Creating a Console Log file in your browser

Modified on: 2020-01-27 12:26:44 +0100


Google Chome


Open the Console

You can open the console window in several ways, as described below. Choose one of the options.


Option 1

  1. Right click anywhere within the browser, and left click the menu option 'inspect element'.
  2. Click the Console tab.


Option 2

  1. Open the browser menu (the so-called 'hamburger menu' at the top right, the icon with the 3 dots).
  2. Click 'More Tools'.
  3. Click 'Developer Tools'.


Option 3

Hold the Ctrl and Shift buttons on your keyboard, and press I for windows (for Mac: Cmd+Option+I).


Select the right settings

Ensure that the correct settings for capturing the logs are activated.

  1. Click the Console Settings icon (the 'wheel', or 'cog') at the top right of the Console.
  2. Make sure 'Preserve log' is checked.
  3. Make sure 'Show timestamps' is checked.
  4. (OPTIONAL!) Clear any previous logs by ...
    1. ... clicking the round icon at the top left of the Console (the one with a backslash in it)
    2. ... holding the Ctrl key and pressing L (Mac: Cmd+L).


Create & save the log

  1. Start to recreate the issue you have found.
  2. Right-click anywhere within the log screen, and click 'Save As'.
  3. Enter a file name, and save the log as a .log (or .txt) file.



Mozilla Firefox


Open the Console

You can open the console window in several ways, as described below. Choose one of the options.


Option 1

  1. Open the browser menu (the icon with the three lines, at the top of the screen on the right hand side).
  2. Click 'Web Developer', and then 'Web Console'.


Option 2

  1. At first, right click on web browser window and left click on inspect element.
  2. Click on console tab.


Option 3

Hold the Ctrl and Shift keys and then press K (Mac: Cmd+Option+K).


Verify the settings and record the log

  1. Make sure the 'Persist Logs' option is checked.
  2. Open the Console menu by clicking the icon with the three dots at the top right of the Console, and then click 'Settings'. Alternatively, press the F1 key.
  3. Ensure that the 'Enable timestamps' option is checked (located under 'Web Console').
  4. Start reproducing the issue you are dealing with.


Save the log

  1. Right click anywhere within the console area, and then click 'Select All'. Alternatively, hold Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and press the A key.
  2. Copy the highlighted log information by holding the Ctrl (Mac: CMD) key and pressing C.
  3. Paste the information within any text editor you like, such as Notepad or Word.
  4. Save the log as any sort of text file.



Internet Explorer / Microsoft Edge


Open the Console

You can open the console window in several ways, as described below. Choose one of the options.


Option 1

  1. Open the 'Tools' menu, located at the top right of the window.
  2. Click 'Developer tools'.
  3. Click the 'Console' tab.


Option 2

  1. At first, right click on web browser window and left click on inspect element.
  2. Click on console tab.


Option 3

Press the F12 key.


Record the log

  1. (OPTIONAL!) Delete any old logs by clicking the 'X' icon.
  2. Start to reproduce the issue you are facing.


Save the log

1. After you finished recording, right click anywhere within the Console area, and then click 'Copy All'.

2. Paste the selected log information into a text processor, and save the log as any sort of text file.


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