Use the Outpost tray app

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The Outpost tray app is how you reach your IT team from your computer. This page shows you how to ask for help, install software your team offers, get back files you deleted or changed, and keep your synced files where you need them. What you see depends on what your IT team has turned on, so some views may be missing or say they are off.

Open the tray app

On Windows: select the Outpost icon in the notification area, next to the clock. You may need to select the arrow that shows hidden icons first. You can also open Outpost from the Start menu.
On Linux: open Outpost from your applications menu, or select the Outpost icon if your desktop shows tray icons. The app opens in your web browser.
On a Mac: select the Outpost icon in the menu bar.

The card that opens has a rail of views down its side: Support, Incidents, Software, Backup, Sync, and Device Info. It opens on Support.

To keep the card open while you work, select Open in a window.

Find your IT team’s contact details

The Support view shows how to reach your IT team: phone, email, support website, chat channel, and hours, as your team has set them. Select Copy next to a phone number or email address to copy it.

Your team will often ask which computer you are using. Select This PC to see the details they usually ask for, such as the computer’s name, model, and serial number, and select Copy next to one to copy it.

Open a ticket

In the Support view, select Open Ticket.
Choose a Category and a Priority.
Enter a Subject, a short summary of the problem.
Enter a Description: what is happening, any error messages, when it started, and what you have tried.
Select Submit Ticket.

Your ticket appears under Your Tickets. Below the buttons, the card shows the name your ticket is filed under, after Tickets are filed as. If the name is wrong, tell your IT team.

If your computer is offline, you can still open a ticket. It is saved and sent when the computer reconnects.

If Open Ticket is unavailable, Outpost cannot confirm who is signed in at the computer, so it cannot file a ticket for you. Contact your IT team another way.

Reply to a ticket

Under Your Tickets, select the ticket. Tickets with new activity are marked New.
In the ticket window, type in Add a reply… and select Reply.

Rate a resolved ticket

When your team resolves a ticket, the Support view may ask How did we do on ticket followed by its number. Select a star rating to open the short survey in your browser, or select Dismiss.

Chat with a technician

In the Support view, select Start a live chat. Under the button, the card may show how many technicians are available and how many people are waiting.
Wait for a technician to join. The chat shows your place in the queue, then Connected and the technician’s name.
Type in the message box and select Send, or press Enter. Press Shift+Enter for a new line.
When you are done, select End chat, then End chat again to confirm.
Tell your team how it went: select It helped or It did not help.

You can select Back to support at any time without ending the chat. The button then reads Return to your chat.

If nobody answers in time, the chat is marked Missed and saved to a ticket, and a technician follows up. Nothing you wrote is lost.

When chat is not offered, the card says why:

Message	Meaning
Live chat is turned off for this PC by your IT team.	Your team has not turned on chat for this computer. Open a ticket instead.
Live chat is not available on this PC.	Your organization’s Outpost plan does not include live chat. Contact your IT team another way.
Nobody is on the support desk right now.	No technician is available. Open a ticket instead.
You are not connected right now.	Your computer is offline. A ticket you open is sent when it reconnects.

Your past chats are listed under Your Recent Chats.

Search help articles

If your IT team has published help articles, the Support view has a Help articles section. Type in Search help articles and select an article to read it.

Install or remove software

The Software view lists the software your IT team offers, on two tabs: Installed and Available. Type in Search software… to filter either tab.

To install software:

On the Available tab, find the app and select Install.
Select Install again to confirm.

The app downloads and installs. The card shows its progress and tells you when it is installed.

To request software that needs approval:

Some apps, such as licensed ones, show Request instead of Install.

Select Request.
In Why do you need this?, explain what you need it for. Your IT team reads this to decide.
Select Send request.

The app shows Requested until your team answers, then Approved or Denied. Once your team has a ticket for the request, select the status to open it.

To remove software:

On the Installed tab, find the app and select Remove.
Select Remove again to confirm.

Apps your team requires show Required and cannot be removed. If the card says Software on this device is managed by your IT team., you can see the catalog but cannot install from it. Ask your IT team for what you need.

Check your backup and restore files

The Backup view shows whether your computer’s files are backed up:

Status	Meaning
Your files are backed up	The last backup finished. The card shows when.
Backing up…	A backup is running.
Not backed up yet	The first backup has not run yet.
Your backup needs attention	Backups are failing. Outpost keeps trying. Contact your IT team if it does not clear.
Backup is off	Your IT team has not turned on backup for this computer.

To restore your own files:

In the Backup view, select Restore Files…. If the button is not there, your IT team has not turned on self-service restore.
In Restore files as they were on, choose the date of the backup to restore from.
Choose a folder on the left, and select the files and folders to restore on the right.
Under Restore to, choose Original location or Restored files folder.
Select Restore, then Restore again to confirm.

You can restore only files from your own folders. A restore never overwrites anything:

Original location puts files back where they were. If a file with the same name is there now, it is kept, and the restored copy is saved beside it with “(restored)” in its name.
Restored files folder puts files in a new folder inside Restored files in your profile.

While a restore runs, the Backup view shows its progress. To stop it, select Cancel Restore, then Cancel Restore again to confirm. Files already restored are kept.

Use Outpost Sync

Outpost Sync gives you a folder that follows you to every computer you sign in to. The Sync view shows its status, how much of your storage it uses, and when it last synced. If your IT team has not turned it on, the view says so.

Button	What it does
Open Folder	Opens your Outpost Sync folder.
Pause Syncing	Stops syncing until you select Resume Syncing.
Choose Files to Keep Offline…	Opens Keep files offline. Ticked files stay on this computer and open with no connection. Everything else downloads when you open it. Unticking a file frees space and never deletes it.
Download All Files	Downloads everything in your folder to this computer.

Restart when asked

When updates need a restart, the card shows Restart needed, with the reason and, where your team set one, the time the computer restarts automatically.

Select Restart now to restart straight away. Save your work first.
Select Remind me later to put it off. When you have used all the delays your team allows, the button reads No more delays available.

Close the tray app

The card’s close button only hides the card. To quit the tray app, open Device Info and select Exit. It starts again the next time you sign in. On Windows, you can also open Outpost from the Start menu, which starts it and opens the card.

Content is licensed CC BY 4.0. Code samples are MIT. Outpost and the Outpost mark are trademarks of Outpost Business Solutions, PBC and are not covered by either license.