Making a How To Guide as Simple as 1, 2, 3
Do you need to show a client, support staff, or another lawyer how to do something, provide instructions, or educate them? The tools to record a quick video or create a step by step guide are well within your reach. In fact, you probably already have some in your toolbox. What are simple, low cost ways to create tutorials, manuals, or how to guides? Read on!
Scribe
The core function of Scribe is creating annotated screenshots of action on a screen. Every time you click, Scribe takes a screenshot and adds a description. For instance, if you want to document how to share a file with a client in Dropbox, open a new matter in your practice management application, or efile with the court you simply perform the action and Scribe runs in the background, recording each step. When you are finished you stop Scribe and your process is ready to edit.
Scribe stores your screen capture in a workspace. You can access the workspace via a browser and click on a capture to edit. You can go through each recorded step and add explanatory text to help guide the user through the process. You can drag and drop steps, add alt text to images for screen readers, insert additional steps, tips, alerts, and add headers and gifs between steps.
You can share individual steps or the entire tutorial from Scribe. You can share a link that opens the process in Scribe, embed the tutorial as an interactive guide on a WordPress website or in SharePoint, or export the capture to PDF.
There are pricing tiers for Scribe. Capturing processes that occur in the browser, including SaaS applications, basic editing, and sharing are part of the free tier. You are permitted to have up to 10 documents. The Pro Team is $12 per user per month (5 user minimum) and you can edit and redact screenshots, capture processes in any web, desktop or mobile application, customized and add branding, and there are more export options. For solos there is a Pro Personal plan that is $23 per month.
If the notion of being able to capture each step to create a user manual versus a video is appealing there are a number of alternatives to Scribe, including MagicHow which has a more generous free tier and is less costly for the paid plans.
Guidde
Guidde creates video tutorials, but with the addition of a lot of useful features that add value without manual editing. For instance, you can capture a process in Guidde and it will record the screen. Then it creates written instructions that are bookmarked to the video AND creates annotated screenshots similar to Scribe. Whether the intended audience likes written instructions or would rather watch a video tutorial Guidde has you covered by creating both.
Once you have recorded your tutorial you can go into the editor to add a voiceover or type in the narrative to use Text to Voice. You can insert text, shapes, images, overlays, and additional actions. You can add closed captioning as well if you add a voiceover.
When you finish editing your Guidde you can share it as a link, send via email, post on social media, copy to any product that supports HTML, or export to PDF and other formats with the paid plan.
Guidde also has integrations with Google and Microsoft products, plus Slack and Salesforce.
Guidde has a free plan with up to 25 videos and basic sharing and editing tools. Pro at $16 per user per month includes unlimited videos, custom branding, redaction and other features. The Business version costs $35 per user per month and adds privacy controls, text to voice generation, interactive actions and analytics.
Snagit
Snagit is a great and multifunctional screen clipping tool. You can capture and annotate any screen on your computer or mobile device or record a video.
For “team communication” you can combine Snagit with Screencast. As you record your screen, you can draw on your screen to highlight specific areas, highlight your cursor and animate your clicks. You can also swap back and forth between your camera and your screen to highlight your message and then return to the screen tutorial. This type of functionality may make Snagit exceptionally useful for creating client facing tutorials, such as how to prepare for a deposition, how to use the firm’s client portal, or even provide instructions on how to locate a particular place and where to park.
Screencast allows you to host the video tutorial and have discussions and comments. You can password protect the videos, permit access on a case-by-case basis, add AI generated captions, titles, and descriptions, and control comments. You can get a Snagit + Screencast Pro bundle for $109 a year.
ClipChamp
Starting with Windows 7, the Microsoft operating system came with a tool called the Problem Steps Recorder, which became the Steps Recorder in Windows 10. While you can still use the Steps Recorder to capture screenshots of action on your Windows machine, the program is being deprecated in Windows 11 during the next update phases and Microsoft suggests customers either use the Snipping Tool or transition to ClipChamp.
ClipChamp is a video editing tool built into Windows 11. Just search for Clipchamp in the taskbar or via the Start menu. Microsoft 365 subscribers get Clipchamp Premium. The tool gives you the ability to record your screen, audio, and/or video. It will generate auto captions with speech to text technology. It also has text to speech if you prefer to write your script and upload it.
ClipChamp has remarkably robust editing tools. You can crop, resize, add graphics, stock images and music, create closed captions, and much more. There is an AI video editor to help you pick a style and auto compose, add AI voiceovers, AI auto captions, plus automation of silence removal and much more. You can even add a brand kit.
ClipChamp can be used to create video tutorials that let you capture anything on your screen from a how-to process to a presentation, to a coaching session. It is not specifically designed to create tutorials but can certainly be used for that purpose.
Once you have finished editing you can save your .mp4 video wherever you like, including local or cloud storage, your website, YouTube, or Stream for Microsoft 365 Business subscribers.
Zoom Clips
Zoom Workplace subscribers can record, edit, and share short form videos with Zoom Clips. You do not have to create a meeting just to record a video capture for audio, screensharing and video. Just open the Zoom app and click on “Clips”. You can record, review, auto-transcribe and share your video clips. You can store your recordings in a content library and add tags and titles to find your clips more easily. Viewers can comment on videos.
Conclusion
Whether you need to onboard new hires, document processes, provide training resources for your team, or to communicate with clients, there are a lot of tools that make it easy to record and share instructions and videos. Some of these tools may be included in subscriptions you already have so take advantage of the resources to get the best return on your investment for your firm.