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Generating a HAR file for troubleshooting

Edward Pritchard
  • Edited

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Zendesk Customer Support may occasionally need additional information about the network requests that are generated in your browser. A member of the team may ask you to record a HAR file, or a log of network requests, while that issue occurs. It's also helpful to include any browser console logs in addition to a HAR file.

Note: A HAR file includes data such as the content of your cookies and the pages you downloaded while making the recording. Anyone with access to the HAR file can view the data submitted while recording, which may include personal data or other sensitive data. Make sure that you secure your HAR files accordingly.

Click the tabs below to read the instructions to generate a HAR file and console logs in the browser that you use.

Chrome

Firefox

Safari

Edge

To generate a HAR file in Chrome
  1. Open Chrome and go to the page where the issue is occurring.
  2. Look for the vertical ellipsis button and select More Tools > Developer Tools.
  3. From the panel that appears, select the Network tab.

    Optional: If Zendesk Customer Support requests a HAR file with WebSockets, select the WS option in the Network tab. Reload your browser to start seeing the traffic over the WebSocket.
    websockets option in har file in chrome

  4. Look for a round record button in the upper left corner of the tab, and make sure it is red. If it is grey, click the button once to start recording.
  5. Check the box Preserve log.
  6. Click the clear button to clear any existing logs from the network tab.
  7. Reproduce the issue while the network requests are recorded.
  8. Click the download button, Export HAR, to download, and save the file to your computer: Save as HAR with Content.

    download buttom from network tab in chrome

  9. Upload the HAR file to your ticket with Zendesk Customer Support for further investigation.

The instructions are the same for a MAC computer or a Windows computer. Find below a brief animation with the steps to retrieve a HAR file in Chrome.

Generate HAR file in Chrome

For any issues generating this file, see this article from Google's Help Center: Capture web session traffic.

Retrieving console logs in Chrome

  1. Open Main Menu for Chrome.
  2. Navigate to More Tools > Developer Tools.
  3. Open the Console tab and screenshot any errors that appear.
To generate a HAR file in Firefox
  1. Open Firefox and go to the page where the issue is occurring.
  2. Open the Network Monitor.
  3. Reproduce the issue while the network requests are recorded.
  4. Right-click anywhere under the File column and click Save All As HAR.

    Save All As Har in firefox

  5. Save the HAR file somewhere convenient.
  6. Upload the HAR file to your ticket with Zendesk Customer Support for further investigation.

The instructions are the same for a MAC computer or a Windows computer. For any issues generating a HAR file in Firefox, see this article from Firefox Source Docs: Network Monitor.

Retrieving console logs in Firefox

  1. In the Tools menu, select Web Developer.
  2. Console logs will appear in a separate window.
  3. Screenshot any errors that appear.
To generate a HAR file in Safari
  1. Open Safari and go to the Develop menu. If you don't see theDevelop menu, follow the instructions in this article from the Safari User Guide: Use the developer tools in the Develop menu in Safari on Mac.
  2. Select Show Web Inspector.
  3. Click the Network tab.
  4. Reproduce the issue while the network requests are recorded.
  5. Click the Export icon and save the HAR file.
    safari export logs
  6. Upload the HAR file to your ticket with Zendesk Customer Support for further investigation.

For any issues generating a HAR file in Safari, see this article from Safari Developer website: Web Inspector.

Retrieving console logs in Safari

  1. Open Preferences and navigate to the Advanced tab.
  2. Select Show Developer menu in the menu bar.
  3. Close Preferences.
  4. In the menu bar, select Developer > Show error console.
  5. Screenshot any errors that appear.
To generate a HAR file in Edge
  1. Open Edge and go to the Network tool.
  2. Reproduce the issue while the network requests are recorded.
  3. Export captured traffic as a HAR file.
  4. Upload the HAR file to your ticket with Zendesk Customer Support for further investigation.

For any issues generating a HAR file in Safari, see this article from Microsoft Edge website: Inspect network activity.

Retrieving console logs in Edge

  1. Select the three dots in the upper-right corner of your browser window.
  2. Click More tools > Developer Tools.
  3. In the DevTools panel, click the Console tab.
  4. Right-click the console and select Clear Console of any pre-existing logs.
  5. Check the Preserve Log checkbox.
  6. Replicate the issue that you experienced in the Edge browser.
  7. Screenshot any errors that appear.
Note: The widget in the lower right-hand corner of this page doesn't support the attachment of HAR files or files that exceed 50MB. Instead, attach the file to your ticket with Zendesk Customer Support through email or through a method such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

Additional resources

If you are experiencing issues with your account, see some of the short advice and troubleshooting articles: Advice and troubleshooting. If you aren't a Zendesk customer yet, register now for a Zendesk trial.

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12 Comments

  • Brian Peters
    1. Once you have reproduced the issue, right-click anywhere on the grid of network requests, select Save as HAR with Content, and save the file to your computer.

    These instructions need to be updated. You cannot right-click to download. There is a specific download button in Chrome. 

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Manager

    Hey Brian,

    Thanks for taking the time to share this with us! I'll pass this feedback along to our documentation team so they can get this article updated.

    Cheers!

    0
  • Nova Dawn
    Zendesk Documentation Team

    Cheers Brett, I have updated the article accordingly :)

    0
  • Dae Kim

    Hi Zendesk support team.  We were recently asked to produce a HAR file for troubleshooting.  Can you please tell me what data is being captured in a HAR file?  I would like to understand this before sending this file to you.

    0
  • Tudor-George Pascu
    Zendesk Customer Care

    Hi Dae,

     

    Thank you for contacting Zendesk Support! I'm George from the Advocacy Team and I will be pleased to help you with this 

    HAR (HTTP Archive Format) is a JSON archive file format that stores session data over many browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc.) between client and server. In the network environment, when the communication between the sender and the receiver occurs, HAR contains HTTP response and request headers.

    HAR files can contain sensitive data, so make sure you store these files securely. We from Zendesk are compromised to store the data that you will be sending to us. If If you wish please have a look at our Privacy policy regarding our customers data safe.

    HAR file are used to inspect what is happening behind the scenes of your browser. More specifically, it has all the details about operations your browser performed. It includes information like requests made, response times, response status code etc. What is more significant it also includes sensitive data that should not be shared with untrusted parties. That is why you should only share your HAR files with Auth0 employees.

    I will tentatively solve this ticket for now as this information should assist you with your query. However don't hesitate to reply to this email if you have any further follow up questions or queries.

    Have a great day!

     

    0
  • William Grote

    Where is the specific download button in Chrome?

    0
  • Dave Dyson
    Hi William –
     
    It's possible that Chrome has changed its UI for this since this article was written. Look for the down arrow in the same row as the Preserve log checkbox (the tooltip for the arrow will say "Export HAR..." if you hover your cursor over it):

     
    I'll contact our docs team to get this updated (and to fix the broken image later in the article).
    0
  • William Grote

    Thanks Dave

     

    That did the trick!

     

     

    0
  • Dave Dyson
    Glad I could help, William!
    0
  • Dheeraj Giroti

    Hi , Facing Few issue with Mobile Messaging , trying to contact the customer support , but no resolution till now even no ETA for same has been provided.

    Issues - 1. Bot responses being added on top of your first reply and not giving the option to continue - Android 11 Samsung

    2. Crash For Android 12 via selecting image from Camera from Zendesk AttachmentActivity

    Logs

    Caused by java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
    Couldn't find meta-data for provider with authority com.zendesk.native_messaging.fileprovider
    androidx.core.content.FileProvider.parsePathStrategy (FileProvider.java:662)

    androidx.core.content.FileProvider.getUriForFile (FileProvider.java:441)
    zendesk.messaging.android.internal.conversationscreen.attachments.AttachmentActivity.startCamera (AttachmentActivity.kt:220) 

     

    0
  • rassalas

    So I downloaded the HAR file and am wondering what is a good app for viewing it?  Libre Calc has troble with it.  any suggestions?

    0
  • Anne Ronalter
    Zendesk Customer Care
    Hello Rassalas,

    on the MacBook, you can open a HAR file with TextEdit.

     
    0

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