# Absence words

Source: https://docs.tightly.io/help/platform/absence-words
Reviewed: 2026-09-07

## What it is

An absence word names which kind of nothing a figure is: two or three words for a fact nobody has. Tightly never prints a bare zero for an unknown, because a zero is a decision somebody made or a count somebody took. Where the absence stands decides how it shows. In a table cell it is one muted dash, the same mark in every cell on every page, and the word stays behind it. Everywhere else, in a head's figure, a state, a chip or a sentence, the word prints. The words most of the platform uses are Not measured, Not on file, No date, Nothing yet, Not declared and Not computed.

## How Tightly decides it

The word is chosen by why the figure is missing, not by where it sits. Nobody measured it is Not measured. No record holds it is Not on file. The date is not known is No date. Nothing has arrived so far is Nothing yet. A number nobody declared is Not declared, and arithmetic over a number nobody declared is Not computed, never a zero: a ceiling nobody declared is never breached.

In a table, a generic absence (Not measured, Not on file, No date, Nothing yet, Not counted, Not scored and the others like them) is the dash alone, and a screen reader reads it as its word. An absence whose reason is specific, such as Not stamped on an order, is the same dash, and pointing at it shows the word. The sentence that explains a column of dashes is said once, beside the table or in the page's head, never per row. A table with no rows says one sentence in their place, and where the page names an article, one door to Ask Tightly beside it. No absence carries a state colour: an unknown is not a promise at risk.

## The words on the face

| Word | What it says | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| Not measured | Nobody measured it | An engine's state; behind the dash in a cell |
| Not on file | No record holds it | Behind the dash in a cash, category or date cell |
| No date | The date is not known | Behind the dash in a date cell, such as Home's Since |
| Nothing yet | Nothing has arrived so far | An engine that has had no input; behind the dash in a cell |
| Not declared, Not computed | A number nobody set; arithmetic over one | The open to buy ladder and the ledger |
| Nobody has said | Nobody recorded whether a booking can walk, or which side a channel sells on | Tightly Connect's book; Settings, Channels |
| Not counted | The count could not be taken | A close, a bundle's stock |
| Not booked, Not on order | Nothing is booked; nothing is on order | The reorder reading |
| Not scored | The week or the term was not scored | A close, hindsight |
| Not stamped | An order no commitment claimed | An order's commitment cell |
| Not on your plan, Paused, Not on the run | An engine skipped its run, and why | An engine's state; Integrations |
| Not connected, Waiting for first sync | A source has not synced yet | Integrations |

The engine words are one vocabulary for a sync and for an engine: Failed, Paused and Not on your plan read the same on [Integrations](../settings/integrations) and in an engine's state, and the rest of an engine's states are in [Engine states](../engines/engine-states). Tightly Connect has words of its own for whether an account reports, Reporting, Gone quiet and Never reported, and Sell-in only on a grade. An answer from Ask Tightly whose date cannot be read has its own word, in [Stamps](../ask/stamps).

## What you can do about it

An absence word is an invitation, not an error. Not on file clears when the record is typed: a cost on the variant, a lead time on the supplier. Nothing yet clears as the input arrives: a sync, an account's report, a first sale. Not measured clears when the measuring run has what it needs, and the engine's own sentence says what that is. Not declared clears when somebody declares the number, and the figures that stood on it are computed from then on. Nobody has said clears when somebody records the answer. Not on your plan and Not on the run ask nothing of you. To read the word behind a dash, point at it or read the sentence beside the table.

## Glossary line

Absence words: Not measured, Not on file, No date, Nothing yet, Not declared and the rest of the lexicon; the word for a fact nobody has, drawn as a muted dash in a table cell and printed as a word everywhere else, never a zero.