A picture of the error is worth more than a paragraph describing it, and a short recording is worth more still when the problem only shows up now and then. The shortcuts differ on each device; the table gives the essentials, and after it comes what to do so the image is useful and not merely pretty.
The shortcuts, by device
| Device |
Screenshot |
Screen recording |
| Windows 10 and 11 |
Windows + Shift + S lets you pick an area and copies it, ready to paste into the ticket. Windows + PrtScn saves the whole screen as a file in the pictures folder. |
Windows + G opens the game bar, with a record button; Windows + Alt + R starts and stops. It records the window in front, not the whole desktop. |
| Mac |
Cmd + Shift + 3 the whole screen; Cmd + Shift + 4 an area; Cmd + Shift + 5 opens the bar with every option. The file goes to the desktop by default. |
Cmd + Shift + 5, then choose to record the whole screen or a part. Stop from the icon in the menu bar. |
| Android |
Usually power button + volume down together. It varies little between makes. |
The quick settings panel (swipe down from the top) usually has “Screen record” or “Screen recorder”. |
| iPhone and iPad |
With Face ID: side button + volume up. With a home button: home button + side button. |
Add “Screen Recording” to the control centre (Settings, Control Centre), swipe in and tap the record button. |
| Linux (desktop) |
Usually the PrtSc key, or your desktop’s screenshot app. |
Depends on the desktop: look for “screen recording” in the apps. |
Making the picture useful
| 1 |
Include the address bar. Showing the whole page, with the address on top, tells us which page it was, whether it was http or https and whether there was a padlock.
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| 2 |
Include the whole message. A capture cut off halfway through the error makes us ask for the rest. If the message is long, take two.
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| 3 |
Include the time, if you can. The computer clock in the corner of the screen will do: it lets us match what you saw with the server logs.
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| 4 |
Hide what is only yours. Before attaching, cover passwords, card numbers and other people’s data. Nearly every image viewer can draw an opaque rectangle over them.
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| 5 |
For text, copy the text. The output of a command (a traceroute, say) is worth more pasted as text, which can be searched, than as a photo of the screen. See reading a traceroute and a ping.
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When to record instead of capture
A recording pays off when the error appears only after a sequence of clicks (a payment, a form, a sign-in) or every now and then. Keep it short, start before the first click, do the steps slowly and stop as soon as the error appears. Say in the ticket at which minute it shows. If the ticket will not take the file, keep it on a file service of your own, set the link so that anyone holding it can view it, and paste the link into the ticket.
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A photo of the screen taken with a phone is the last resort. It comes out blurred, with glare and with characters you cannot read. If there is no other way, move close, turn the flash off and check the text is legible before sending.
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You do not have to know what it means. The picture is for us to read. Just say what you expected to see and what appeared; the analysis is on us.
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