Good evidence shortens a ticket dramatically. Sent carelessly, it also creates a security problem that outlasts the ticket. Both matter.
Screenshots
Capture the whole window, not a crop of the error box. The address bar, the page and the error together give context that a crop removes. If the error text is small, also copy and paste it as text — text is searchable and unambiguous, an image is neither.
Before attaching, look at what else is in the frame: other browser tabs, an open mailbox, a customer record, a document. Blur or crop anything that is not relevant, particularly anything belonging to your own clients.
Screen recordings
Worth doing when the problem is a sequence rather than a single error — something that only fails on the third step, or an intermittent glitch. Keep it short and narrate what you expected. A thirty-second recording of the exact failure is worth more than a five-minute tour.
Log files
Send the file rather than pasting thousands of lines into the ticket body. If you can identify the relevant window, say what time the problem occurred so we know where to look.
Logs frequently contain internal hostnames, IP addresses, session identifiers and sometimes credentials in query strings. Skim before sending. If in doubt send it anyway and tell us your concern — it is better than withholding the thing that identifies the fault.
Browser console and network output
For website problems, the developer tools console and network tab are the most useful evidence there is. Both can be exported. The network tab in particular shows exactly which request failed and with what response, which often makes the diagnosis immediate.
Credentials — the important part
Do not put passwords in a ticket, an email or a chat message. Those systems retain messages indefinitely, they are searchable, and they are frequently forwarded.
Where we need access:
- Prefer creating a separate account for us with only the access required, which you can remove afterwards. This is the best option in almost every case.
- If a shared secret must be transmitted, use a one-time secret link service that destroys the content after a single view, and send the link and the password to open it by two different channels.
- Change any credential that has been sent in plain text, once the work is done. Treat it as exposed, because it is.
We will never ask you for your client area password, and we do not need it. If you receive a request for it, it is not from us — see the article on recognising phishing.
Personal and client data
Send the minimum needed to reproduce the problem. If a bug involves a customer record, one anonymised example is usually enough. If your industry has data handling obligations, say so in the ticket and we will work within them.
Attachment limits
The ticket system caps attachment size. If a file is too large, compress it or ask us for another route rather than splitting a log into fifteen pasted messages.
