TL;DR: Dashboard → Cookie Manager → Scan Now. Consently automatically detects cookies on your website and schedules weekly scans to keep your cookie list current.
Overview
Cookie scanning automatically discovers and catalogs cookies active on your website. Consently scans your site to identify which cookies are present, then organizes them by category so you can manage consent properly.
Before You Begin
Make sure you have:
Published your consent banner with the script installed
Time required: Initial scan takes 2-5 minutes, depending on site size
How to Run a Manual Scan
Step 1: Open Cookie Manager
Click Cookie Manager in the top navigation bar.
Step 2: Trigger a scan
Click the Scan Now button in the “Last Successful scan” card.
💡 Tip: The timestamp shows when your last scan completed. “No Scan Data Found” appears for new sites that haven’t been scanned yet.
Done!
Your scan starts immediately and typically completes within 2-5 minutes.
✅ Success indicator: The “Last Successful scan” timestamp updates when the scan finishes.
How to Schedule Automatic Scans
Step 1: Access scan settings
Click the Scan Schedule button in the “Next Scheduled Scan” card.
Step 2: Choose scan frequency
Select your preferred schedule:
Once — Single scan execution
Daily — Runs every day at midnight
Weekly — Runs every Monday (default)
Monthly — Runs on the first day of each month
Step 3: Save your schedule
Click Save to activate the schedule.
Done!
Your next scheduled scan appears in the “Next Scheduled Scan” card.
What Gets Scanned
Consently’s scanner:
Crawls up to 50 pages on your website
Detects first-party and third-party cookies
Identifies cookie names, domains, and vendors
Categorizes cookies automatically when possible
Records expiration times
Scan Limitations
The scanner cannot:
Detect cookies that load only after specific user interactions
Access cookies behind login walls or paywalls
Scan cookies from dynamically loaded content that requires scrolling
Identify cookies from third-party embeds that haven’t loaded yet
⚠️ Important: Always manually verify your cookie list after scanning. Some cookies may require manual addition through Managing Cookies.
What’s Next
After your scan completes:
Check your scan history to track changes over time
Troubleshooting
The scan is taking longer than 10 minutes
Why this happens: Large websites with many pages or slow-loading scripts can delay scans.
Solution:
Wait up to 15 minutes for the scan to complete
Check if your website is responding normally by visiting it in a browser
If the scan still hasn’t completed, try the manual Scan Now button again
No cookies were found after scanning
Why this happens: The scanner couldn’t detect any cookies, or cookies load after user interactions.
Solution:
Verify cookies are actually present by checking your browser’s developer tools (F12 → Application → Cookies)
Add cookies manually if they exist but weren’t detected
Check if cookies require user interaction to load—these need manual addition
The scan shows “Not Scheduled”
Solution: Click the Scan Schedule button and select a frequency (Weekly is recommended for most sites). If you’ve just saved a schedule and it still shows “Not Scheduled,” refresh the page.