Reporting Bugs

[SBowie]

It should be noted that these discussion forums do not take the place of official bug reporting channels. It's fine to discuss issues here, but doing so does not guarantee the dev team will see them. That's what Fogbugz is for. (When you submit a bug report to Fogbugz, you receive a case number, which allows you to track progress of your report. It makes it a lot easier to follow up a bug report if you have this reference.)

To report a bug, you can click the link below, and create a new support ticket. (Note, this form replaces the previous Fogbugz reporting system, which has been 'retired'):

Customer Support Contact Form​

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Good bug reports are highly valued, and can reduce frustration, save time, and result in welcome improvements. Here are some suggestions for effective bug reporting:

GREAT FEEDBACK
Broadly speaking, we can say that (unlike a lot of other things in life) software is not ‘arbitrary’. Given a specific order of events and identical environment, it does the same thing every time. Generally, a good report makes it possible for us to reproduce what you have seen – and in turn, resolve it.

RETRACE YOUR STEPS
When an error does occur, stop what you are doing right away (if you possibly can) rather than continuing operations. Initially, don’t even attempt to fix the problem or reproduce it. Instead, take a thorough look at the screen, noting anything unexpected. Then try to recall and jot down the exact steps that produced the error (or unexpected result). After that, close and re-launch and try to provoke the problem again by repeating the steps you noted while it is still fresh in your mind. If you realize you’ve missed a step, or could describe it in more detail, add that to your notes.

BEST REPORTING PRACTICES
As you list your steps for a report, remember that there are often multiple ways to perform an action. For example - you might do something using a keystroke instead of a button on the screen. When you specify exactly which method you used, we can look in the right place for the problem and its solution.

Misunderstandings occur easily, so please be painstakingly specific. For example, if you refer to “the button", we may be wondering which button? Or if you make reference to "the monitor", it may not be clear whether you mean an onscreen video preview monitor, the computer (UI) monitor, or a tv monitor connected to an output device.

Often it helps if you not only report ‘an error’, but also precisely what you expected to happen instead. (It happens occasionally that we have a different notion of what is supposed to occur.) We’d rather have too much information than too little. It helps as well to provide details of files involved in the issue (or even sample files), along with your system details. (OS and version, CPU, RAM, etc.)

Before submitting a report, read it over a few times. Double-check for accuracy, completeness, and clarity. If you can methodically follow the steps you listed to the letter (without any additional detail or assumptions) and reproduce the same error result, it’s likely a great report.