Send feedback and report bugs

Tell us about a bug, an idea or anything else, straight from DimSum: the red Report a bug and Feedback buttons on the top bar, the Help menu, or Report this on an error message. Add a screenshot and diagnostics only if you choose to, and see exactly what they hold before you send. No connection? It's saved and sent later. You can also send feedback from your account page in the browser.

Overview

Every report goes to the people who make DimSum, who read each one.

• Four kinds: Bug, Feedback, Comment and Feature request.
• You choose what goes with it. A screenshot and a diagnostics file are both opt-in (off to start), and you see what's in them before you send.
• It never gets lost. Offline or signed out, the report is saved on your computer and sent when it can be.
• We write back. A reply, or a note when it's fixed, comes to your email.

Where to find it

• The top bar: a red Report a bug button (a bug icon) and a Feedback button (a speech bubble). On a window narrower than 1500 pixels they show only their icons; hover for the name and the shortcut. They're also on the sign-in screen.
• The Help menu: Report a bug… (Ctrl+Shift+B) and Send feedback… (Ctrl+Shift+F). The shortcuts work on every screen.
• In your browser: Send feedback on your account at app.planbaseestimating.com/feedback, for when DimSum isn't at hand.

Don't want the buttons on the top bar? Untick System Settings → General → Feedback buttons (Show Report a bug and Feedback in the top bar). It's on to start, and it's remembered on this computer. The Help menu and its shortcuts work either way.

How to use it

Send a report from DimSum

1. Click Report a bug or Feedback on the top bar (or use the Help menu). The dialog is called Report a bug for a bug and Send feedback for the rest.
2. Pick the kind: Bug, Feedback, Comment or Feature request. Report a bug starts on Bug; Feedback starts on Feedback.
3. Give it a Title (a few words) and say what happened, or what you'd like. For a bug the box is called What happened; for the others, Description.
4. For a Bug, two more boxes help us find it: What you expected and Steps to reproduce. Both are optional.
5. Tick what to include, if anything:

• Attach a screenshot of this window: the dialog steps out of the way for a moment and DimSum takes a picture of its own window (only DimSum's window, not your whole screen). The picture shows in the dialog, with its size. Remove screenshot (or untick the box) drops it.
• Attach diagnostics (app version, system, recent logs): a small .zip of technical details (see What's sent). The dialog lists each file in it, with a few words on what it holds and its size, and the size of the whole .zip.
• Include the open job file: shows only when diagnostics are ticked and a job is open, with the job's file name. It adds a copy of the job to the .zip, so we can see the problem in it.

6. Under the boxes, DimSum shows who it's sent as (Sent as your name and email). Signed out, it says instead You're signed out. It will be saved on this computer and sent once you sign in., with Open the feedback page in your browser. If reports are already waiting to be sent, it says how many.
7. Click Send. DimSum tells you what happened:

Situation	DimSum says
Online and signed in	Sent. Thanks — reference fb_… (keep the reference if you write to us about it)
Offline	Saved. It will be sent when you're back online.
Signed out	Saved. It will be sent once you're signed in., with Open the feedback page in your browser
You've already sent 20 today	That's 20 today, the most in a day. Try again tomorrow, or write to hello@planbaseestimating.com. It stays saved and goes later

Send stays greyed out until there's a title and a description, and while the diagnostics are over the size limit.

Report an error

When an error shows on the status strip, click Report this next to it. Report a bug opens with the title (Error: …), the error's words and where it happened already filled in, and For it to work without an error. under What you expected. Add what you were doing and click Send.

Send a report from your browser

Sign in at app.planbaseestimating.com/feedback (Send feedback on your account page) and fill in the same form: the kind, a Title, a Description, and for a bug What you expected and Steps to make it happen. You can attach a Screenshot of your own: a PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF image, 10 MB at most. Click Send and you get the reference (fb_…). The browser page needs a connection; it can't attach diagnostics or a job file.

It says	Means
Received	It's arrived
Looked at	We've read it and sorted it
Planned	We mean to do it
Being worked on	Someone is on it
Done in	Fixed or added in that version
Merged with an earlier report	Someone reported the same thing first; yours counts as a vote for theirs
Closed	Not something we'll do

What's sent

Always, with every report:

• what you typed: the kind, title, description, and for a bug what you expected and the steps;
• who sent it: your name and email from your Planbase account, your Workspace and this computer's ID;
• the DimSum version, your system (for example Windows 10.0.26100 x64) and your update channel (Stable or Beta).

Only if you tick it:

• The screenshot: a picture of DimSum's window, taken when you ticked the box. A very large screen is scaled down to fit the 10 MB limit.
• The diagnostics .zip, which holds:
• about.json: the DimSum version, your system, the versions of the parts DimSum runs on, the update channel and whether DimSum is signed in, signed out or read-only;
• logs/: the last 200 lines of each of DimSum's own log files (updates, license, feedback and so on). Sign-in codes and the computer's sign-in token are hidden in them;
• job/: only with Include the open job file, a copy of the open job (its .dsum file, and the file next to it that holds its latest changes). DimSum only reads it; your job isn't changed.

Never: other jobs, other files on your computer, or anything you didn't tick.

Limits: a title up to 200 characters, a description up to 10,000, What you expected and Steps to reproduce up to 4,000 each. A screenshot or the diagnostics .zip can be up to 10 MB. A big job may not fit; DimSum says so before you send and you can untick it:

• The job file is … MB, too big to send with the diagnostics (10 MB at most). Untick it, or send it another way.
• The diagnostics come to … MB, over the 10 MB limit. Untick "Include the open job file".

What happens next

1. It arrives and is read. A bug reaches us at once; feedback, comments and feature requests come in a daily round-up.
2. It's sorted: looked at, planned, being worked on, done, or (sometimes) not something we'll do. If someone already reported the same thing, yours is joined to theirs and counts as a vote for it.
3. A reply comes by email when we have a question or an answer, titled Re: {your title}. Reply to that email to write back, or send more from DimSum or your account page.
4. When it's fixed or added, we email you the version that has it: Fixed in {version}: {your title} for a bug, In {version}: {your title} for anything else. Everyone who reported the same thing gets it too. DimSum updates itself, so restart it when it says an update is ready (or download it from your account page).

Rules, limits & edge cases

• Works in every state. You can send feedback while DimSum is read-only or signed out. Signed out, the report waits on your computer until you're signed in again.
• Offline, it waits. It tries a few seconds after DimSum starts, every 15 minutes, each time you open the dialog, and right after another report goes through.
• Up to 20 can wait. With 20 already waiting, a new one isn't saved: DimSum says so (20 reports are already waiting to be sent, so this one wasn't saved…) and suggests the feedback page in your browser.
• 20 a day. One person can send up to 20 reports in 24 hours, from DimSum and the browser together. Past that, DimSum keeps the report and sends it later; the browser page asks you to try again tomorrow.
• Sent once. If a report is retried after it already arrived, it isn't counted twice.
• The screenshot shows only DimSum's window. If something else on your screen matters, describe it, or attach your own picture from the browser page.
• The job copy may miss your last few seconds of work. DimSum saves every change as you make it, and the copy is taken from the job file on your disk while the job is still open. So it may lack the last few seconds of edits before you sent it.

Related features

• Account & License
• Updates
• System Settings