diff --git a/R/index.R b/R/index.R
index 107da8c..536b770 100644
--- a/R/index.R
+++ b/R/index.R
@@ -78,19 +78,24 @@ modify_index <- function(index, name = index, description = NULL, guest_role = N
 #' Upload documents
 #'
 #' @param index The index name to create.
-#' @param documents A data frame with columns title, text, date, and optional
-#'   other columns.
-#' @param columns An optional list with data types, e.g. list(author = "keyword").
-#' @param chunk_size Uploads are broken into chunks to prevent errors. Smaller
-#'   chunks are less error-prone, but this also makes the upload slower.
+#' @param documents A data frame with columns title, text, date, and
+#'   optional other columns.
+#' @param columns An optional list with data types, e.g. list(author =
+#'   "keyword").
+#' @param chunk_size Uploads are broken into chunks to prevent errors.
+#'   Smaller chunks are less error-prone, but this also makes the
+#'   upload slower.
+#' @param max_tries In case something goes wrong, how often should the
+#'   function retry to send the documents?
 #' @param verbose Should a progress bar be printed during upload.
-#' @param credentials The credentials to use. If not given, uses last login
-#'   information.
+#' @param credentials The credentials to use. If not given, uses last
+#'   login information.
 #' @export
 upload_documents <- function(index,
                              documents,
                              columns = NULL,
                              chunk_size = 100L,
+                             max_tries = 5L,
                              verbose = TRUE,
                              credentials = NULL) {
   req_fields <- c("title", "date", "text") # hard coded, might change later
@@ -103,14 +108,15 @@ upload_documents <- function(index,
   # chunk uploads
   rows <- seq_len(nrow(documents))
   chunks <- split(rows, ceiling(seq_along(rows) / chunk_size))
-  if (verbose & length(chunks) > 1L) pb <- progress::progress_bar$new(total = length(chunks))
+  if (verbose & length(chunks) > 1L) cli::cli_progress_bar("Uploading", total = length(chunks))
   for (r in chunks) {
-    if (verbose & length(chunks) > 1L) pb$tick()
+    if (verbose & length(chunks) > 1L) cli::cli_progress_update()
     body <- list(documents = documents[r, ])
     if (!is.null(columns)) body$columns <- lapply(columns, jsonlite::unbox)
-    request(credentials, c("index", index, "documents"), "POST", body, auto_unbox = FALSE) |>
+    request(credentials, c("index", index, "documents"), "POST", body, max_tries = max_tries, auto_unbox = FALSE) |>
       invisible()
   }
+  if (verbose & length(chunks) > 1L) cli::cli_progress_done()
 }
 
 
diff --git a/R/query.R b/R/query.R
index 5419c9e..2906b5a 100644
--- a/R/query.R
+++ b/R/query.R
@@ -99,11 +99,11 @@ query_documents <- function(index,
       max_pages_old <- max_pages
       max_pages <- 10000 %/% per_page
       cli::cli_alert_warning(
-        c("You requested more than 10 000 results {per_page} * {max_pages} ",
+        c("You requested more than 10 000 results {per_page} * {max_pages_old} ",
           "(per_page * max_pages) = {per_page * max_pages}, which will not ",
           "work. If you want more than 10 000 documents, you need to use the ",
-          "scroll API, e.g., by setting scroll=\"5m\". For now, you will ",
-          "only ge the first {max_pages} pages.")
+          "{.emph scroll API}, e.g., by setting {.code scroll=\"5m\"}. For now, ",
+          "you will only ge the first {max_pages} pages.")
       )
     }
   }
@@ -140,8 +140,13 @@ query_documents <- function(index,
     # requesting a specific page. scroll takes precedence in the API, hence
     # when scroll != NULL, page is ignored
     if (is.null(scroll)) {
+      r <<- r
       body$page <- body$page + 1
-      if (body$page >= r$meta$page_count) break
+      # for when user sets page = NULL
+      if (length(body$page) == 0) {
+        body$page <- 1L
+      }
+      if (isTRUE(body$page >= r$meta$page_count)) break
     } else {
       body$scroll_id <- r$meta$scroll_id
     }
diff --git a/man/upload_documents.Rd b/man/upload_documents.Rd
index 9880927..cce08b5 100644
--- a/man/upload_documents.Rd
+++ b/man/upload_documents.Rd
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ upload_documents(
   documents,
   columns = NULL,
   chunk_size = 100L,
+  max_tries = 5L,
   verbose = TRUE,
   credentials = NULL
 )
@@ -16,18 +17,23 @@ upload_documents(
 \arguments{
 \item{index}{The index name to create.}
 
-\item{documents}{A data frame with columns title, text, date, and optional
-other columns.}
+\item{documents}{A data frame with columns title, text, date, and
+optional other columns.}
 
-\item{columns}{An optional list with data types, e.g. list(author = "keyword").}
+\item{columns}{An optional list with data types, e.g. list(author =
+"keyword").}
 
-\item{chunk_size}{Uploads are broken into chunks to prevent errors. Smaller
-chunks are less error-prone, but this also makes the upload slower.}
+\item{chunk_size}{Uploads are broken into chunks to prevent errors.
+Smaller chunks are less error-prone, but this also makes the
+upload slower.}
+
+\item{max_tries}{In case something goes wrong, how often should the
+function retry to send the documents?}
 
 \item{verbose}{Should a progress bar be printed during upload.}
 
-\item{credentials}{The credentials to use. If not given, uses last login
-information.}
+\item{credentials}{The credentials to use. If not given, uses last
+login information.}
 }
 \description{
 Upload documents
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-query.R b/tests/testthat/test-query.R
index f734ab1..9984872 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-query.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-query.R
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ test_that("query", {
     query_documents("amcat4r-test", queries = NULL, per_page = 1, page = 2, max_pages = 2)
   )))
 
+  expect_length(
+    query_documents("amcat4r-test", queries = NULL, per_page = 1, max_pages = 10)$.id,
+    10L
+  )
+
   expect_equal(
     colnames(
       query_aggregate("amcat4r-test",