Methods for screen capturing SOLIDWORKS errors for Support

It’s great that people are taking advantage of Javelin’s support service to make their SOLIDWORKS experience a more pleasant one. Providing a good explanation of the problem with accompanying documentation helps to expedite the process. Once in a while, however well-intentioned, we come across a screen capture that is taken hastily with a camera phone as seen in the image below.

Hurried Problem Capture

The photo may have looked fine over a one glance review, but the distortions from the monitor along with a misplaced focus can make the messages difficult to recognize, causing unnecessary emails or calls back and forth trying to figure out what was in the picture. In this article, we will go over methods for screen capturing errors for support effectively every time and in a timely manner, sometimes faster than if you took a picture with your phone.

Creating an Rx Report

Ideally, If a client has an issue that is easily repeatable, the first thought would be to create a SOLIDWORKS Rx report. This feature comes standard with all SOLIDWORKS installations. An Rx report provides background information and the option to capture the error in addition to the steps leading up to it through a video recording. A guide on how to do this can be found here: How to use SOLIDWORKS Rx to diagnose your system and capture problems.

Methods for Screen Capture

If the problem happens intermittently, a good way to capture the error is by capturing an image of the problem. There are several ways to do this and we will go over them in detail. Using the following methods in tandem with publishing software such as Adobe Indesign or Microsoft Word to provide a description can also be helpful.

Using the Snipping Tool

The Windows 10 Snipping Tool is a great way to capture images. It is native to Windows so most users will have access to it. Snipping Tool allows users to select the desired area to be copied. The user can then edit the images using editing tools in the image editor.

Snipping Tool in Windows

Using the PrtScn Button

Pressing the PrtScn button on the keyboard is another great way of capturing the contents of the screen, When opening a program such as Microsoft Paint or Adobe Photoshop, You can simply press Ctrl + V to paste the image into the editing software.

Pressing Windows + PrtScn automatically saves an image file in the folder C:\Users\<your name>\Pictures\Screenshots. If you do not have time to edit the photo or open a program, simply drag and drop the screenshot into an email.

These are only a few of the methods for screen capturing errors for support. We are sure there are many others, and if you have one, please feel free to mention it to the support staff, it would be great to discover more ways to get a good screencap!