With 588 images and associated analyses for avoidance of damage to plastics, this manual is aimed at both professionals and students. Many technical terms and colloquial descriptions, explanations, and interconnections with related areas, together with the images, facilitate the reader in determining and describing the exact type of damage of a given sample. The images, from microscopic quality and damage analysis of molding materials, semi-finished products, and molded parts, are divided into 74 subject areas of plastics processing and application, and are classified based on over 2620 industry-standard technical terms. The analyses were performed with various light microscopes and a scanning electron microscope.