Distill
How to view logs of checks?
What is Check Log?
The Check Log displays timestamp for the latest 20 instances when the monitor was checked for changes. Please note that the check log is only shown on the device where the monitor runs for checks and it is not synced across devices.
To view the monitor’s check log, go to the Watchlist. Next, click on the ’timestamp’ that corresponds to when the last change was found, as illustrated in the following image.
How to view Error Details for a monitor experiencing issues?
If the most recent check performed by a monitor results in an error, the timestamp of the last detected change will be highlighted in red, as illustrated below. For example, in the image, “Dec 25” appears in red, indicating an issue.
By clicking on this timestamp, you can access the error code from the latest check. For further investigation, you can click on “View Details” next to the respective error code to explore more about the error’s specifics.
This will direct you to the error details page. Here, you will find the details of the issue, including a snapshot of the page when the error occurred.
Check out Troubleshooting common errors to get help on the errors. Monitors with errors can be viewed all at once from the Error folder.
You can use the Clear Error Flag button in the check log if you’d like to test your monitor while debugging.
Note: Clearing error flags will remove the errored monitor from the “Errors” folder. However, this does not mean that monitor is error free.
Why is the Log empty?
The logs of the monitor will be available on device that runs the monitor. That is the Web App for cloud checks, the extension for local monitors, and the local device for the Desktop App.
However, in some cases Distill will show “Log is empty. Logs appear after the source is checked for updates”. In other cases, you will see an empty preview for a newly added monitor. This can happen due to:
- The page blocking access from the device running checks. Try to change the device. For cloud monitors add Proxies and then try running checks.
- The page may not be showing content in an inactive tab. When device is set to the browser, Distill opens an tab to check for changes. Once the webpage is checked, that tab is automatically closed. If this is failing you can try the Desktop app for local monitors.
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