Your First Scan

1. Before you start

You need two things on your computer:

• Octopus Scanner: The Install Guide covers downloading it, installing it and the system requirements for Windows 11 and macOS.
• Google Chrome: Scans run inside Chrome, so it must be installed before you scan. If Octopus Scanner can't find Chrome, on a Mac or on Windows, it shows an Octopus Scanner needs Google Chrome screen. Select Download Chrome, install it, then select Check Again. Continue Without Scanning opens the app so you can view past reports, but scans won't work until Chrome is installed.

Only scan websites you have permission to test.

2. Open Octopus Scanner

When you open Octopus Scanner, the Octopus Server window appears first. This window runs the scanning engine in the background and shows its status, including CPU, RAM and Disk use.

The main button in the window reads Starting… while the engine starts, then changes to Open Interface once it is ready.

By default, the scanning interface opens by itself as soon as the engine is ready. If it doesn't, or if you close it later, select Open Interface. You can also press Command+O on a Mac or Alt+O on Windows.You can also press Command+O.You can also press Alt+O. To stop the interface opening by itself, turn off Open Interface Automatically in Preferences > Options.

Keep the Octopus Server window open while you scan. The User Guide, The Octopus Server window section in The Complete User Guide explains everything else it does.

3. The setup walkthrough

The first time the scanning interface opens, a Welcome to Octopus Scanner dialog appears. It offers to tune the scanner with a few short questions.

• To use the setup: Select Start Setup. It takes about 3 minutes. When you select Finish Setup, your answers are saved as your default configuration and load each time you open the scanner.
• To skip it: Close the dialog to begin with the default settings. The defaults are a sensible starting point for a first scan.

You can return to the setup at any time. Select Customise Scan, then select Setup.

4. Start the scan

1. Select the Website URL or local file path field at the top of the scanning interface.
2. Enter the full address of the page you want to start from, for example https://www.example.com. This page is always the first one scanned.
3. Select Start Scan.
4. If a Before you scan message appears, read the settings it lists, such as a proxy server or a Local LLM server, confirm that you have permission to scan the site, and select Continue.

You don't need to open Customise Scan for a first scan. When you are ready to change what is scanned and how, the User Guide, top of the page describes every setting.

5. While the scan runs

A Scan Progress area appears below the URL field, with a progress bar that fills as the scan works through the site.

• Visual Scanner Progress: A panel showing a live view of the browser doing the scanning, updating up to eight times a second as pages load and change, with a LIVE badge while the feed is running. While PDFs are checked, Local LLM Review runs or the report is being built, it says so instead. It appears for HTML reports with screenshots turned on, which is the default.
• Activity Log: A panel with a running record of everything the scan is doing. Select Pause auto-scroll to read earlier entries while the scan continues.

The buttons beside the URL field change during a scan:

Website URL or local file pathhttps://www.example.com PauseFinish Early & ScanCancel Scan

Text description: scan controls during a scan, with Pause, Finish Early & Scan and Cancel Scan buttons

Example of the scan controls during a scan: the Website URL or local file path field containing https://www.example.com, then Pause, Finish Early & Scan and Cancel Scan buttons.

• Pause holds the scan and Resume continues it. Pause isn't shown when Parallel Processing is on, and isn't available while the report is being built or the Local LLM Review is running; the button says so. Cancel Scan still works during the Local LLM Review.
• Finish Early & Scan stops discovering new pages and builds the report from the pages already scanned. Pages found but not yet visited aren't scanned. It is available only while pages are being discovered, and not with Parallel Processing.
• Cancel Scan stops the scan straight away and cleans up its temporary data. It isn't available while the report is being built, as the report is almost finished.

The time a scan takes depends on the size of the site and your settings. A large site can take a while, so you can leave it running. Only one scan runs at a time.

6. Open your report

When the scan finishes, the interface shows Scan Complete. For an HTML report, select View Report to open it. Buttons to download the companion CSV and screenshots also appear here. For a CSV or JSON report, the button reads Download CSV Report or Download JSON Report and downloads the file instead.

Scan Complete View ReportDownload CSVDownload Screenshots

If the heading reads No Pages Could Be Scanned, check the address you entered and try again. The Troubleshooting Guide covers sites that block or time out a scan.

Every report you create is listed under Past Reports in the scanning interface, with its date, size and format. Select a report's name to open it again, or use Search Reports to find one by site name or date. Reports stay there until you delete them.

Tip: In a new report, work through the Critical and Serious issues first. These are the problems most likely to stop someone using the site.

7. Related guides

• After Your Scan explains how to prioritise findings and what to check by hand.
• Report Anatomy walks through each part of the report, from the summary to tickets and exports.
• Scanning Behind a Sign-In shows how to scan content that needs an account.
• The Complete User Guide describes every setting and button in Octopus Scanner.