how to use

Everything errorboard
can do, in order.

errorboard comes in three shapes that share one account: the Windows app that watches whatever you study in, the handwriting notebook, and the snap-a-photo studio. This guide walks each one end to end.

1 · The Windows desktop app

The desktop app is the core of errorboard. It lives in your system tray with no window of its own and captures the program you study in on demand, so it can watch a browser question bank, a PDF past paper, OneNote, or anything else on screen.

Before you start. Detection runs in the cloud, so you need an active errorboard Pro subscription and Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit). Grab the installer from the download page.

Install and launch

Run errorboard-setup.exe. If Windows SmartScreen warns you, click More info then Run anyway — the app is new and not code-signed yet. The settings window opens the first time it runs.

Sign in to Pro

Open the errorboard Pro tab and enter the email and password from your subscription. The app stays idle until you are signed in.

Pick a detection mode and topic

On the Detection tab, choose Standard, Question bank, or Solve and set a default topic for when the model can't infer one.

Close it to the tray

Click away and errorboard sits quietly in the tray. Tick Launch at sign-in on the Capture tab if you want it ready every time you boot.

2 · Capturing a mistake

errorboard does not film your screen. It captures a single frame only when you ask it to — by pressing the capture hotkey or the tray button. At that moment it grabs whatever window is in focus, sends that one frame to the cloud vision model, and if a mistake is found it files it in your error log.

  • Working through a question? Hit Ctrl + Alt + M the moment you see your answer and the marked result on screen.
  • Want to leave yourself a reminder on the shot? Use the Capture + add a note hotkey instead — a box pops up so you can type your own note onto the screenshot.
  • Going off-topic into email or chat? Nothing is captured unless you press a key, so there is nothing to pause — but you can Ctrl + Alt + P to disable the hotkeys entirely.

3 · The settings tabs

Open settings from the tray icon any time. There are five tabs:

Status

Shows what errorboard is doing right now and lets you set a session topic — force every mistake this sitting under one subject (e.g. Calculus). Leave it blank to auto-detect per capture.

Capture

Choose your logs folder (defaults to Documents). Optionally point everything at a single .docx, or leave it blank for one file per topic. Toggle Launch at sign-in here.

Detection

Pick the mode, a default topic, and two sliders: Min. confidence (how sure the model must be before it logs — raise it for fewer, higher-quality flags) and Ignore repeats for (a cool-down so the same slip isn't logged twice in a row).

Shortcuts

Rebind the three global hotkeys below to whatever you like.

errorboard Pro

Your account — email, password and the backend URL. Sign in or switch accounts here.

4 · Hotkeys

These work from any app, even with the settings window closed. Defaults:

Capture now
Ctrl + Alt + M — grab the focused window and mark it.
Capture + add a note
Ctrl + Alt + N — capture, then type a note onto the shot before it's logged.
Pause / resume
Ctrl + Alt + P — turn capturing off and back on.

5 · The handwriting notebook

Write maths by hand on an iPad, a tablet, or any browser at errorboard.com/notebook — or get the Windows app for it from the download page. It marks your working as you write.

Write or import

Use the pen, highlighter, eraser, shapes and lasso-select tools. Tap + Add page for a fresh sheet, or Import PDF to write directly over a worksheet or past paper.

Set a topic and let it mark

Type an optional topic so logs file neatly. With auto-mark on (the default), errorboard checks each step a moment after you pause. Prefer manual? Turn it off and tap Mark this page now.

Add a mark scheme (optional)

Upload or paste the official solutions / mark scheme. When set, marking uses it as the answer key and awards marks against it instead of solving from scratch.

Review and tidy

Mistakes appear in the side panel. Lasso a stroke and hit Delete to clean up, and mark anything resolved once you've understood it. Every notebook keeps its own log.

Stylus tip. If your stylus scrolls the page instead of drawing, tap Scroll in the toolbar so touch draws — then two fingers scroll.

6 · The study studio

Already finished on paper? Open the studio on any device, set an optional topic, then Take a photo or choose an image of your working and tap Mark it. errorboard returns an improvement plan and logs each mistake. Make sure your final answer is visible in the photo before you mark it.

7 · The three detection modes

The mode tells errorboard how to judge what it sees. Pick it on the Detection tab (desktop) or the mode selector (notebook / studio).

Standardstandard
Flags a mistake that's already visible on screen — a wrong answer, a flawed line of working, or a response a site has marked incorrect. The everyday default.
Question bankquestion_bank · Medify
For graded banks like Medify. It reads the revealed correct answer and logs the ones you got wrong, with the right answer sitting beside yours.
Solvesolve · no answer key
No answer key in sight? The model solves the problem itself and flags where your answer disagrees. Best for maths, physics and past papers. Flags are marked unverified since there's no official key to check against.

8 · Your error logs

Every mistake lands in a plain Word document — one <topic>_errors.docx per subject by default — in your logs folder (Documents on the desktop app). Each entry has:

  • A timestamp and the model's confidence.
  • The screenshot or photo of exactly where you slipped.
  • A one-line note on what went wrong and the correct approach.

Because they're ordinary .docx files you can open, search, print or annotate them anywhere. With Pro, logs sync to your account so the same subject grows whether you studied on the desktop, the iPad notebook or the studio. Review one before your next session and you stop repeating the same mistake.

9 · Tips & fixes

It logged something that wasn't really a mistake
Raise Min. confidence on the Detection tab so errorboard only logs flags it's sure about. You can also delete any entry straight from the Word file.
The same slip got logged twice
Increase Ignore repeats for — it sets a cool-down window that suppresses duplicate flags of the same mistake.
Nothing happens when I press the hotkey
Check you're signed in on the errorboard Pro tab, that capturing isn't paused (Ctrl + Alt + P), and that the shortcut isn't claimed by another app — rebind it on the Shortcuts tab if so.
Which surface should I use?
Studying on a computer in a browser, PDF or notes app → the desktop app. Writing maths by hand → the notebook. Marking work you did on paper → the studio. They all feed the same error logs.

Still stuck? Email support.