Table of Contents
Lauren Trimble
Come to this section when you feel lost, confused or annoyed. You'll find common issues and the easiest ways to solve them. We want to kill your frustration.
Core Troubleshooting
How to take a screenshot to prove you’re not going nuts
Lauren Trimble
Even though we are super amazing at pretty much all things in life, we cannot (yet) see exactly what’s on your computer screen when you write in to us. We try our best to figure out what’s going on based on your description and other information we know about the site, but sometimes, it’s best if we can just see what you’re seeing.
Down below are instructions for taking a screenshot on a PC and Mac, respectively.
PC
- Hold down Alt and press the Print Screen (may look like PrtScn SysRq) at the same time. This will copy everything that’s in your current active window.
- Go to whatever program you’d like to use to paste the image you have. You can paste the image by holding down Ctrl and pressing V.
- Most email clients allow you to paste an image directly into the body of the message, but you can also enter the image into a Microsoft Word (or other word processing program) document. The most popular way to go about it is to open Microsoft Paint and pressing Ctrl + V after you open the program. This way, you can edit the image if you’d like, calling out specific important portions of the image, and you can save the image as a standalone file. The image for Microsoft Paint looks like this in case you’re curious (and you should be because it’s adorable):
Mac
- Hold down Command and Shift at the same time, and then press 4. Let go of these three, press the space bar, and then click on the window you’d like to capture. A file will automatically save to your desktop.
- If you’d rather just copy the image instead of creating a file (this is useful if you’d like to paste it into a document or email message), do all the commands above while holding down the Control button.
- To paste the image into a document or message, click where you want the image to appear and hold Command while pressing V.
Shoutout to Azriena Azman for all the PC keyboard layout images (which we edited), and to EricRobson214 for the Mac keyboard layout images (which we also edited).
How clearing your cookies and cache might save your life or at least your sanity
Robert Wesson
When to clear your cookie and cache: Pretty much any time you experience the JSTOR website
(or any other site, for that matter) acting wonky.
Clearing your cookies and cache is like the aspirin of the Internet. Whether you’re having login trouble, issues with your MyJSTOR Shelf, or you’re sure our site is producing “interesting” errors, a quick emptying of the cookies and cache has a good chance to clear things up. If you do clear your cache and cookies but are still experiencing a pesky problem, please contact us, and we’ll get to the bottom of it.
The first thing you’ll need to do to clear your cookies and cache is determine what browser you’re using. We’ll provide guides below for both PC and Mac users for the most recent versions of the following browsers:
PCs: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer
Macs: Chrome, Firefox, Safari
CHROME
1. Go to the upper right corner of your browser and click on the image to the right of your address bar. It has three short horizontal lines on it, and when you click on it, a menu will pop up.
2. Click “History” from the options listed.
3. Click “Clear browsing data…” located just underneath “History” at the top of the page.
4. Make sure that “Cookies and other site and plug-in data” and “Cached images and files” (the third and fourth options) are checked off. You can choose whatever time period you want, but we usually suggest to just choose “the beginning of time” – you can’t really ask for anything more definitive than that! Then click “Clear browsing data.”
5. There may be a few moments while Chrome works to delete this data. If you haven’t cleared your cache and cookies in a long time (or never have at all!) it will take a bit longer. You will see the same screen while it works, but the options will be grayed out and there will be a spinning blue half circle just to the left of the “Clear browsing data” button you just clicked. Here’s an image of what it looks like mid-spin:
6. When you’re all done, this mini window will go away, and you’ll be left looking at your Settings page. Voila! You did it!
FIREFOX
1. Go to the upper right corner of your browser and click on the image to the right of your address bar. It has three short horizontal lines on it, and when you click on it, a menu will pop up.
2. Click “History” from the options listed.
3. Click “Clear Recent History…” which is the second option down.
4. A new window will pop up that is called “Clear All History.” Choose “Everything” as the time range to clear, and make sure that “Cookies” and “Cache,” the third and fourth options down, are checked off. Click “Clear Now” once you’ve done this.
5. After a few moments, the “Clear All History” window will disappear. This means you’re done!
Mac: SAFARI
1. From the Safari Menu, select Reset Safari
2. Uncheck any or all boxes, but leave Clear History selected
3. Click Reset
PC: Internet Explorer
1. Go to the upper right corner of your browser and click on the image to the right of your address bar that looks like a gear. When you click on it, a menu will pop up. Click on “Safety,” and then “Delete browsing history…”
2. A window will pop up. Make sure the “Preserve Favorites website data” option is unchecked and then make sure the “Temporary Internet files and website files,” “Cookies and website data,” and “History” options are checked. Then click “Delete.”
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