Sometimes a program hits a problem its makers did not expect: a fault in BooksPOS itself, not something you did. When that happens, BooksPOS writes a short crash report so the BooksPOS team can find the fault and fix it. This guide explains what you see on the screen, what a crash report contains and what it never contains, where it goes, and how the owner turns sending off.
What you see when BooksPOS hits a problem
BooksPOS shows a calm note instead of an error message full of code: Something went wrong, with "BooksPOS hit a problem it did not expect." It says the bill on the till is saved on this PC, which is true: the bill in progress is kept on the till's disk after every change, so nothing typed is lost. Choose Carry on and keep working.
The note shows a Reference such as 1A2B-3C4D. If you call BooksPOS support, read it out: it lets the team find the same report. Copy details puts the whole report, already cleaned of customer details, on the clipboard, so you can paste it into a message.
If the same kind of problem happens several times within a minute, the note says This keeps happening and asks you to close BooksPOS and open it again. Close BooksPOS does that; the bill on the till comes back when you open it.
Problems in the background, such as the status bar failing to refresh once, are noted quietly without interrupting the till. Messages from the store server that explain a refusal, such as not enough stock or a missing permission, are not crashes and never make a report.
What a crash report contains
| Kept in the report | Never kept |
|---|---|
| The BooksPOS version, and whether it was the app or the store server | Customer and supplier names |
| The Windows and .NET versions | Phone numbers, CNICs and email addresses |
| The screen or dialog, or the store server's task (for example the bill posting route) | Addresses |
| The kind of error and the program's own message | Passwords, PINs, tokens, device keys and pairing codes |
| Where in BooksPOS's code it happened | Anything typed in quotes, and the names of your files and folders |
| How many times it happened, and when first and last | The shop's sales, stock, prices or khata |
The cleaning happens on the PC, before the report is saved there, and again on the store PC and in BooksPOS Cloud. A message written by another company's software component is not kept at all, only its kind.
Where the report goes
- On the PC where it happened. The app saves it in its own folder at once, so it survives BooksPOS closing.
- To the store PC. Once someone signs in, a till hands its reports to the store server over the same paired connection it bills through. The store PC keeps one entry per problem and per PC, with a count, so a problem that repeats a hundred times is one entry.
- To the BooksPOS team, if allowed. When the store is paired with BooksPOS Cloud on a Cloud plan and the owner has not turned sending off, the store PC sends what the team has not had yet, a few reports at a time and never more than a hundred in an hour. If the internet is down it waits and tries again later.
On the Offline edition, or on a store that is not paired with BooksPOS Cloud, reports never leave the store PC. On the store PC a report is removed 30 days after the problem last happened, whether it was sent or not. The BooksPOS team keeps a problem for 90 days after it was last reported.
Turning crash reports off or on
On the store PC, sign in as the owner or a manager and open Settings › System & updates. Under Crash reports:
- Tick or untick Send crash reports to the BooksPOS team. It is on unless you turn it off.
- Choose Save. The change is kept in the Audit log.
The card also says what happens now: Sending to the BooksPOS team, or Kept on this store PC with the reason (sending is off, the store is not paired, or the Offline edition). With sending off, reports are still noted and kept on the store PC for support, and simply not sent.
Reading the reports and sending them to support
The same card lists the store's recent crash reports, newest first: the error and its message, which program and version, which PC (This store PC or the till's name), the screen, the reference, how many times, and whether each is Sent, Waiting to send or Kept on this PC. Copy details next to a report copies it for a support message.
The diagnostics file for support (Settings › Receipt printer on this PC › Export diagnostics for support) also holds the 20 most recent crash reports, with tills shown only as "A till", and any reports from that PC that have not reached the store server yet.
Common questions
Does a crash report send my sales or customer list?
No. It holds what went wrong in the program and where, never sales, stock, prices, khata, or names, phone numbers and addresses. Those are taken out on the PC before the report is saved.
Is sending on by default?
Yes. The owner or a manager can turn it off at any time under Settings › System & updates; the change is audited.
Do tills on other PCs send reports themselves?
No. A till hands its reports to the store PC over its paired connection, and only the store PC sends them on, when allowed.
Does BooksPOS need the internet for this?
Only to send reports to the BooksPOS team. Without the internet, reports wait on the store PC and go later, or are removed after 30 days.
What should I do when the note keeps appearing?
Close BooksPOS and open it again. If it still happens, call BooksPOS support with the reference from the note, or send the copied details.
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Last updated 28 September 2026. Still stuck? Contact us.