A support request with the right details often gets sorted on the first reply. One that says "email is broken" usually needs two or three rounds of questions before anyone can start, and that back-and-forth is where the time goes.

Here is what to put in a ticket so the engineer who picks it up can begin straight away. If you have not lodged a ticket with us before, read How to log a support ticket (and what happens next) first.

Try this first

1. Say what you were trying to do. "I was attaching a PDF to an email in Outlook" is useful. "Outlook problem" is not.
2. Say what actually happened, including the exact wording of any error message. If you cannot copy the text, photograph the screen with your phone and attach the photo.
3. Say when it started. This morning, after the laptop restarted, since Tuesday. Timing points us at what changed, and what changed is usually the cause.
4. Say who is affected - just you, your team, or everyone. This is the most useful line in any ticket. It decides whether we look at your computer or at a system everyone shares.
5. Name the computer and where you are. "My office desktop" or "the black Dell laptop, working from home today." Many people have two machines and the fault is often on only one.
6. Tell us if you cannot keep working. Say it plainly. It changes how the ticket is handled and who picks it up.
7. Give us a mobile number and a good time to call, plus any meetings you are locked in for over the next few hours.

Screenshots beat descriptions

A picture of the error saves everyone guessing at the wording.

• Windows: hold the Windows key, Shift and S together, drag a box over the part of the screen you want, then press Ctrl and V together in your email or in the portal comment box.
• Mac: hold Shift, Command and 4 together, drag a box over the area. The image saves to your desktop - attach it to the ticket.

Capture the whole window, not just the red text. The menu and file name around the error often tell us more than the error itself.

Things that slow a ticket down

• Five unrelated problems in one ticket. They get worked on at the speed of the slowest one. Send separate tickets and they can run in parallel.
• Replying to an old closed ticket about something new. It reopens the old job instead of starting a new one.
• Sending from a different email address to the one we have on file, which can leave the ticket unmatched to your business.
• Marking everything urgent. If everything is urgent, nothing is, and the genuinely urgent job is harder to spot.
• Emailing one engineer directly. If that person is on another job or on leave, nobody else sees it. Use the portal or the support address so the whole team can see it.

Where to send it

Lodge tickets at portal.yougrowit.com.au or email support@yougrowit.com.au. Both create a ticket with a number you can track.

Send accounts, quotes, invoices and requests for new work to admin@yougrowit.com.au instead. That address does not create a ticket, so please do not use it for faults.

Why this helps

Nearly every fix starts with the same question: what is different between the thing that works and the thing that does not. Your answers to "who", "when" and "what exactly" are that comparison. Giving them up front removes a whole round trip, and on a bad morning that round trip is the difference between fixed before lunch and fixed after it.

Still stuck?

Log a ticket at portal.yougrowit.com.au or email support@yougrowit.com.au. If it is stopping you working right now, call 03 9028 4358.

Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.