Renable has to download your images to process them. An image it doesn't process is downloaded the first time a template
or prompt shows it. Find the message you see below. Errors for a whole catalog appear in the Events list on the
catalog's Activity tab and on your dashboard. A warning about one image appears on that image.
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|
| Your image host is blocking Renable's downloads | Bot protection on your website or CDN is refusing a catalog's image downloads. | Have your User-Agent allowed. |
| "The image host blocked the download as automated traffic" | The same block, on one image. | The same. |
| "The image host refused the download" | The host said no with no sign of bot protection. It can be a hot-link rule or an expired image link as well as a blocked download. | Check whether the image opens in your browser. If it does, have your User-Agent allowed. |
| Your image host isn't answering Renable's downloads | The host stopped answering, so Renable paused its downloads from it. | Nothing in Renable. Check with your host if it lasts. |
| "The image host is having trouble answering our downloads right now" | The same, on one image. | Nothing. Renable tries again automatically. |
| "The image host asked us to slow down" | The host limited how fast Renable downloads. | Nothing. These images download again automatically. |
| Your image links aren't working | Most of the image links Renable tried failed, so it paused the catalog's image downloads. | Fix the links, then import again. |
| Some of your image links aren't working | Part of the catalog's links fail, but not enough to pause it. | Usually nothing. Check the links if it stays. |
| "Received HTTP 404 Not Found error…" | The address leads nowhere, so the image is gone or the link is wrong. Another number means the host answered with a different error. | Check the image link in your product feed. If it's right, ask whoever manages your website or CDN to look into it. |
| "Unfortunately we couldn't fetch this image due to a network error" | No server answered at that address. | Check that the image link is right and that the file can be reached from the internet. |
| "The image address returned a web page, not an image" | Most often the image link no longer exists and the shop shows a page instead. | Check the image link in your product feed. |
| "We can't download this image from its address" | The link isn't an http or https web address, or it points at a private network address. | Check the image link in your product feed. |
| "Unfortunately this image was corrupt or we don't support images in …" | The file is damaged, or in a format Renable can't use. | Replace the file, or point your feed at another one. |
| "This image is larger than 100 MB…" | The file is too large to download. | Make the file smaller. |
| "This image has more than 80 million pixels…" | The image is too large to process. | Make the file smaller. |
| "The image download stalled" | The server sent the image too slowly or stopped partway. | Usually nothing. |
| "The image host didn't answer in time" | No answer arrived in time. | Usually nothing. |
What a failed download affects#
A failed download doesn't change what Image link and Additional image link carry in a channel's fields: those are
your image addresses as your product feed lists them. But the image can't be processed, and a template or prompt showing
it has nothing to show until a retry succeeds.
Once a retry succeeds, the image fills in on its own. A template's design is corrected on the channel's next run, and a
prompt that skipped the product generates for it.
Try one image again#
Renable retries failed images on its own, but an image that has failed many times is only tried again every few weeks.
After a fix, click the ... menu on an affected image and choose Refetch image now to check it at once. An image
shown straight from your product feed, one that isn't processed, has no menu and is retried automatically.
Your image host is blocking Renable's downloads#
The server or CDN that hosts your images is treating Renable's downloads as unwanted automated traffic. The error says which
host is refusing them, and since when.
- On the catalog's Settings tab, expand Advanced settings and check the User-Agent. The error quotes it. If
the catalog has none, set one first.
- Ask whoever manages your website or CDN to allow requests that send that User-Agent. Allowing an IP address won't work,
because Renable's downloads don't come from fixed addresses.
My website or CDN is blocking Renable has the recommended value, where the
rule lives in Cloudflare, AWS, Akamai, Fastly and the others, and what to send your IT department.
While the error is open, Renable tries a few of the refused images every hour. Once one goes through, Renable downloads
all of them again and the error clears on its own, usually within three hours of your fix.
Your image host isn't answering Renable's downloads#
The host stopped answering, so Renable stopped sending it requests for a while. Your website may still be up for your
visitors. The warning names the host and says since when, for example "cdn.example.com has not answered our image
downloads since 4 October 2026, 10:00 UTC. 1,240 images of this catalog are waiting; we keep trying."
While the warning is open:
- Images Renable has already downloaded are still used in your ads.
- A prompt that needs a processed image from that host skips the product for now. See
Why a prompt skips some products.
- Other images from that host wait, and they don't count as failed.
There's nothing to change in Renable. It tries a few of the waiting images every hour, and once the host answers it
downloads the rest and the warning clears on its own. If the warning stays for long, check with whoever runs your website
or CDN that your images can be downloaded.
Your image links aren't working#
When a catalog imports, Renable downloads a sample of its images first. If at least 8 in 10 of the sampled links fail,
Renable pauses the rest of the catalog's image downloads and shows this error, followed by the catalog's name. It appears
in the catalog's Events, on your dashboard and above the catalog's tabs, with the most common cause and up to two
failing links as examples.
Usually a rule has built the address wrong: a missing https:// or site name, the wrong column, or a product ID where a
file name should be. Open one of the example links in your browser to see what's wrong.
- Check where Image link and Additional image link get their values: the feed column they're mapped to, and any
Rules that set them. If the addresses are wrong in your product feed itself, fix them there.
- Publish the catalog if you changed it, which starts an import by itself. Otherwise use Import now. The import checks
a new sample, and if the links work, the rest of the images download on their own and the error clears.
If the links were fine and the host was only having a bad moment, use Retry image downloads on the catalog page, or ask
Aimée on the catalog page to retry them. Renable tries the failed links again as a new sample. Unless at least 8 in 10 of
them still fail, the rest download on their own. The button is unavailable while a sample is being checked, which also
happens for a while after an import.
Some of your image links aren't working#
At least one in five of the catalog's image links that Renable tried have failed, but not enough to pause the catalog. The
images that downloaded are in use, Renable keeps retrying the rest, and you don't have to do anything.
The warning clears on its own once fewer than 5% of the links fail, within about an hour of the retried images
downloading. If it stays, the cause it names tells you where to look. A link that leads nowhere usually means the address
in your product feed, or a rule that builds Image link or Additional image link, needs fixing.
Images larger than 100 MB#
Renable doesn't download an image file larger than 100 MB, and the product's other images are unaffected. If Renable
already has a copy and the file at that address later grows past the limit, it keeps using the copy and shows no warning.
To fix it, export the file at a lower resolution or with more compression, then replace it at the same address or point
your feed at the smaller file. Renable stores product images at up to 1920 × 1080 pixels anyway, so a smaller file loses
nothing. Once the smaller file is in place, use Refetch image now to pick it up right away. An image with more than
80 million pixels is fixed the same way.
Image downloads that stall#
Renable retries, so a one-off stall or timeout clears on its own. If the warning keeps coming back, the server hosting your
images is too slow or unreliable for automated downloads. Ask whoever manages your website or CDN to look into it, then use
Refetch image now to confirm the fix.