How to Submit a Bug Report

PokerTracker 4 version 4.x
February 1, 2022
  • Overview

    In the event that you have an issue with PokerTracker 4 you are encouraged to submit a Support Ticket.

    This allows the PokerTracker 4 support team to learn about your issue, and to provide a resolution.

    To make is easier for you to review all answers for your support requests, we suggest that you log into your PokerTracker.com account prior to submitting a Support Ticket.

    If PokerTracker 4 crashes, please submit your crash report when you restart.  If this happens regularly please also open a support ticket and mention that you have sent crash reports.
    Click here for more information on crash reports

  • Before Submitting a Bug Report

    If you have a problem with PokerTracker 4 there are a few things to check:

    • Update to the latest version of PT4 to see if your issue has already been fixed.
      PT4 Download Page
    • Search the PokerTracker forums as often your problem will already have been addressed and you may find a solution there.  Use the Search function at the top right of the forum.

      PokerTracker 4 Forums Search
    • Look through the other Guides, Tutorials and Frequently Asked Questions documents on this website.
      In particular the Import Troubleshooting and HUD Troubleshooting guides will help with a good number of problems.

    If you don't find a solution post your question in the appropriate forum - ALL PokerTracker 4 issues should be posted in the PokerTracker 4 section, including HUD issues.

    If you have a specific problem, or if you have been asked to by support, you should report it using the PokerTracker Support system.

  • Submitting a Support Ticket

    When you create a support ticket please give as much detailed information about your issue as possible.

    Tip! Make sure you specify your operating system and the exact version number of PokerTracker 4 that you are using - you can see this in the title bar of PokerTracker 4.

    PokerTracker 4 Version Number

    What information and attachments you should include in the ticket depends on exactly what the problem is, but please explain clearly what the problem is and what steps you take to reproduce it (if you see it consistently) or what you were doing just before you experienced the problem.

    Include as much detail about the problem as possible, including the time, hand numbers or table names, or exactly what report you are using, etc.

    • Files to Attach

      As well as describing your issue in words, you can attach files to the ticket to illustrate the problem.
      Which files you should attach depends on your problem.

      Tip! If you have several files to attach, or any large files, please please zip/compress them before attaching them to your support ticket (details).
      There is a 10MB limit to file attachments.

      To attach files to a ticket you can drag and drop files from Windows Explorer or macOS Finder into the box below the text entry field, or click in the box and then select the files in the window that opens.

      Click here for more help attaching files

    • Managing Support Tickets

      When you have submitted your ticket you will get an email confirmation.

      From here you can link back to your ticket on the PokerTracker website, or you can reply directly via the email.

      Alternatively you can look up any of your existing tickets by signing into the PokerTracker website, going to "My Account" and then "My Support Tickets"

      My PT4 Support Tickets

      When you view your ticket in the web page you can reply in the same way that you originally created the ticket.  (This is the recommended way to update your ticket.)


      If you have an existing support ticket and want to add more information or follow up about the same issue please continue to use the same ticket.

      If you were requested to open a support ticket after posting in the forum please include a link to your forum message in your ticket.

      If you have a different problem please open a separate support ticket for that.  It is much easier to keep track of one issue per ticket.

    • Example - Hud problem

      If you have have problems with the HUD please enable logging and restart PokerTracker 4.

      Play a short session (maybe 20 or 30 hands) at a single table, or as few tables and hands as you need to show the problem.

      When the problem occurs take a screenshot to show it.  Be sure to include the full table window, or your full screen.
      BEFORE you restart PT4, create the Support Bundle.
      Attach the Support Bundle, the hand history file for the session and the screenshot to your support ticket.

      Please describe exactly what is wrong as this isn't always obvious from a screenshot.
      Tell us your player name and identify any other players that are affected by the issue.
      Also note the time that you see the problem and what table(s) it was at if you need to have multiple tables open.

      Other useful information for Hud problems is:
      - whether the problem affects a different Hud Profile or only a specific profile
      - whether or not you use a preferred seat or auto center
      - whether or not the problem affects multiple poker sites

  • PokerTracker 4 Log Files

    Be sure to enable logging before you reproduce the problem.

    Reproduce your problem in as simple a way as possible so that the log files do not contain more information than necessary.

    • Enable Logging

      To generate the log files you must enable logging.

      There are two ways you can enable logging, listed below:
      (Please note that enabling logging can affect computer performance, but the effect should be negligible)

      1. In PokerTracker 4 go to Configure > Options > Enable Logging - make sure there is a check next to the option.
        This method will work in both the Windows and macOS versions of PokerTracker 4. 
        Restart PokerTracker 4 for logging to start.

        Enable Logging In PokerTracker 4
      2. You can temporarily start PokerTracker 4 with logging enabled.
        This will not enable logging for future use - it only applies each time you start PT4 using this option.
        • Windows - using the PokerTracker 4 (Logging Enabled) option in the Windows Start Menu.
          Click or tap the Start button or press the Windows key on your keyboard and start typing 'pokertracker' to search.

          Run PT4 With Logging    
        • macOS - Hold down the Option key on your Mac keyboard when you start PokerTracker 4 to temporarily enable logging.
    • Create Support Bundle

      The easiest way to access the PokerTracker 4 log files is to create a Support Bundle, which contains all of the relevant log files.

      To create a Support Bundle after the problem occurs please use the PokerTracker 4 menu File > Create Support Bundle.

      Tip!  If you do not see the Create Support Bundle option please update to the latest version of PokerTracker 4 using the Download Page.

      This will create a zip file and open the folder you have chosen to save it to.

      You can attach the Support Bundle directly to a support ticket.
      If you have an existing ticket please attach your Support Bundle to the same ticket, along with any relevant information about what happened during this specific run of PT4.

    • Accessing Log Files Manually

      If you are unable to use the Create Support Bundle option from the menu (if PT4 is not responding, for example) then you can access the log files directly.

      • On Windows open File Explorer and enter the following in the address bar:
        %localappdata%\PokerTracker 4\Logs
      • On macOS open Finder and from the menu choose Go > Go to Folder, and enter the following:
        ~/Library/Application Support/PokerTracker 4/Logs

      Tip! The log files from your current session are in the folder called "Logs" within PokerTracker 4's 'User Data Folder'.
      PokerTracker 4 also keeps logs from the last 7 days, and those logs are stored in the "Logs\Archive" folder.
      You can access the User Data Folder using the PokerTracker 4 menu File > Open User Data Folder.

  • Hand History Files

    If your problem involves hand import errors or you are submitting a ticket for a HUD problem and have played a short session you should attach the hand history file(s) to the ticket.

    You can normally find your hand history files in the hand history folder for the site, but after you click 'Stop Getting Hands' they will be moved to the 'Processed' folder.

    To access the default Processed folder location use the PokerTracker 4 menu File > Open User Data Folder, or navigate there directly.
    The default locations are:

    • Windows: %localappdata%\PokerTracker 4\Processed
    • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/PokerTracker 4/Processed

    Tip! For more information on the 'Move Processed Files To' option and to see where the files are moved to see the Tutorial: Automated Hand History Importing.

    When you have found the relevant hand history file(s) you can attach them directly to the ticket, or if there are multiple files then zip/compress them and attach the zip to the ticket.

  • Taking A Screenshot

    A screenshot will help to explain the problem to our support staff.

    To create a screenshot:

    Windows:

    • Make sure the window you want an image of is active (click on it) then press alt-PrintScreen.
      This will copy the image to the clipboard.
      If you want an image of more than one window you can just press PrintScreen to copy an image of the whole screen.
    1. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Paint to open the MSPaint application (or run your own graphics application).
    2. To paste the image click Edit > Paste.
    3. If the relevant info is less than the whole image you can crop it to show what you need to.
    4. If you want to highlight a particular part of the image add arrows or highlighting.
    5. Save the image by clicking File > Save. Give the file a name and set the 'Save as type' to .png.
    6. Note where you save the file to so that you can find it again to attach it to your ticket.

    macOS:

    1. Make sure the window you want an image of is active (click on it) then press CMD-SHIFT-4.  A cross-hair cursor will appear, you can now click and drag to select the area you wish to capture. When you release the mouse button, the screen shot will be saved as a .PNG file on your desktop. 
    2. Note the name of the .PNG file you just saved on your desktop so that you can find it again to attach the file to your ticket.

    Please do not include your image files in Word documents or anything else - just attach the plain image file, or zipped image files.

  • PostgreSQL Log Files

    If you have a problem related to PostgreSQL, such as problems starting or connecting to the service, creating databases, etc., then you should also attach a few log files from around the appropriate time from the PostgreSQL logs folder:

    Windows: 

    The PostgreSQL logs in the Windows operating system are located at: C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\x.x\data\pg_log

    (x.x refers to the version of PostgreSQL installed on your computer)

    PostgreSQL Troubleshooting

    Mac OS X:

    The PostgreSQL logs in the OS X operating system are located at: /Library/PostgreSQL/x.x/data/pg_log/

    (x.x refers to the version of PostgreSQL installed on your computer)

    This folder's permissions are set to only allow access to the 'postgres' user.  To access these files you need to temporarily give Read permission to 'everyone'.

    1. From the Mac OS X Finder menu click Go> Go To Folder (SHIFT-CMD-G)
      Mac OS X Finder
    2. Type /Library/PostgreSQL/ and click Go
      OS X Go To Folder
    3. Double Click the folder that matches your PostgreSQL version number. The example below shows PostgreSQL 9.0 installed.
      PostgreSQL 9.0
    4. Right-click the Data folder, and select Get Info.
      Get Info
    5. Click the lock icon on the bottom right hand side of the data Info window, and enter in your OS X User Password, this is necessary to allow you to make changes to this folder's permissions.  Under Sharing and Permissions change the everyone group's Privilege permissions from No Access to Read only.  Leave the data Info window open until we are done collecting the Postgres log files, we will need to revert the permissions to No Access in the final step. 
      Data Info
    6. Open the Data folder, the double click the pg_log folder to open it.
      pg_log
    7. Change to the list view in the Finder, the sort by Date Modified.  Copy the log files which represent the date of the problem to your desktop by selecting the files, click CMD-C to copy the files, then click on your desktop and click CMD-V to paste the files to your desktop (you may need to enter your OS X user password once again)
    8. Return back to the data info folder, Under Sharing and Permissions change the everyone group's Privilege permissions from Read only back to No Access. You can now safely close the data Info window.

    IMPORTANT OS X REQUIREMENT: Once you change permissions for the PostgreSQL data folder and have retrieved the files you need to submit to PokerTracker Support, then you must change the permissions back to their original state in order to be able to use PostgreSQL. The database server will not run until these permissions have been returned to their original state, PostgreSQL is required to access the PokerTracker 4 database.

    Please zip/compress the PostgreSQL log files before attaching them to your Support Ticket.

  • Compressing Files

    Before attaching files to a support ticket it is useful to compress (or 'zip') them.
    This is especially important if the files are very large, or there are a lot of them.
    (You cannot attach files over 10MB to a ticket.)

    In Windows XP or later you can do this without any third party software.
    Select the files that you want to compress by left-click-dragging or control-clicking each in turn.
    When you have selected the files right click and choose Send to Compressed Folder.
    This will create a new .zip file in the same folder.
    Make a note of where this zip file is so that you can find it to attach to your ticket.

    If you have a very large file to compress you will probably find that a 3rd party application like Winzip will give better compression.

    Windows:  Send to Compressed (Zipped) folder

    Zipping PT4 Log Files

     

    Mac OS X: Compress 2 Items

    Zipping OS X Files

    If you want to add more files to the .zip after it has been created you can drag and drop other files onto it and they will be added - this is useful if, for instance, you create a zip file of the two main PokerTracker 4 log files and then want to add a hand history file or a screenshot from another folder.

    If you are using the Mac OS X version of PokerTracker 4 you can select the files you want to compress and right-click (or secondary click) them and choose "Compress".

  • Attaching Files to a Support Ticket

    Often it is helpful to attach files to a support ticket, whether these be PokerTracker 4 log files, PostgreSQL log fileshand histories or screenshots, or anything else that you need to share to help our support team find a solution to your problem.

    Tip! You cannot attach files of over 10MB to a support ticket.

    Most files that you need to attach to a ticket should not be that large, but if you need to attach a large file or multiple files the best way is to zip/compress them first and then attach the single zip file.

    To attach files for upload with your ticket you can use this field which is below the text entry field on the ticket page.

    You can either:

    • Drag files directly from Windows Explorer, or Finder on macOS, and drop them in the box in your browser;
    • Click the box and then in the window that opens select the files you want to attach, then click Open;

    If any of the files you tried to add cannot be uploaded (if they're of an unsupported file type or are over 10MB for example) you will be shown an error message like this:

    The files which can be uploaded will be shown, with the option to remove them from your ticket again by clicking the Delete button.

    You can add multiple files at once, or you can add further files again afterwards in the same way.

    There is a limit of 10 files in a single message so if you need to attach more files than that please zip/compress them first, then attach the single compressed file.

    If you want to attach another file repeat the above steps, but otherwise finish off your message and re-read it to make sure it explains your issue before clicking Submit Ticket.

  • Crash Reports

    If you experienced a crash the PokerTracker 4 application should display the Crash Reporter the next time you launch it.

    Please send us your crash report.

    This will automatically include all of your log data from the crash and is extremely useful to the development team in identifying and resolving crashes.
    No personal information is included in this upload.