Support chat and Share Screen
Two buttons in the bar at the bottom of every screen put you in touch with the SightHub support team while you work:
- Chat with Support — write to support and get answers in the same window, like a messenger.
- Share Screen — let a support person see your SightHub screen live, so they can show you where to click.
They work well together: start a chat, and if it is easier to show than to explain, share your screen.
Which one to use
- A question, or something to fix together right now — Chat with Support.
- "I can't find the button" — Share Screen, with the chat or a phone call next to it.
- A bug to put on record, with screenshots — Report Issue. See Reporting an issue.
Chat with Support
Click Chat with Support in the bottom right corner. A large window opens: your conversations on the left, the open conversation on the right.
Starting a conversation
- Press + next to Messages (or Start a conversation if you have never chatted before).
- Type your message in the box at the bottom.
- Press Enter or Send. Shift+Enter starts a new line without sending.
Say what you were doing, on which screen, and what you expected — the same things you would tell someone on the phone.
The conversation list
Every conversation you have had is listed under Messages, newest first. Each one shows SightHub Support, how long ago it was last active (Just now, 5 min, 2 hr, 3 days), and either the number of messages or Closed. A green dot means support is online.
Click a conversation to open it. Next time you open Chat with Support, the last conversation you had open opens by itself.
Is anyone there?
Under the name at the top of the conversation:
- Online (green dot) — support is online.
- Offline (yellow dot) — no one from support is online right now. A grey note in the conversation tells you so. You can still write.
- Connecting... or Disconnected — the chat is not connected. The message box reads Connecting... and you cannot type until it connects. SightHub tries to reconnect on its own a few times.
Once a support person takes your conversation, their name appears at the top and above their replies.
A red bar starting Connection error means the chat lost its connection. Close the window and open it again; if it keeps happening, use Report Issue.
Sending a file or a picture
- Press the paperclip.
- Pick the file. It waits above the message box with its name and size — nothing is sent yet. The cross removes it.
- Add a message if you like, and press Send. The button reads Sending... while the file uploads.
The rules:
- One file per message, up to 25 MB.
- Allowed types: pictures (png, jpg, jpeg, gif, webp), documents (pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, txt, csv, rtf), saved emails (eml) and zip.
If a file is refused, a red note says why: This file type is not allowed, File is larger than 25 MB, File storage is not configured for this account, Session expired — please sign in again, or Upload failed, please try again.
A screenshot of the screen that went wrong is usually the fastest way to explain a problem.
Reading what support sends you
- Pictures appear as a preview. Click to see them full screen; the cross or a click on the dark background closes it. Do not press Esc for this — it closes the whole chat window, not just the picture (the conversation itself stays open). Download under the picture saves it.
- Other files appear as a card with the name, type and size, and two buttons: open in a new tab, and download.
- Links are clickable and open in a new tab. A link to a picture or to a file such as a PDF is shown as a preview or file card, just like an attachment.
Typing by voice
The microphone button lets you dictate instead of typing.
- Press the microphone. It turns red and pulses while it listens. The first time, your browser may ask for permission to use the microphone.
- Speak. Your words appear in the message box as you talk, after anything you had already typed.
- Press the microphone again to stop. Check the text, fix it if needed, and press Send.
Dictation understands English. It works in Chrome, Edge and Safari. In a browser that cannot do it, the button is greyed out and says Voice input isn't supported in this browser.
Your voice is not sent to SightHub — the browser turns it into text, and only the text you send goes to support.
Emoji
The smiley button opens a small panel of emoji in groups: Smileys, Gestures, Hearts, Objects and Symbols. Click one and it goes where your cursor is in the message.
Ending a conversation
When your question is answered:
- Press Close Chat at the top of the conversation.
- Confirm with End Chat in End this chat?
The conversation is marked Closed in the list. You can still open it and read it, but the message box is replaced by This chat has been closed. For a new question, start a new conversation with +.
Support can close a conversation from their side too; you are taken back to the list.
Closing the chat window with the cross does not end the conversation — it stays open and you can carry on later.
Share Screen
Share Screen lets a support person watch your SightHub screen live and point at things on it. You stay in control the whole time.
What the support person can and cannot see
- They see your SightHub page — the screen you are on, what you click and what you type, as it happens.
- They do not see anything outside SightHub. Not your desktop, not other programs, not other browser tabs. It is not a video of your monitor.
- Password boxes are hidden from them.
- Patient details that are on your screen are visible to them. Close any patient you do not need before you start, and stay on the screens the problem is about.
- They cannot click or type for you. They can only point: a blue circle moving on your screen is their pointer, and a blue outline that appears around a button for 3 seconds is them showing you where to click.
- Nothing is sent while you are waiting. Your screen goes to support only while a support person is actually connected.
Starting a session
- Click Share Screen in the bottom bar.
- Press Start Session.
- A code appears under Tell this code to the operator:. Read it out on the phone, or press the copy button next to it and paste it into the support chat.
- Wait. The window says Waiting for operator... in yellow.
- When the support person enters the code, it turns green — Operator connected — and a message says A support agent is now viewing your screen.
You can close the window and carry on working; the session keeps going.
How you know someone is watching
While a session is on, you cannot miss it:
- A banner at the top centre of every screen. Yellow with Waiting for the operator · code ... while no one is connected; green with an eye and Support agent is viewing your screen while someone is watching.
- The bottom bar button turns green and reads Sharing Active, with a pulsing dot.
- Messages pop up when a support person joins (A support agent is now viewing your screen) and leaves (The support agent stopped viewing your screen).
When the support person leaves, the banner goes back to yellow. The session stays open until you end it.
Ending the session
Press End session on the banner at the top — it is always there while you are sharing — or End Session in the Share Screen window. Sharing stops at once, the banner disappears and the button goes back to Share Screen.
The session can also end without you: the support person ends it, or it runs out. A message Screen sharing session ended pops up, the banner disappears, and the Share Screen window says The screen sharing session has ended. Start a new session if you still need help. Press Try Again there for a new one.
Moving around and reloading
The session follows you from screen to screen. If you reload the page, the window shows Reconnecting... and the same session carries on.
If it does not start
- Failed to create session. Please try again. — press Try Again.
- Failed to load screen sharing module. Please disable ad blocker and try again. — an ad blocker or privacy add-on in your browser is stopping it. Turn it off for SightHub and try again.
- Too many attempts from this network. Please wait 10 minutes and start a new session. — this can appear when SightHub tries to pick up a running session after a reload. Wait ten minutes, then start again.
Good to know
- End the session when you are done. Do not leave it running in the background "just in case" — while it is open, a support person can connect and see your screen again.
- One tab while sharing. Every SightHub tab you open or reload in the same browser during a session joins it and shows the banner. Work in one tab until you have pressed End session.
- Show, don't describe. On a Share Screen session, go to the exact screen that is giving you trouble before the support person joins.
- Closing the chat window keeps the conversation. Only Close Chat → End Chat ends it.
- For bugs, Report Issue is still the record. Chats are for getting help now; a report keeps the problem on file with its screenshots.