Screenshots ClipboardBug report screenshots: a checklist developers can act on
A developer fixes the bugs they can see happen. Give them one bug per report, numbered steps with a screenshot of each, what you expected next to what you got, and your browser and the page address.
By Manish Kalyan, who makes Screenshots Clipboard. .
What should a bug report include?
Six things, in this order. Each one saves a question coming back to you.
- A title that says what broke and where: “Checkout: Pay does nothing after a coupon”, or “Bill payment: the UPI QR code doesn’t load”.
- Steps to make it happen again, numbered, one action each.
- What you expected, and what happened instead.
- A screenshot of each step, in order, with the problem marked.
- Where: the page address, your browser and its version, and your computer’s system.
- How often: every time, or 1 try in 5.
How do I take screenshots a developer can use?
Show the whole screen once, then crop the rest to the part that matters. Mark the one thing that’s wrong, and keep the shots in the order it happened.
- Keep the address bar in a shot, or write the address down: the same page can behave differently elsewhere.
- Mark one thing per shot with an arrow or a number. Ten arrows point at nothing.
- Copy error messages as text too, so they can be searched.
- Hide personal data before you share: emails, phone numbers, card numbers, tokens. Crop it out or cover it.
- Capture the screen before the click as well as after it, not just the error.
- Use the same window size for every shot, so the steps line up.
How do I find my browser version?
In Chrome, type chrome://version in the address bar; in Edge, edge://version. Copy the first line into the report.
When is a screenshot not enough?
When the bug is about timing or movement, like a flicker or a spinner that never stops, a short screen recording shows it better. Screenshots still help next to it, for the error text and the steps.
Where Screenshots Clipboard helps
Screenshots Clipboard is a Chrome extension for this job. Each shot keeps the page’s title and address and the time you took it; mark the problem in Edit, pick the steps and paste them into the ticket at once, in order. With Plus, the Bug report template fills in the site, page, time and browser and saves it as a PDF. It’s free to start. Plus is $2.99 a month or $19 a year.
Questions
How many screenshots should a bug report have?
One per step, plus one of the error or the wrong result. If you need far more, the report may hold two bugs.
Should I paste screenshots into the ticket or attach them?
Paste them into the description, in order, with a line under each, so they read like the steps. Attach the full-size files too when the ticket tool shrinks pictures.
Can Screenshots Clipboard record a video of the bug?
No. It takes screenshots only, so pair it with a screen recorder for bugs about timing.
Over to you
What’s the one thing most often missing from the bug reports you get?
Write to us, and a person replies. Write to us