and offers to migrate it. Back up your site, then click **Migrate to Constellation**. If the migration was interrupted, click **Resume migration**. ### "This plan cannot be moved to trash because it has active members" Cancel, move or delete the plan’s active memberships under **Constellation » Members** first. ### "WooCommerce Subscriptions is loading the Recurring Billing functionality" WooCommerce Subscriptions is active and runs recurring billing. Its settings are under **WooCommerce » Settings » Subscriptions**. ## Emails ### Membership emails aren’t sent Turn the email on under **WooCommerce » Settings » Emails** (only **Membership note** is on by default), and check the plan’s **Email Content** tab has text for it. If the store sends no WooCommerce emails at all, it’s an email delivery problem; an SMTP plugin usually solves it. ### Ending soon emails aren’t sent to recurring billing members They’re skipped for memberships tied to recurring billing, which renew on their own. Use **Enable Reminders** under the **Recurring billing** settings for renewal reminders. ### The renewal link says "Your renewal token has expired" Renewal links work for 30 days after the email. The member logs in and renews from **My Account » Memberships**. ## Recurring billing ### A membership was paused after a payment The renewal payment failed or is waiting, so the recurring billing went on hold ("Membership paused because subscription was put on-hold."). It becomes **Active** when the payment is made. ### Payment methods are missing at checkout For a recurring billing product, checkout only shows payment methods that support recurring payments. Enable a gateway that does. ## Privacy ### Erasure requests keep memberships The **Remove memberships on request** setting doesn’t take effect, so the erasure report lists each membership as retained. Delete the customer’s memberships by hand under **Constellation » Members** after processing the request. ### Inactive account cleanup and active members WooCommerce can delete inactive customer accounts under **WooCommerce » Settings » Accounts & Privacy » Personal data retention** (**Retain inactive accounts**). That cleanup doesn’t skip accounts with an active membership, so leave it off if members may go a long time without logging in. ## Get help If you’re still stuck, [contact us](https://kestrelwp.com/contact/) with a description of the problem and your system status report from **WooCommerce » Status**. ## Keep learning - [Get started with Constellation](/docs/get-started-with-constellation/) - [Constellation settings](/docs/constellation-settings/) - [Sell memberships with Constellation](/docs/selling-woocommerce-memberships-with-constellation/) - [Constellation membership emails](/docs/constellation-email-settings/)