When you run into an issue with DEVONthink, your first reaction should be, "Hmm… I wonder what that was." and see if it happens again. If it recurs, the next things you should do are:

- Reboot: Reboot your machine. Rebooting a machine can often cure a host of issues, closing down rogue processes, releasing memory, etc. We suggest rebooting your devices at least once a week, just to mitigate potential issues.
- Update: You should ensure your operating system is up to date. We are not advocating "upgrading" the OS, like from Sonoma to Sequoia. We are talking about "updating". So if the current version of your OS is 15.3.1 and you're running 15.2, get your machine up to date. (And yes, this nicely facilitates a reboot in the process!)
- Ask: Check through this chapter or jump over to our forums to see if anyone else has experienced your issue.
- Report: If you don't find an answer in the appropriate sections in this chapter, please do the following: Hold the `⌥︎` Option key and choose Help > Report Bug. This creates a draft email, ready to send to us, containing troubleshooting information and logs. You can also send us full-resolution screen captures (or screencasts), if they'd be helpful in illustrating the issue you're experiencing.

## Not Your First Step

When some people have an issue, they immediately try uninstalling and reinstalling the application. That is a very bad idea and almost always wastes time and energy on something with that likely has a simple and logical solution. And not only is reinstalling rarely effective, it also removes important troubleshooting information that could have been useful in resolving an issue.

So if you run into a problem do not reinstall the software. Contact us as we've indicated so we can assess the situation. If we come to a point we feel reinstalling is appropriate, we will instruct you to do so.