# Images

## Use a screenshot only when words failed

Every screenshot is a maintenance cost. The interface changes without notice, the page goes stale silently, and a stale screenshot misleads with full confidence. Add one only when the words alone did not carry the instruction.

The test: if the sentence names the control and the action clearly, the screenshot repeats it. Delete the screenshot, keep the sentence.

## Keep sensitive information out

A screenshot never shows real account data: names, e-mails, tokens, domains, or identifiers. Capture a test account, or mask the values before publishing. A leaked value in an image is as public as a leaked value in text, and harder to find later.

## Crop to the relevant area

Capture the part of the interface the instruction points at, not the full screen. Volatile interface chrome — menus, avatars, version banners — dates the image and distracts from the control that matters.

## Write alt text for every image

Alt text states what the image conveys, in one sentence. The rules are in [Accessibility](/en/documentation/style-guide/writing/accessibility/).

## Format the asset path

Asset paths are root-absolute with no language prefix, because one image serves both language versions:

- Correct: `/assets/docs/images/uploads/diagram.png`

## Historical records are exempt

Screenshots in changelogs and release notes record what the interface looked like at that date. They are point-in-time records: do not update them when the interface changes.