# ClickHelp - AI-powered professional documentation tool > ClickHelp is a cloud-based documentation platform designed for software companies, technical writers, and product teams. It enables teams to create, publish, and maintain multilingual online documentation, knowledge bases, and context-sensitive help — without IT support. > # AI Content Usage Policy _Last updated: July 2025_ ClickHelp allows responsible access and use of the public content available at [clickhelp.com](https://clickhelp.com) by large language models (LLMs), AI assistants, and AI-powered search engines (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Google, etc.), under the following conditions: --- ## ✅ What We Allow - Indexing and referencing of public pages at `clickhelp.com`. - Display of ClickHelp content snippets in AI-generated answers, provided attribution is clearly included. - Linking to our content in AI tools, search results, or documentation aggregators. --- ## ❌ What We Do Not Allow - Any use of our content in model training datasets without our explicit written permission. - Access to gated, paywalled, or user-generated content, including customer documentation portals hosted under separate domains. - Scraping of the site beyond standard crawling practices (e.g., mass downloads, automated replication). --- ## 🔗 Attribution Requirements If you use our content in AI-generated outputs, you must clearly attribute ClickHelp as the source and provide a link back to the original page. 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Comments Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the... - [Terms of Use](https://clickhelp.com/legal/terms-of-use/) --- ## Posts - [What Is Documentation as Code and Why Do You Need It?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-documentation-as-code-and-why-do-you-need-it/): Imagine you have a large user guide for a game or an application. You can create it the old-fashioned way... - [Documentation 2026: From Human-Centric to AI-First](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-2026-from-human-centric-to-ai-first/): Imagine a DevOps engineer at a fast-growing fintech firm starting their Monday: they sift through outdated Confluence wikis for the... - [ClickHelp at MEGAComm 2026: How Documentation Reveals Product Problems Before Analytics Does](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-at-megacomm-2026/): Most teams treat documentation as reference material—something users check when they’re stuck. But documentation can be much more than that.... - [ClickHelp January 2026 Update: AI-Ready Export and Flexible Widget Deployment](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-january-2026-release/): Documentation teams are expanding where and how they deliver content — AI assistants need access to structured knowledge, users expect... - [Conferences for Technical Communicators 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/conferences-for-technical-communicators-2026/): Conferences remain one of the most effective ways for technical communicators to stay relevant in a profession reshaped by AI,... - [Types of Documentation Review and Why They Matter](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-documentation-review-and-why-they-matter/): Most teams do documentation review — but rarely in a consistent or structured way. Someone skims a topic for typos,... - [Paying Off Content Debt Before AI](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/paying-off-content-debt-before-ai/): In IT, AI is often used to help create documentation, such as API specifications, runbooks, and onboarding guides. But AI... - [ClickHelp December 2025 Release: WriteAssist Joins AI Suite](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-december-2025-release/): We couldn’t leave you without presents, so we’ve prepared our December update just in time for the holidays. This release... - [Interactive Documentation: The Future of Engaging Content](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/interactive-documentation-the-future-of-engaging-content/): Many traditional documentation formats, such as static PDFs, linear Word documents, and simple web pages, no longer meet users’ expectations... - [How to Put a Line in Word](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-put-a-line-in-word/): Adding a line in Microsoft Word is a simple way to visually separate sections, improve a document layout, or highlight... - [Do You Really Need Structured Authoring to Use iiRDS?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/do-you-really-need-structured-authoring-to-use-iirds/): iiRDS (Intelligent Information Request and Delivery Standard) is an open, vendor-neutral specification designed to enable more intelligent, context-aware delivery of... - [How to Add a Checkbox in Word](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-add-a-checkbox-in-word/): Checkboxes are a powerful feature in Microsoft Word, allowing users to create interactive lists, forms, and checklists. For instance, a... - [How Knowledge Graphs Can Improve Documentation Creation: A Business-Focused Technical Perspective](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-knowledge-graphs-can-improve-documentation-creation/): Knowledge graphs offer a transformative solution, turning disconnected documents, terms, and processes into a unified, intelligent network of information. By... - [Documentation Improvements That Lose Momentum—And How to Fix That](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-improvements-that-lose-momentum-and-how-to-fix-that/): You run a documentation audit. You find no-result search queries, fix findability issues, update task-based content. The first two weeks... - [Should You Add an AI Bot to Your Docs? Here's What the Data Says](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/should-you-add-an-ai-bot-to-your-docs/): AI bots in documentation have become controversial. Some teams report great results: “Our bot cut support tickets by a third.... - [Documentation Signals That Point to Product Issues](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-signals-that-point-to-product-issues/): You’ve invested in good documentation. Your articles are well-written, properly structured, and users can find them through search. But some... - [Task-Based Content Audit: From 'How Do I...?' to Clear Answers](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/task-based-content-audit-from-how-do-i-to-clear-answers/): When users arrive at your docs with a clear task in mind—”I need to export this report” or “I want... - [New in ClickHelp: Universal Links, Import via API, Inactive Account Controls](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-november-2025-release/): The latest ClickHelp release focuses on practical improvements: Let’s take a look at what’s new! Universal Links: Share Once, Work... - [When Good Docs Hide Answers: A Practical Findability Audit](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/when-good-docs-hide-answers-a-practical-findability-audit/): Your team ships a feature. Documentation gets written—comprehensive, accurate, with screenshots and examples. Everything is reviewed and published. Then Support... - [Support Site Architecture and Documentation Role](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/support-site-architecture-and-documentation-role/): What Is a Support Site? A support website is a centralized platform designed to provide comprehensive assistance to consumers of... - [Self-Service Revolution: Redefining Customer Support Paradigms](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/self-service-revolution-redefining-customer-support-paradigms/): Customer support has undergone a revolution. What was once a phone-centric, agent-dependent process has transformed into a digital-first, self-service-driven ecosystem.... - [ClickHelp Update: Better AnswerGenius Responses, WCAG 2.2 AA, File Manager Improvements](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-october-2-2025-release/): We’re rolling out improvements that make everyday work simpler: AnswerGenius now gives more complete answers in chat (and does it... - [How Do I Create a Table of Contents in Word](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-do-i-create-a-table-of-contents-in-word/): A Table of Contents (TOC) in Microsoft Word helps readers navigate long documents by listing headings with page numbers. Below... - [A Guide to Different Types of Manuals in IT](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-manuals/): Manuals are a valuable resource in guiding end-users, technicians, and personnel to operate products, perform tasks, and adhere to procedures.... - [How to Create a Signature in Word](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-create-a-signature-in-word/): Sometimes, when you try to insert a signature into a Word document, the image may appear distorted or enlarged. Even... - [How to Delete a Page in Word: Step-by-Step Guide](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-delete-a-page-in-word-step-by-step-guide/): Deleting a page in Microsoft Word can sometimes be tricky, especially when the page is blank, hidden behind formatting, or... - [AI-Powered Knowledge Management: Transforming How Organizations Drive Information](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/ai-powered-knowledge-management-transforming-how-organizations-drive-information/): Many developers and creatives use tools like Notion, Obsidian, ClickHelp, and others to organize their knowledge. These platforms allow easy... - [AI Powered Knowledge Base: Revolutionizing Customer Support and Information Management](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/ai-powered-knowledge-base/): Imagine you’ve added AI to your company. It pulls answers from your knowledge base and auto-completes responses as you type,... - [The Documentation Debt You Can't See (Until It's Too Late)](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-documentation-debt-you-cant-see-until-its-too-late/): Your most experienced writer just left the company. A week later, the new hire asks: “Where do I even start?... - [ClickHelp Release – Turn User Behavior into Valuable Insights](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-october-2025-release/): Have you ever wondered how your users really interact with your documentation? You create guides, articles, and FAQs, but do... - [How to Write Code Documentation: Best Practices for Developers](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-code-documentation-best-practices-for-developers/): Clean, effective code is only half the battle for software developers. The other half is thorough documentation, which makes your... - [The True Cost of Reviewing Documentation in Word](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-true-cost-of-reviewing-documentation-in-word/): You’re building something important: critical documentation that informs users, guides developers, or ensures compliance. Your team is collaborating, diligently crafting... - [Types of Content Management Systems](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-content-management-systems/): Managing content effectively can be a real challenge. That’s where Content Management Systems (CMS) step in. If you need a... - [Secrets to Writing Requests for Proposal (RFPs) That Get Results](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/secrets-to-writing-requests-for-proposal-that-get-results/): Crafting a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a critical step in any project that requires outside expertise. A well-written RFP... - [Document Lifecycle with Version Control: From Creation to Archiving](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/document-lifecycle-with-version-control-from-creation-to-archiving/): Documentation is the lifeblood of any organization, but simply creating it isn’t enough. Effective management throughout the entire lifecycle—from creation... - [FAQ Systems vs. AI Bots: Which Is the Future of Customer Support?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/faq-systems-vs-ai-bots/): Today, delivering excellent customer support is essential for business success. Customers expect quick, accurate answers to their questions, and companies... - [What Is a Policy and Procedure Manual?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-a-policy-and-procedure-manual/): In modern business, a strong foundation is essential for long-term success. One often-overlooked but critical component of this foundation is... - [Cloud Services: Public vs Private vs Hybrid](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/cloud-services-public-vs-private-vs-hybrid/): Onsite hosting has been the de facto standard for businesses for decades—but then cloud computing came along. The key benefits... - [Top 20 Software Documentation Tools in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/top-20-software-documentation-tools/): Imagine that you have recently started a new role as a TW (technical writing) specialist at a software company that... - [New in ClickHelp: Rebuilt File Manager](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-july-2025-release/): Ever spent more time managing files than actually working on your documentation? You’re not alone. Whether it’s hunting down that... - [CHM Files: The Complete Guide to Creation, Editing, and Usage](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/chm-files-the-complete-guide-to-creation-editing-and-usage/): Ever hit that F1 key in a Windows app and see a helpful window pop up? Chances are, you’ve stumbled... - [How to Insert a Video in Documents – A Complete Guide for ClickHelp](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-insert-a-video-in-documents-a-complete-guide-for-clickhelp/): Insertion of videos into your content is one of the most effective ways to engage and educate users. Whether you’re... - [What It Takes to Be an AI Documentation Specialist](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-it-takes-to-be-an-ai-documentation-specialist/): Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are revolutionizing businesses worldwide, driving innovation and transforming operations across industries. As these... - [HTML Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/html-manual-the-ultimate-guide-for-beginners-and-beyond/): HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the backbone of web development. It provides the structure and layout for web pages,... - [How to Embed Math Equations in Documents: A Complete Guide for All Formats](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-embed-math-equations-in-documents-a-complete-guide-for-all-formats/): Embedding math equations in documents enhances clarity and professionalism, particularly in academic, scientific, and technical writing. This comprehensive guide will... - [Readability Metrics Explained: How to Measure and Improve Your Text’s Clarity](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/readability-metrics-explained-how-to-measure-and-improve-your-texts-clarity/): Clarity in writing is more important than ever. Whether you’re crafting a blog post, a technical report, or marketing copy,... - [Dale-Chall Readability Formula: How It Works and When to Use It](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/dale-chall-readability-formula-how-it-works-and-when-to-use-it/): In presenting new information, clarity is more essential than ever. Whether you’re addressing students, experts, or a general audience, your... - [Why Your Business Needs Project Management Software](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/why-your-business-needs-project-management-software/): Effective project management plays a critical role in achieving organizational goals and enhancing team efficiency. Whether you run a large... - [ClickHelp AI Suite Launch: Talk to Docs and Scale with Ease](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-june-2025-release/): Your documentation used to just sit there. You wrote it. You published it. Maybe someone read it. But things have... - [How to Insert Links in Documents and ClickHelp: A Step-by-Step Guide](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-insert-links-in-documents-and-clickhelp-a-step-by-step-guide/): Today, the ability to seamlessly insert links into your content is crucial. Whether you’re working on a document, crafting an... - [Task Management Software: What to Know Before You Buy](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/task-management-software/): If you’re trying to become more organized, efficient, and—most importantly—ensure tasks don’t slip through the cracks, it’s time to consider... - [What Is the SMOG Index – A Complete Guide to Readability Scores](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-the-smog-index-a-complete-guide-to-readability-scores/): Understanding the readability of a text is crucial for writers, marketers, educators, and anyone aiming to ensure their content is... - [Top 8 Document Collaboration Tools for Teams](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/top-document-collaboration-tools-for-teams/): Document collaboration software has become essential in today’s digital world, where teams need to stay aligned and work seamlessly together.... - [The Ultimate Guide to Your Product Manual](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-your-product-manual/): When you start using a new digital product, device, or gadget, it’s an exhilarating experience—you’re eager to see how well... - [Best Practices for Making User Assistance More Engaging](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-practices-for-making-user-assistance-more-engaging/): User assistance (UA) is essential for helping users navigate and use software applications effectively. It is closely tied to user... - [Documentation Guide: How to Write Clear and Effective Documentation Step-by-Step](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-guide-clear-effective-step-by-step/): One of the biggest challenges in writing documentation is not knowing what the final product should look like. Common questions... - [Management Plan Essentials: What, Why, and How](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/management-plan-essentials/): If you ask a project manager for a project plan, what do you usually expect? What do you consider a... - [The Fall of STC: the Profession at the Crossroads](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-fall-of-stc-the-profession-at-the-crossroads/): To the technical communicators reading this—your profession is not dying. It’s evolving. And with the right tools, the best is... - [7 Best Readme Alternatives for Documentation in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-readme-alternatives-for-documentation/): In the speed of modern development, solid documentation isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the bedrock of success for any product or... - [Lewin’s Change Model in Action: How to Prepare, Implement, and Sustain New Processes](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/lewins-change-model-in-action/): As the world rapidly evolves in response to changing business landscapes, companies must also adapt to address new challenges, technologies,... - [TOC: A Key Organizational Tool for Readers](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/toc-a-key-organizational-tool-for-readers/): Imagine that you are using Microsoft Word and trying to figure out how to create a Table of Contents (TOC)... - [How to Write User-Friendly Help Topics for Beginners](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-user-friendly-help-topics-for-beginners/): Well-written help topics play a crucial role in making services and products accessible to users. When users encounter issues or... - [7 Best Paligo Alternatives for Component Content Management in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-paligo-alternatives/): Paligo is a cloud-based Component Content Management System (CCMS) built for structured authoring and getting your information out across all... - [How to Craft Effective Technical Datasheets](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-craft-effective-technical-datasheets/): Imagine a small engineering company that designs and manufactures high-current, high-voltage power resistors for a variety of applications—dynamic braking, neutral... - [The Secret Formula: People, Process, Technology in Knowledge Management](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/people-process-technology-in-knowledge-management/): While working on a project, you may often feel that knowledge slips through your fingers like sand. During the creation... - [7 Best Adobe RoboHelp Alternatives in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-adobe-robohelp-alternatives/): If you’re reading this, you’ve likely experienced RoboHelp’s limitations firsthand—the complex desktop software, the steep learning curve, and the challenges... - [Publishing Pipeline in Software Development](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/publishing-pipeline-in-software-development/): Having a structured publishing pipeline is essential for creating and maintaining comprehensive documentation. This process often begins during the development... - [7 Best Archbee Alternatives for Documentation and Knowledge Management](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/7-best-archbee-alternatives-for-documentation-and-knowledge-management/): So, you’re wrestling with wrangling all that crucial tech info, right? Archbee’s often the name that pops up—and for good... - [External Documentation Essentials](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/external-documentation-essentials/): Successful communication is essential for the growth and development of any company. One aspect of effective communication is external documentation,... - [7 Best Confluence Alternatives for Documentation in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-confluence-alternatives-for-documentation/): As companies sharpen their knowledge management game, many are realizing that the standard playbook might need a refresh. For a... - [Data, Information, Knowledge: What's the Difference?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/data-information-knowledge-whats-the-difference/): There is an old saying: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in... - [7 Best MadCap Flare Alternatives for Technical Documentation in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-madcap-flare-alternatives/): For years, MadCap Flare has been the trusty sidekick for technical writers, a tool packed with features that let you... - [Employee Training Materials: Internal Wikis and Corporate Knowledge Bases](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/employee-training-materials-internal-wikis-and-corporate-knowledge-bases/): Effective employee training is essential in today’s business environment, as it helps build a knowledgeable and skilled workforce. One of... - [Documentation Testing: Optimizing Documentation Quality](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-testing-optimizing-documentation-quality/): We often hear the term “customer-facing documentation,” but the problem is that it is frequently an afterthought. In fact, customer-facing... - [7 Best Document360 Alternatives for Knowledge Base Management in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/document360-alternatives/): You’re aiming to build a fortress of knowledge, a go-to hub for all tech info? Document360 is here for you,... - [Two-Factor Authentication from ClickHelp: Your Documentation Deserves Real Security](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-april-2025-release-2fa/): Here’s a stat that’s hard to ignore: in 2023 alone, over 50% of SaaS breaches stemmed from compromised user credentials.... - [Metrics That Matter: Supercharging Your Documentation with Data](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/frequency-metrics-for-documentation/): Frequency metrics are used in all industries where an “action” component is involved. For instance, you can measure the frequency... - [Bulleted Lists 101: When, Why, and How to Use Them](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/bulleted-lists-when-why-and-how-to-use-them/): A bulleted list is an extremely handy writing tool that can make life a lot simpler and content readable and... - [The Role of Collaboration Strategy in Organizational Success](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/collaboration-strategy-in-organizational-success/): Effective collaboration is essential for any organization that wants to succeed in today’s fast-paced environment. A well-defined collaboration strategy fosters... - [Creating a Fact Sheet: Best Practices for Clear and Engaging Content](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/creating-a-fact-sheet-best-practices/): Speed, clarity, and conciseness are essential for effective communication. Whether presenting data to stakeholders, creating educational materials for students, or... - [What Is a Documentation Plan?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-a-documentation-plan/): Documentation plan is a planning document used to outline a strategy for generating, managing, and distributing documentation for an organization... - [Flesch Reading Ease Formula: A Complete Guide](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/flesch-reading-ease-formula-a-complete-guide/): Ever wondered why some texts feel effortlessly clear while others leave you scrambling for a dictionary? The secret often lies... - [How to Create a PDF in ClickHelp: A Step-by-Step Guide for Professional Documentation](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-create-a-pdf-in-clickhelp-a-step-by-step-guide-for-professional-documentation/): PDFs are the gold standard for sharing professional documents. They preserve formatting, work on any device, and are easy to... - [How to Import a Space from Confluence to ClickHelp: A Migration Guide](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-import-a-space-from-confluence-to-clickhelp-a-migration-guide/): We’re not asking why you want to move your documentation from Confluence to ClickHelp. We’re just telling you how to... - [The Coleman-Liau Index: Why Use It for Readability?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-coleman-liau-index-why-use-it-for-readability/): Ever feel like you’re writing into a void? You’ve poured hours into crafting your docs but somehow something just doesn’t... - [How to Make a Background Image in Microsoft Word Template: Step-by-Step Guide](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-make-a-background-image-in-microsoft-word-template-step-by-step-guide/): The presentation of your documentation matters just as much as its content. An image instead of a plain white background... - [ClickHelp Release: PDF Import That Just Works](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-march-2025-release-pdf-import/): Importing PDFs into documentation should be easy—but most tools make it anything but. We tested 30 different solutions on the... - [Understanding A4 Paper Size – Dimensions, Uses, and Standards](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/understanding-a4-paper-size-dimensions-uses-and-standards/): Ever wondered why a sheet of A4 paper fits perfectly in folders, printers, and hands worldwide? This unassuming rectangle is... - [How to Write a Progress Report?](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-progress-report/): Suppose you are the manager of a software development team in a technology startup that is developing an innovative, cloud-based... - [Gunning Fog Index - How To Calculate and Example](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/gunning-fog-index-how-to-calculate-and-example/): Now more than ever, clarity and readability in writing are essential. One of the most widely used methods for assessing... - [Creating Effective Installation Guides: A Comprehensive Approach](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/creating-effective-installation-guides/): An installation guide is a crucial document that provides step-by-step instructions on how to install a product or software. Imagine... - [TechComm Conferences 2025](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/techcomm-conferences-2025/): Conferences serve as excellent platforms for technical writers and communicators to stay up-to-date on industry trends, gain new insights, and... - [February Release from ClickHelp: Next-Level Docs with AI Answers & Modern API](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-february-2025-release/): Your technical documentation isn’t just content – it’s often the first impression users get of your product. And for your... - [Types of Reports for Business Success: Key Formats for Better Decision-Making](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-reports/): Data-driven decision-making is essential for success. Consider an IT company that has just secured a large contract to develop a... - [20+ ChatGPT Alternatives](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/20-chatgpt-alternatives/): In the artificial intelligence ecosystem, many businesses have turned to tools like ChatGPT to streamline their operations, enhance customer interactions,... - [How to Write a Step-by-Step Guide That Anyone Can Follow](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-step-by-step-guide/): Effective communication relies on clarity and simplicity. Whether you’re showcasing a new software application, teaching a technical skill, or outlining... - [Digital Workplace: Key Components and Advantages](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-a-digital-workplace/): As technology continues to evolve and the way we work changes, the digital workplace has become essential for businesses looking... - [Understanding the Different Types of Knowledge: From Tacit to Tribal and Beyond](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-knowledge-from-tacit-to-tribal/): Knowledge is more than a collection of facts and figures; it’s a multi-dimensional concept that encompasses various forms and types.... - [10 Best Google Docs Alternatives in 2026](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/10-best-google-docs-alternatives/): Have you ever worked on a group assignment and suddenly felt that Google Docs wasn’t quite meeting your needs? Maybe... - [Trends 2025: Insights in Tech Writing](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/tech-writing-trends-2025/): As we approach 2025, the landscape of tech writing continues to evolve rapidly, driven by advances in technology and shifts... - [12 AI Tools for Technical Writers](https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/ai-tools-for-technical-writers/): Technical writing serves as an important tool in converting complex information into user-friendly documentation in the world of ever-changing technology.... --- ## Events - [Why your AI bot isn't fixing your documentation](https://clickhelp.com/events/feb_26/) - [Why your AI bot isn't fixing your documentation](https://clickhelp.com/events/document-feedback-loop/) - [Make your docs and support holiday-ready with AI Suite](https://clickhelp.com/events/see-ai-suite-features-in-action/) - [System over symptoms: What a failed AI experiment taught us about fixing tech docs](https://clickhelp.com/events/system-over-symptoms-what-a-failed-ai-tool-taught-us-about-fixing-tech-docs/) - [PDF Documentation: The Industry Standard You Can't Afford](https://clickhelp.com/events/pdf-documentation-the-industry-standard-you-cant-afford/) - [ClickHelp to Build Smarter Documentation: AI assistant, Block Editor, Reader Notifications](https://clickhelp.com/events/clickhelp-to-build-smarter-documentation-ai-assistant-block-editor-reader-notifications/) - [PDF: The Silent Money Pit](https://clickhelp.com/events/pdf-the-silent-money-pit/) - [Effective technical writing: Top single-sourcing practices beyond content reuse](https://clickhelp.com/events/effective-technical-writing-top-single-sourcing-practices-beyond-content-reuse/) - [From ugly to user-friendly: the impact of a well-designed documentation interface](https://clickhelp.com/events/from-ugly-to-user-friendly-the-impact-of-a-well-designed-documentation-interface/) - [AARRR ye ready? How documentation and AI drive business growth](https://clickhelp.com/events/aarrr-ye-ready-how-documentation-and-ai-drive-business-growth/) --- ## Glossaries - [Backlog](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/backlog/): Every strategic product or project requires ongoing support and improvement. Whether it’s bug fixes discovered by users, enhancements proposed by... - [Online Documentation Portal](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/online-documentation-portal/): An online documentation portal is a web resource that hosts various online documentation a company provides. Sometimes it is also... - [Online Help](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/online-help/): Online help is a topic-based information delivered to software users in an electronic form to provide assistance or information. The... - [Ontology](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ontology/): Usually, the term “ontology” refers to the philosophical study of being. In technical writing, an ontology is a collection of... - [Operation and Maintenance Manual](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/operation-and-maintenance-manual/): Operation and maintenance manual (O&M Manual) is a type of technical documentation that describes how to use some product correctly... - [Operation Manual](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/operation-manual/): Operation manual is a technical writing deliverable that instructs the end-user on the documented product: what is it, what is... - [Operations Manual](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/operations-manual/): Operations manual (not to be confused with operation manual) is a type of technical documentation that is assigned to the... - [Ordered List](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ordered-list/): A list of elements that is sorted in a specific order. Even though an ordered list is a broad term... - [Pace Layering](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/pace-layering/): Pace layering is a term that is about changes at different rates for different groups within one company. For example,... - [Policy and Procedure Manual](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/policy-and-procedure-manual/): Policy and procedure manual is a type of technical documentation that states business goals and policies and communicates appropriate standards... - [Pre-classified and Post-classified Systems](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/pre-classified-and-post-classified-systems/): Following the gathered information about your users, you can program the CMS to render the information in different displays according... - [Press Release](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/press-release/): A press release (it’s also known as a news release, press statement, media release) is a document or a video... - [Product Description](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/product-description/): A product description is a piece of writing that describes the benefits and features of a product to a customer.... - [Programmer Guide](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/programmer-guide/): A programmer guide is a document that’s written for programmers. It’s most commonly associated with computer hardware, electronic goods, and... - [Proposal](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/proposal/): A proposal is a document that aims to persuade the reader to approve a proposed project or implement a proposed... - [Quality Assurance](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/quality-assurance/): Quality assurance as a common term can be described as the permanent procuring of the product’s quality. Whatever the sphere... - [Quick Start Guide](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/quick-start-guide/): A quick start guide (QSG) is a shortened version of a manual. It aims to make a buyer familiar with... - [Readability Score](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/readability-score/): A readability score is a computer-calculated index that helps technical writers learn what level of education a reader will need... - [Release notes](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/release-notes/): Release notes are documents that describe changes made in a product. They can contain descriptions of new features, bug fixes,... - [Remote Configuration](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/remote-configuration/): Remote configuration – a software development technique which allows to modify particular features of an app (mostly mobile) remotely without... - [Rendering](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/rendering/): Rendering (image synthesis) – the term of computer graphics which defines the process of generating a photorealistic or non-photorealistic image... - [Report](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/report/): A report is a document with information that’s written for a specific audience and purpose. Reports may refer to specific... - [Research Proposal](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/research-proposal/): A research proposal is a summary of your proposed research, generally in the sciences or academia. It outlines the area... - [Review](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/review/): Review is a process of checking and verifying documentation to watch if it was correctly written. In other words, this... - [RFP Document](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/rfp-document/): RFP stands for a request for proposal. It’s a document that is usually written by an organization, often a government... - [RFQ Document](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/rfq-document/): RFQ stands for a request for quotation. It’s a document that an organization submits to potential suppliers to elicit quotations... - [Robots.txt](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/robots-txt/): Robots. txt is a special text file web developers use to help the search engines index their web resource correctly.... - [SaaS](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/saas-software-as-a-service/): Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, is a could-based service or product. Users do not download and install software on their computers, they... - [Scrum Master](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/scrum-master/): The Scrum Master role is a part of the Scrum framework. The Scrum Master is a leader of the Scrum... - [Scrum](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/scrum/): Scrum is an agile process framework that helps teams work together. According to the Scrum approach, a team breaks large... - [SDK Documentation](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/sdk-documentation/): SDK stands for a software development kit. An SDK is a set of software development tools used for developing applications... - [Semantic Architecture](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/semantic-architecture/): Semantic architecture is a concept in the software architecture. Here are some goals of semantic architecture: to describe a system... - [SEO](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/seo/): SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization – a process of improving a web resource visibility and ranking by... - [Single-Sourcing](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/single-sourcing/): Single-sourcing may have different definitions related to various spheres of activity. First of all, the ‘single-sourcing’ term is used when... - [Sneak Peek](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/sneak-peek/): Sneak peek is an opportunity to see something before it is officially released to the public. Here is an example... - [Snippet](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/snippet/): Snippet is a special term used in programming. It describes a small part of a machine or source code or... - [Software Design Document (SDD)](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/software-design-document-sdd/): Software Design Document (SDD) is a document that describes the architecture of a software product. It is one of the... - [Software Documentation (Application Documentation)](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/software-documentation-application-documentation/): Software documentation is written material, images, or video instructions that come with computer software. As a rule, software documentation explains... - [Software Localization](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/software-localization/): Software localization can be described as the process of adapting software to the culture and language of an end-user. Despite... - [SOP](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/sop/): A Standard Operating Procedure (an SOP) is documentation that contains detailed and step-by-step instructions on how workers should carry out... - [Structured Authoring](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/structured-authoring/): Structured authoring is an XML-based methodological approach to technical writing where content and form are separated. It has topic-based information... - [Structured Writing](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/structured-writing/): Structured writing – a form of technical writing that is used in the sphere of creation of structured documents. It... - [Style Guide](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/style-guide/): A style guide is a document that contains standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It can also... - [Support Site](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/support-site/): A support site is a resource intended to provide the customer or end user with information and support. This site... - [Taxonomy](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/taxonomy/): Taxonomy is a term that represents the formal structure and hierarchical representation of information objects. It organizes knowledge to make... - [Technical Communication](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-communication/): Technical communication is a field that includes any form of communication, for example: Communicating with using technologies, for example, social... - [Technical Communicator](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-communicator/): A technical communicator is a person who works in the technical communication sphere. Usually, technical communicators write documentation, user manuals,... - [Technical Description](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-description/): A Technical Description is a document that is created for readers; it gives information about a product, mechanism, process; it... - [Technical Report](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-report/): A technical report is a document that describes the progress, results, or process of scientific or technical research. A technical... - [Technical Specification Document](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-specification-document/): A technical specification is a detailed document that defines a set of technical requirements that a product should have. A... - [Technical Specification](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-specification/): A technical specification is a type of the technical standard that includes a set of documented requirements to be satisfied... - [Technical Standard](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-standard/): A technical standard is a formal document that establishes requirements in regard to technical systems. It can include uniform technical... - [Technical Translations](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-translations/): Technical translation is a specific type of translation connected with scientific and technical materials. Technical translation demands possession of a... - [Technical Writer](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-writer/): A professional writer who creates various types of technical documentation, helping people understand how to use a product or a... - [Technical Writing Tool](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-writing-tool/): When people say “Technical Writing Tool”, they mean one of the software programs used by technical writers to produce documentation.... - [Technical Writing](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-writing/): Technical Writing is a form of technical communication that involves creating content to convey complex information in a clear, concise,... - [Table of Contents (TOC)](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/toc/): A table of contents (TOC) is a navigation element for readers used in many types of writing: from technical documentation... - [Tone of voice](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/tone-of-voice/): The tone of voice is about how your business comes through in your words, both written and spoken; it’s also... - [Training Documentation](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/training-documentation/): Training documentation is a type of technical documentation used to provide instructions and manuals for product users. In other words,... - [Training Manual](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/training-manual/): A training manual is a booklet or a book with instructions that aim to improve the quality of a performed... - [Translation Management System (TMS)](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/translation-management-system/): A translation management system (TMS) is a system that supports complex translations. It allows companies to centralize and automate the... - [Troubleshooting Documentation](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/troubleshooting-documentation/): First of all, what is troubleshooting? Troubleshooting is a process of searching for the source of a problem in order... - [Tutorial](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/tutorial/): Tutorials are a special type of documentation whose primary purpose is to provide help at the very beginning of a... - [UI Design](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ui-design/): UI Design can be described as the process of creating the user interface of the software, program, or any device.... - [User Assistance](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/user-assistance/): User assistance is a broader term than online help and includes a tutorial and procedural information. User assistance is a... - [User guide](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/user-guide/): Another name for User Manual. User guide is a document or a set of documents that give assistance to the... - [User manual](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/user-manual/): Another name for User Guide. A user manual is a type of technical documentation that helps people use, maintain, and... - [UX designer](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ux-designer/): UX is an acronym for User Experience. A UX designer is a person who helps software developers design the user... - [Web API](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/web-api/): Web API is a specially created programming interface used for web servers or web browsers that is characterized by limitations... - [Web Design](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/web-design/): Web design is a bunch of web development responsible for creating app interfaces. In more complicated words, it is a... - [Web Help](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/web-help/): Web Help is a one of the online help variants. It can be delivered both through the Internet as online... - [White Paper](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/white-paper/): A white paper is a report or guide that addresses a particular topic, for example, help readers understand an issue,... - [WYSIWYG](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/wysiwyg/): WYSIWYG stands for “what you see is what you get”. In computing, a WYSIWYG editor allows users to edit content... - [CMS](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/cms/): Acronym for content management system. It’s a software application that is used to manage, edit and create digital content. The... - [Community](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/community/): It’s a modern name of Forum. Community may be an information platform where users may post, discuss, collaborate, give advice... - [Compiled HTML Help (CHM Help)](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/compiled-html-help-chm-help/): Is an online help format that was developed by Microsoft. It contains an index, HTML pages, hyperlinks and other tools.... - [Component Content Management System (CCMS)](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/component-content-management-system-ccms/): It’s a part of content management system that manages modification and creation of digital content. Each component refers to a... - [Cross-platform](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/cross-platform/): Also known as multi-platform software or platform-independent software. It’s a computer system that can run on multiple types of computing... - [DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture)](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/dita/): DITA – Darwin Information Typing Architecture is an open standard defined and maintained by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee. The... - [Forum](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/forum/): It’s a web site where people may communicate, discuss different issues, share ideas and so on. Forums are usually thematic.... - [Knowledge Management Tool](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/knowledge-management-tool/): Knowledge Management Tool is a technique that helps to create, use, share and manage information and knowledge of a company.... - [Knowledge base](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/knowledge-base/): Nowadays, the development of modern technologies and science demands greater and greater amounts of information to work with all the... - [Online Troubleshooter](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/online-troubleshooter/): It’s a step-by-step guide. Online Troubleshooter helps users to solve problems or tells what to do if an application or... - [PDF](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/pdf/): PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It’s a format of electronic documents that may contain page images, diagrams, hyperlinks and... - [Screenshot](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/screenshot/): May also be called a “screen capture”. It’s an image of a computer screen or a mobile device and it... - [Subject-matter expert](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/subject-matter-expert/): Also known as SME or domain expert. It’s a person who has deep knowledge of a particular topic, function, process,... - [Wiki](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/wiki/): Wiki- it’s a website that allows users to add, delete and complete the content by using a browser. The most... - [Administrative Guidance](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/administrative-guidance/): An administrative Guide is a list of non-binding recommendations that’s developed by the administrative agency. It describes how to comply... - [Agile software development](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/agile-software-development/): Agile describes approaches to software development. It focuses on team collaboration, continual planning and learning, innovation, empowerment, incremental delivery, short... - [Agile Sprint](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/agile-sprint/): Modern digital and non-digital products often require significant time, resources, and coordination across multiple operations and teams. Managing such complexity... - [API Documentation Tool](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/api-documentation-tool/): API documentation tool is special software or program used for API documentation. Such a tool takes part in creating instructions... - [API documentation](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/api-documentation/): API (or Application Programming Interface) refers to a set of rules (functions, variables, classes, protocols, etc. ) that specific systems... - [API](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/api/): API stands for application programming interface. It’s a communication interface definition that allows two applications to “talk” to each other.... - [Assistant Panel](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/assistant-panel/): Assistant panel is a type of Context Sensitive Help. It looks like a special area in the application UI –... - [Audit](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/audit/): An audit is an objective examination of documents, statutory records, books, vouchers, and accounts of an organization to clarify the... - [Authoring](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/authoring/): Authoring – the process of writing an electronic document or software program, mostly a hypertext or multimedia application. It happens... - [Backup](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/backup/): Backup is a process that implies building a data copy on any digital media with the further purpose of its... - [Breadcrumb](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/breadcrumb/): A breadcrumb is a navigation element in the user interface. Typically, the breadcrumb shows where you are in terms of... - [Bulleted list](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/bulleted-list/): A bulleted list is an unordered list of items where every item has a graphical bullet. The bullets may be... - [Bulletin](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/bulletin/): The rapid pace of changes occurring in all spheres of life demands a constant flow of information, as people want... - [Callout](https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/callout/): A callout is a graphical element used in user guides. It consists of a text block that gives some description... --- ## Release notes - [ClickHelp Release Notes: November 2025](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-november-2025/): ClickHelp November 2025: Universal Links route readers to accessible content automatically. API now supports large file uploads and imports from... - [ClickHelp Release Notes: October 2025 (AnswerGenius Quality)](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-october-2025-answergenius-quality/): This release greatly improves AnswerGenius — your readers get better answers, faster, in any language. We also upgraded accessibility standards... - [ClickHelp Release Notes: October 2025](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-october-2025/): This month, we are giving you a direct line to your readers' thoughts. The new AnswerGenius usage report shows you... - [ClickHelp Release Notes: July 2025](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-july-2025/): July 2025 ClickHelp: New File Manager with search and bulk operations, API docs 10x faster, AnswerGenius API and localization. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: June 2025](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-june-2025/): This June, we’re launching ClickHelp AI Suite — a new paid add-on with a flexible AI points system (CAPs). AnswerGenius... - [ClickHelp Release Notes: April 2025](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-april-2025/): TOTP authentication, smarter search behavior in AnswerGenius, and performance enhancements — here’s what’s new in the April 2025 ClickHelp release. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: March 2025](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-march-2025/): New in ClickHelp in March 2025: PDF import, faster topic loading, and new default styles for new users. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: February 2025](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-february-2025/): Enhanced API docs, AnswerGenius is now generally available. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: December 2024](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-december-2024/): New block editor, improved loading times, and various user experience changes! - [ClickHelp Release Notes: October 2024](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-october-2024/): Here's what's new... - [ClickHelp Release Notes: September 2024](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-september-2024/): Here’s what’s new in ClickHelp in September of 2024. Fixed bugs. Performance and stability improvements. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: August 2024](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-august-2024/): Here’s what’s new in our latest update. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: June 2024](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/june-2024/): The summer has begun, and with it comes the latest update for ClickHelp. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: May 2024](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-amber-maintenance-update-may-2024-release-notes/): Here's what's new in ClickHelp in May of 2024. - [ClickHelp Release Notes: March 2024](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/amber-maintenance-update-march-2024/): Here's the ClickHelp changelog from March 16, 2024. - [ClickHelp Amber Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2023-amber/): ClickHelp consistently maintains its position as the foremost user-friendly help authoring tool. The Amber update brings forth numerous enhancements and... - [ClickHelp Blossom Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2023-blossom/): Our Blossom release signifies a new era for ClickHelp. We're transforming the Contributor experience, starting with the navigation and Author... - [ClickHelp Wave Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2022-wave/): The Wave release brings refreshing changes and additions to ClickHelp: Swagger/OpenAPI import functionality, extended ClickHelp API, ability to export and... - [ClickHelp Echo Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2022-echo/): In the Echo update, we improve translation management functions, the topic editor, the whole publishing process, and much more. You... - [ClickHelp Rainbow Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2021-rainbow/): ClickHelp Rainbow update is devoted to translation management. We've added the Translation Module: a new translation project type, Translator Dashboard... - [ClickHelp Gecko Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2020-gecko/): ClickHelp Gecko brings in improvements in many product areas: more flexible permissions, better tables editing, new reader UI templates, better... - [ClickHelp Oasis Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2019-oasis/): This ClickHelp Oasis Update introduces significant improvements to such product functions like topic editing, branding, accessibility, Global Find and Replace,... - [ClickHelp Aurora Polaris Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2019-aurora-polaris/): In the Aurora Polaris update, we improve the topics review functions, the Table of Contents panel, the whole publishing process,... - [ClickHelp January 2018 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2018-january/): In this update, we introduce a new Team Review process with a special Reviewer role. You can now easily give... - [ClickHelp April 2017 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2017-april/): We've added some nice features and performance improvements in this minor update. - [ClickHelp February 2017 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2017-february/): In this update, we have made major usability improvements in many areas of ClickHelp user interface, making it easier to... - [ClickHelp June 2016 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2016-june/): Starting with this update, you can easily create mobile-friendly responsive documentation without extra efforts. We are also adding translationg support,... - [ClickHelp October 2015 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-october/): This update brings many usability improvements of the WYSIWYG editor, Review Notes list, and the general ClickHelp UI. We have... - [ClickHelp June 2015 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-june/): Content migration becomes easier with MS Word & HTML Import, the teamwork is better with Topic Versioning, you can now... - [ClickHelp March 2015 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-march/): This ClickHelp update adds Web Help output support with Index and Search functions, nice improvements of the Restricted Access functionality,... - [ClickHelp January 2015 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-january/): This ClickHelp Update introduces significant improvements into such product functions like teamwork and workflow, topic editing, documentation portal search, Restricted... - [ClickHelp October 2014 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2014-october/): Online documentation portals must look nice! With this release, we are giving more functionality to brand your portal, making it... - [ClickHelp July 2014 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2014-july/): To provide technical writers with better authoring experience, this ClickHelp release introduces many improvements in the WYSIWYG topic editor. Now... - [ClickHelp March 2014 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2014-march/): In our March update, ClickHelp has got an updated Projects page. We have made this page responsive, more valuable, and... - [ClickHelp November 2013 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-november/): This update of ClickHelp adds many new functions related to documentation export, and user management. Now you can export documentation... - [ClickHelp July 2013 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-july/): With this release, we are introducing content snippets support, additional teamwork functions, and more. - [ClickHelp June 2013 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-june/): In this release of our documentation tool, we are adding support for conditional content in the article body. With this... - [ClickHelp April 2013 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-april/): Take a look at those ready-to-use project templates for online manuals! They are created by our designer to help you... - [ClickHelp February 2013 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-february/): Starting with this release, you can use your own domain name for your ClickHelp Documentation Portal. We have also added... - [ClickHelp December 2012 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2012-december/): In this ClickHelp release, we are adding the Restricted Access functionality, so you can give access to to some documents... - [ClickHelp October 2012 Release Notes](https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2012-october/): Starting with this release, you can use the HTTPS protocol for higher safety when creating technical documentation. Strong SSL encryption... --- ## Resources - [Technical Writer Career Guide](https://clickhelp.com/free-download/technical-writer-career-guide/) - [HTML Templates for User Manuals](https://clickhelp.com/free-download/online-documentation-html-templates/) - [Types of Technical Documentation](https://clickhelp.com/free-download/types-of-technical-documentation-ebook/) - [Technical Writing: Readability and Text Metrics](https://clickhelp.com/free-download/technical-writing-readability-and-text-metrics/) - [SEO and Technical Writing](https://clickhelp.com/free-download/seo-and-technical-writing/) - [Responsive Layouts: Getting Started Guide](https://clickhelp.com/free-download/responsive-layouts-getting-started-guide/) - [Techcomm Industry: Job Analysis and Forecast](https://clickhelp.com/free-download/techcomm-industry-job-analysis-and-forecast/) --- # # Detailed Content ## Pages - Published: 2024-08-21 - Modified: 2024-08-21 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/lastportal/ ClickHelp - Online Documentation Tool, Software for Technical Writers Back to top Product Features Overview Flexibility and Power Topic Content Editing Single-Sourcing and Content Reuse Collaboration and Teamwork Easy Navigation and Full-Text Search In-Depth Analytics and Reporting Security and Reliability Translation Management Integrations Content Import and Migration Use Cases Software User Guides and Manuals Knowledge Base Online Tutorial Тraining Documentation Case Deflection Developer Documentation Context Help API Documentation Policies and Procedures Our Customers Portal Gallery Customer Feedback Blog Pricing Log inProceed to your portal.Free TrialTrialRequest DemoDemoSearch Home Product Features Overview Flexibility and Power Topic Content Editing Single-Sourcing and Content Reuse Collaboration and Teamwork Easy Navigation and Full-Text Search In-Depth Analytics and Reporting Security and Reliability Translation Management Integrations Content Import and Migration Use Cases Software User Guides and Manuals Knowledge Base Online Tutorial Тraining Documentation Case Deflection Developer Documentation Context Help API Documentation Policies and Procedures Our Customers Portal Gallery Customer Feedback Blog Pricing Search Free TrialRequest Demo Webinar: Our new AI experiment failed. Here’s why that’s perfect. Starts on October 23 at 5:00 PM CET () Register for event → AI-powered all-in-one documentation toolAuthor, host and deliver your technical documentation in a single portal! Request demoCompanies from 100+ countries use ClickHelp for their documentation managementAll in One Solution for Various Use CasesGet inspired with the types of documentation you can easily create with ClickHelp.Case DeflectionDeliver a great customer experienceLearn moreOnline TutorialTeach techically complicated tasks on the spotLearn moreContext-Sensitive HelpConfigure CSH to your preferenceLearn morePolicies and ProceduresArrange efficient communication among employeesLearn... --- - Published: 2024-02-29 - Modified: 2025-10-01 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/legal/privacy-policy/ Who we are Suggested text: Our website address is: https://clickhelp. com. Comments Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic. com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. Media Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website. Cookies Suggested text: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two... --- --- ## Posts - Published: 2026-02-18 - Modified: 2026-02-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-documentation-as-code-and-why-do-you-need-it/ Imagine you have a large user guide for a game or an application. You can create it the old-fashioned way — in Word, emailing files back and forth, arguing about which version is the latest, and manually merging changes. Or you can manage documentation the same way developers manage source code. This idea is exactly what led to the Documentation as Code (Docs as Code) approach. What Is Documentation as Code? Documentation as Code is an approach where documentation is created, stored, reviewed, and published using the same workflows and principles as software development. Instead of treating documentation as a separate artifact, teams manage it alongside source code. In practice, this means: documentation is written in plain text formats such as Markdown or AsciiDoc; files are stored in version-controlled repositories (most commonly Git); changes are made through branches and pull requests; documentation updates go through peer review before publication; publishing is automated, often via CI/CD pipelines. As a result, documentation becomes an integrated part of the product lifecycle rather than a set of disconnected files. Why Documentation as Code Matters As software projects grow, documentation often struggles to keep up. It is updated late, stored in different places, or maintained by people who are not closely involved in development. Documentation as Code addresses this problem by embedding documentation directly into the development workflow. In large engineering-driven organizations such as Microsoft and Google, documentation-as-code practices are widely adopted across many teams, especially where documentation must evolve rapidly alongside the product. How... --- - Published: 2026-02-11 - Modified: 2026-02-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-2026-from-human-centric-to-ai-first/ Imagine a DevOps engineer at a fast-growing fintech firm starting their Monday: they sift through outdated Confluence wikis for the latest Kubernetes configs, dig up static PDFs buried in email threads and Slack channels, and comb through Zendesk tickets just to answer a routine BigQuery question. Hours are lost weekly to this documentation chaos that stalls sprints and breeds errors. Google Cloud's move to consolidate technical documentation under docs. cloud. google. com marks a major step in centralizing developer resources. By bringing guides, API references, and code examples into a single, well-structured portal with improved search and navigation, Google illustrates a key 2026 trend: transforming fragmented, human-focused documentation into AI-ready, structured knowledge systems. While big tech vendors lead the way, industries from cloud computing to fintech are exploring whether unified, semantically rich documentation portals will become standard or remain an innovation for the elite. In this article, we explore the key trends shaping documentation in 2026: from AI-ready knowledge bases and semantic search to unified portals and structured knowledge management, using Google Cloud’s example and its implications for DevOps, fintech, SaaS, and beyond. Google Cloud's Pioneering Portal Google Cloud’s docs consolidates the entire documentation ecosystem into a single portal, covering guides, API references, and code examples. It features fast load times, clear navigation, and enhanced search to help developers quickly locate what they need. The homepage is organized into key sections, including Generative AI, Data Analytics, Databases, Security, Networking, Observability, Storage, and Industry Solutions for retail, healthcare, and finance. Resources... --- - Published: 2026-02-04 - Modified: 2026-02-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-at-megacomm-2026/ Most teams treat documentation as reference material—something users check when they're stuck. But documentation can be much more than that. It's an early warning system for product issues, a window into user confusion, and a source of insights that often surfaces problems before support tickets or analytics dashboards. ClickHelp will be presenting at MEGAComm on 11-12 February, 2026 with our talk "Documentation as a Product Sensor: Turning User Struggles into Actionable Insights. " We'll share how to turn documentation into a listening tool and what to do with the signals it reveals. What We'll Cover Working with hundreds of documentation teams through ClickHelp, we've learned that user behavior in documentation tells a story. The pages they search for, the questions they ask AI assistants, the paths they take through content; these patterns expose gaps in both documentation and the product itself. At MEGAComm, we'll show: How user behavior reveals product problems. Certain patterns in documentation usage consistently point to issues in the product experience. We'll demonstrate what these patterns look like and how to spot them in your own docs. What AI interactions tell you about content gaps. When users turn to AI assistants embedded in documentation, their questions reveal what's missing or unclear. We'll share real examples of how these interactions uncovered both documentation and UX issues. How to turn these insights into action. Finding problems is one thing. Knowing what to fix first and how to collaborate across teams is another. We'll walk through how product, engineering, and... --- - Published: 2026-01-29 - Modified: 2026-01-29 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-january-2026-release/ Documentation teams are expanding where and how they deliver content — AI assistants need access to structured knowledge, users expect help wherever they work (not just in documentation portals), and managing multiple publication variants becomes more complex as product lines grow. The January 2026 release addresses these scenarios with Markdown export designed for AI workflows, independent AnswerGenius configuration for external sites, and improvements for managing multi-publication projects. AnswerGenius for External Sites: Separate Configuration from Portal  AnswerGenius, our AI-powered bot, can be used beyond your documentation portal. During beta testing, some customers embedded the widget in their websites and products. Based on their feedback, we've seen that external placements often need different appearance and behavior than the portal widget. For example, a SaaS company might embed AnswerGenius in their application's help panel with concise responses tailored to in-app workflows, while their public documentation portal provides comprehensive technical explanations. A B2B software vendor might want a professional, brand-aligned widget on their marketing site to answer pre-sales questions, while their technical docs use different terminology and prompt instructions. To support these scenarios, we've separated the configuration into two independent sections: Portal Widget — Controls AnswerGenius behavior inside your ClickHelp documentation portal External Widget — Controls AnswerGenius when embedded in external sites, applications, or marketing pages Each section has independent settings: Enable or disable — You can enable the external widget without activating it on your portal, or vice versa Custom prompts — Set different terminology, response styles, or instructions for each context Primary... --- - Published: 2026-01-21 - Modified: 2026-01-21 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/conferences-for-technical-communicators-2026/ Conferences remain one of the most effective ways for technical communicators to stay relevant in a profession reshaped by AI, automation, and emerging content platforms. In 2026, events emphasize end-to-end content systems, including AI-assisted authoring, semantic search, content governance, and unified portals serving both humans and AI agents. Writers, information architects, and content strategists can explore production-ready solutions, compare industry approaches, and validate roadmaps for leading teams. Beyond learning, conferences provide career leverage. They offer direct access to hiring managers seeking AI workflow experts, structured content specialists, and cross-functional collaborators. Workshops and informal discussions spark portfolio ideas, mentoring relationships, and even job offers. Strategic event planning has become essential for technical communicators working across software, hardware, fintech, and developer tooling industries. Conferences are a great place to connect with peers, share insights, and see how documentation trends are shaping the industry. ClickHelp participates regularly, contributing our expertise and engaging with the community. — Alexander, CEO & Co-founder of ClickHelp In this article, we highlight the top conferences for technical communicators in 2026, breaking down key themes, event categories, and specific gatherings organized by month. Key Themes at 2026 Techcomm Conferences These five themes dominate 2026 conference programs as technical communication evolves toward AI-integrated, scalable content systems: AI-first authoring and review: Integrating LLMs into workflows for draft generation, terminology consistency, review pipelines, and safety checks. Structured content and governance: Using metadata, taxonomies, DITA, Markdown with front matter, and Docs-as-Code to scale content across products, locales, and channels. Developer portals and unified... --- - Published: 2026-01-14 - Modified: 2026-01-14 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-documentation-review-and-why-they-matter/ Most teams do documentation review — but rarely in a consistent or structured way. Someone skims a topic for typos, someone else checks technical details “when there’s time,” and approval often happens informally in Slack or email. As a result, very different activities are all called documentation review: analyzing support tickets to decide what to write, SME comments on draft content, spell checks, or a final managerial sign-off. This ad hoc approach works only up to a point. Over time, outdated topics remain published, factual errors slip through, and it becomes unclear who is responsible for the final version. Documentation quality depends on individual effort rather than on a predictable process. To make documentation reliable and scalable, review needs to be broken down into clear stages, each with its own goal, checklist, and owner. In the fast-moving IT environment, publishing documentation without such a review cycle can have serious consequences. Outdated instructions or incorrect troubleshooting steps frustrate users, increase support tickets, and reduce product adoption. This is why documentation review matters. A structured review process ensures content is accurate, relevant, and clear. By applying multiple review types, organizations reduce errors, build user trust, and lower support costs. In this article, we focus on the main types of documentation review: topic relevance, fact accuracy, content quality, language and style, and final approval. We’ll explain why each step matters, provide practical checklists, and give real-world examples to make the process actionable. Topic Relevance Check The first step in reviewing IT documentation is... --- - Published: 2025-12-24 - Modified: 2025-12-23 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/paying-off-content-debt-before-ai/ In IT, AI is often used to help create documentation, such as API specifications, runbooks, and onboarding guides. But AI can only work well if the source content is accurate and well-structured.   When documentation is outdated, inconsistent, or poorly structured, it creates what is known as content debt. AI working with such documentation can produce errors, such as incorrect code snippets, failing runbooks, or misleading instructions. For example, AI might generate deployment steps from old guides that do not reflect recent infrastructure changes. It might also mix terminology from different teams, creating instructions that do not work in practice. Such mistakes reduce team productivity and increase operational risks. Before implementing AI, it is crucial to pay off content debt. Clean, consistent, and well-structured documentation allows AI to generate accurate outputs and improves both user experience and internal workflows. What Is Content Debt? Content debt is a metaphorical extension of technical debt, a concept introduced by Ward Cunningham in 1992. Technical debt describes the long-term cost of shortcuts in code, design, or documentation that accelerate development but require more maintenance later. Content debt applies this idea to documentation: outdated guides, inconsistent terminology, and incomplete specifications slow teams down and introduce risks when AI consumes the content. In IT, this shows up as poorly maintained API docs, stale runbooks, and fragmented instructions. The metaphor emphasizes “paying off” content debt in advance so that AI has reliable, high-quality data to work with. AI's Role and Limitations in IT Documentation AI is increasingly... --- - Published: 2025-12-18 - Modified: 2025-12-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-december-2025-release/ We couldn't leave you without presents, so we've prepared our December update just in time for the holidays. This release brings WriteAssist into the AI Suite with important improvements, makes AnswerGenius customization publicly available, and adds several other conveniences. WriteAssist Levels Up: Context-Aware Editing Joins AI Suite WriteAssist now analyzes the entire documentation structure, including parent, sibling, and child topics, rather than just individual paragraphs. Suggestions now align with the broader context of your project. Refined prompts ensure WriteAssist maintains your specific brand voice. Also, WriteAssist has moved to the CAPs payment model as part of the AI Suite, joining AnswerGenius with shared credits. Monitor your usage for both WriteAssist and AnswerGenius on a single subscription page. AnswerGenius Custom Prompts: Make It Speak Your Language You can now define how AnswerGenius interacts with your users. Custom prompts allow you to:  Teach the bot specific acronyms. Switch between formal, casual, or technical styles. Set a custom name and personality for the chat interface. Imagine a healthcare documentation portal where users type "BP" and AnswerGenius immediately knows they mean "blood pressure," not "business process. " This is just one example of how custom prompts help AnswerGenius understand your domain and communicate more effectively. Other Improvements AnswerGenius API: One License, Full Access.   AnswerGenius API access no longer requires a separate API license. If you have an AI Suite, you can integrate AnswerGenius into your applications immediately.   Whether you're building a help widget for your SaaS product, embedding smart search in your... --- - Published: 2025-12-10 - Modified: 2025-12-10 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/interactive-documentation-the-future-of-engaging-content/ Many traditional documentation formats, such as static PDFs, linear Word documents, and simple web pages, no longer meet users’ expectations for engagement. Studies show that typical completion rates for static e-learning courses and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are less than 25%, suggesting inefficiency in one-size-fits-all linear content delivery. Interactive documentation and dynamic training, however, use bite-sized, engaging content and personalized learning paths, which have been shown to increase completion and engagement rates significantly. Completion rates of 75–85% and retention improvements of up to 50% are possible through interactive means. Not only does interactive documentation increase completion and comprehension, but it also enhances user satisfaction while reducing the need for additional support. Interactive documents equip users with self-service support, improve product understanding, and drive engagement through multimedia, step-by-step guides, and real-time feedback  What Is Interactive Documentation? Interactive documentation goes beyond static text and images; it's a living resource that can include videos, audio clips, animations, buttons, embedded forms, and interactive infographics. Users can move through content at their own pace, jump to relevant sections, and participate in quizzes or polls. This format is particularly useful for sales, marketing, HR, training, and customer support teams presenting complex information in a digestible way. The term "interactive documentation" emerged as static documents became insufficient for modern digital needs. As technology advanced, more participatory content became necessary. It is also called dynamic documentation, living documentation, or smart documentation, reflecting its ability to adapt to user needs. Related concepts include interactive learning, guides, and manuals,... --- - Published: 2025-12-04 - Modified: 2025-12-04 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-put-a-line-in-word/ Adding a line in Microsoft Word is a simple way to visually separate sections, improve a document layout, or highlight important information. Whether you want a horizontal or vertical line, Word offers several methods to help you insert lines quickly and efficiently. This guide will show you how to add lines using the keyboard, ribbon, borders, and shapes — and will also share how to do the same in ClickHelp. If you want more control, you can follow the steps below and choose the method that works best for your document. The Impact of a Line: How a Simple Line Influences Readability, UX, and SEO Parameters A tech writer or copyeditor often needs to insert a horizontal line in Word when organizing a document, such as separating sections in a user manual, dividing content in a report, or marking a change in topics. For example, when creating a step-by-step guide, a horizontal line can clearly separate each major step, making the page easier to read and follow. This helps readers quickly identify transitions between sections and improves clarity. Impact on Readability A horizontal line significantly improves readability by creating clear visual breaks. Research shows that structured content with separators helps readers process information faster, reducing eye strain and confusion. Readers are much less likely to skip important information when the text is visually divided into blocks. Proper spacing and separators can reduce missed content by up to 30%. Impact on UX Horizontal lines also influence usability. Clear visual separation can... --- - Published: 2025-12-03 - Modified: 2025-12-03 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/do-you-really-need-structured-authoring-to-use-iirds/ iiRDS (Intelligent Information Request and Delivery Standard) is an open, vendor-neutral specification designed to enable more intelligent, context-aware delivery of technical information. It allows organizations to package and deliver documentation so that users and systems can find exactly what they need, when they need it, across various platforms and devices. A common misconception is that iiRDS only works well with structured authoring, such as XML-based frameworks like DITA or S1000D. However, this is not the case. Even content created in tools like ClickHelp or other non-XML editors can benefit from iiRDS. The standard is flexible enough to work with less structured content, making it valuable for a wide range of documentation processes. What Is iiRDS in Simple Terms iiRDS enables intelligent, context-aware delivery of technical information. Imagine a user looking for a specific instruction, such as replacing a brake pad on an Audi Q5. Rather than searching through a dense PDF or scrolling endlessly in a help portal, iiRDS allows systems to provide exactly the right information, in the correct format, at the moment it’s needed — whether that’s via a PDF, an HTML5 Help system, or a dynamic Web Help portal. The key difference between iiRDS-enabled content and simply “well-structured text” lies in semantic metadata linked to each topic. Semantic metadata describes what the content is about, why it is useful, and how it relates to other information or user needs. For instance, metadata can indicate that a procedure is a “maintenance task,” intended for a “Q5 model,” and... --- - Published: 2025-12-02 - Modified: 2025-12-02 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-add-a-checkbox-in-word/ Checkboxes are a powerful feature in Microsoft Word, allowing users to create interactive lists, forms, and checklists. For instance, a technical writer might use checkboxes in a user manual for creating a step-by-step troubleshooting checklist. This would allow the readers to check off each step as they go through the steps toward the resolution of an issue. Such a method enhances clarity and minimizes errors while making the document more interactive and user-friendly. Today’s article will explain, in a step-by-step manner, how to insert checkboxes into Word documents intended for both digital use and printing, how to add a checkmark symbol, how to make an active checklist using the Developer tab, how to customize checkboxes for usage in printed forms, and provide useful tips to build the most understandable and user-friendly checklist or form. Why Use a Checkbox in Word A checkbox in Word makes your document interactive and easier to use. It allows users to mark items as complete, select options, or fill out forms directly within the file. This is particularly useful when tracking business, training, or personal documents is required. A project manager may insert checkboxes into a Word document to track 15 key tasks related to a product launch, enabling the team to visually check off each item as it is completed. In training, instructors can create interactive quizzes in which checkboxes are provided for multiple-choice answers, making response collection and grading more manageable. Working without checkboxes in Word makes tracking progress and collecting answers more... --- - Published: 2025-11-26 - Modified: 2025-11-26 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-knowledge-graphs-can-improve-documentation-creation/ Knowledge graphs offer a transformative solution, turning disconnected documents, terms, and processes into a unified, intelligent network of information. By adding semantic meaning and context to content, they make documentation easier to search, navigate, personalize, and maintain at scale. Today, knowledge graphs are becoming indispensable for businesses seeking to improve content management, user engagement, and operational efficiency. By adopting them, organizations can turn static documentation into dynamic, user-focused knowledge bases. Imagine a system that not only links related topics seamlessly but also anticipates what the user needs—offering tailored content and context-aware search results. The result? Less frustration, faster issue resolution and users finding exactly what they need, when they need it. For example, Microsoft Learn has introduced a domain-specific knowledge graph connecting concepts, tutorials, APIs and troubleshooting guides across Azure and Microsoft 365. This structure supports semantic search and content suggestions aligned with a learner’s journey. In this article you’ll learn the basics of knowledge graphs, why they’re vital for modern documentation strategies, and the key technical components that underpin them. We’ll also cover obstacles and best practices to help you successfully implement a knowledge-graph-driven documentation system—and turn your content into a strategic asset. Overview of Knowledge Graphs A knowledge graph is a data model that structures information as entities and the relationships between them. This semantic framework captures the contextual meaning behind data points, enabling machines to interpret content more similarly to how humans do. For businesses, this means moving beyond traditional keyword-based systems toward knowledge-driven platforms that connect concepts, products, processes, and customer queries into one interconnected web. This approach is often illustrated through a graph diagram, where: Circles (nodes) represent entities such as “Person,” “Task,” or “Project. ” Lines (edges) represent relationships such as “works on,”... --- - Published: 2025-11-26 - Modified: 2025-11-26 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-improvements-that-lose-momentum-and-how-to-fix-that/ You run a documentation audit. You find no-result search queries, fix findability issues, update task-based content. The first two weeks go great—metrics improve, your team is impressed, you're making visible progress. Week three hits. Other priorities pile up. The spreadsheet with your audit findings sits untouched. Week four, you're back to reactive mode—answering the same support questions you thought you'd solved. By week six, you're essentially back where you started. Here's what we've learned from talking to technical writers at hundreds of companies: This isn't about motivation or discipline. The problem is that you launched a project when you needed a system. Projects have endpoints. Systems sustain themselves. This article will show you what changes when documentation work becomes systematic, introduce a proven framework (Kaizen) that works whether you're a solo technical writer or part of a team, and give you a 30-minute weekly ritual that actually sticks. Before and after: What changes when documentation becomes systematic A technical writer at a B2B SaaS company with 50 employees was the only writer supporting their product documentation. Like many technical writers, they were stuck in reactive mode—responding to support tickets one at a time, never seeing the bigger picture. Here's what happened over four weeks when they shifted to a systematic approach: Week 1: Started tracking search queries using GA4 site search. Over the week: 676 queries from 109 users. Discovered clear patterns: "reset password" (26 searches) "where export" (22 searches) "API key" (18 searches) Action: Renamed "Password Management Guide" to... --- - Published: 2025-11-25 - Modified: 2025-11-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/should-you-add-an-ai-bot-to-your-docs/ AI bots in documentation have become controversial. Some teams report great results: "Our bot cut support tickets by a third. " Others are skeptical: "Bots are too basic, they'll never replace a human. " Who's right? Both. But the question isn't whether bots are "smart enough. " The question is: what kinds of questions are people actually asking? Here's what we've learned from analyzing question patterns across hundreds of documentation portals with AI assistants: A significant portion of user questions—often 50-70%—are straightforward, factual queries that can be answered directly from existing documentation. The strategic question isn't whether bots are sophisticated enough, but whether your documentation receives enough of these automatable questions to justify implementation. And the data usually shows they do. Real story: Why a bot with limited content still cut support tickets by a third A financial services software company was migrating their documentation online. Like many teams we see, they'd been maintaining offline PDFs for years and finally decided to move to a web-based documentation portal. This is a common trend: companies realize that searchable, linkable online docs serve users better than downloadable files. But the migration takes time. They decided to add an AI assistant to their new online docs—partly to modernize, partly because they'd heard mixed reviews and wanted to test it themselves. The problem: the migration was only 60% complete. Major features were still documented in old PDFs, not yet transferred to the online portal. The hesitation: "Should we wait until everything is online before... --- - Published: 2025-11-24 - Modified: 2025-11-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-signals-that-point-to-product-issues/ You've invested in good documentation. Your articles are well-written, properly structured, and users can find them through search. But some questions keep coming. No matter how well you write, certain topics generate the same searches, the same chatbot questions, the same support tickets—week after week. Here's what we've learned from hundreds of documentation portals: this isn't a documentation problem. It's a product signal. Smart documentation doesn't just help users—it reveals where your product's UX creates friction. This article shows you how to recognize these signals, collect the data, and communicate them to your product team in a way that drives actual changes. Real story: Questions about access that documentation couldn't fix A B2B SaaS platform saw persistent questions about account access and permissions: Search queries: "how to login" (43 searches) "where is my password" (28 searches) "can't access account" (31 searches) "what are my permissions" (19 searches) Their chatbot answered these questions correctly—linking to "Account Setup Guide" and "Understanding User Roles. " The articles were well-written, with clear screenshots and prerequisites. Yet support tickets didn't drop. 23 tickets per week, all variations of "I can't log in" or "I don't see the feature I need. " The docs team dug deeper. They read through the tickets and chatbot conversation logs. A pattern emerged: 87% of users wrote "didn't get welcome email" or "don't know my username" Users with Viewer role kept asking how to access features that required Editor role—but nowhere in the UI did it show what role they... --- - Published: 2025-11-21 - Modified: 2025-11-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/task-based-content-audit-from-how-do-i-to-clear-answers/ When users arrive at your docs with a clear task in mind—”I need to export this report” or “I want to reset a password”—they’re not looking for feature overviews or conceptual explanations. They want step-by-step instructions to get something done right now. But most documentation is organized around features and concepts, not the tasks people are actually trying to accomplish. Here’s what we’ve learned from hundreds of documentation portals: when task intent is clear but users still struggle, the problem is often in how content is organized and titled, not in the content itself. When someone searches for “export report,” they’re not looking for an overview of export capabilities. They’re looking for step-by-step instructions to get their data out of the system. If your article titles don’t make it obvious which page has those instructions, users will click through multiple articles, spend 20 seconds on each, and leave frustrated. This article shows you how to spot task intent in your data, structure content around what users are trying to do, and measure whether your task-based articles are actually helping. What task-seeking behavior looks like in your data When users have a specific task in mind, you'll see: Short, action-focused searches: "export," "delete account," "reset password"—just the core action Multiple clicks on similar titles: One search leads to 3-4 article clicks because users can't tell which has the instructions Low time-on-page: 15-30 seconds per article—scan, realize it's wrong, leave Repeat searches with different phrasing: "export" → "download report" → "save data" in... --- - Published: 2025-11-20 - Modified: 2025-11-21 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-november-2025-release/ The latest ClickHelp release focuses on practical improvements:  Link behavior: Share links directly from the address bar, and readers will be taken to the right version of the content they have access to.   API: Import docs from multiple formats, upload large files, and delete projects and publications.   Secure user management: Automatically disable inactive users to keep your workspace compliant. Let’s take a look at what’s new! Universal Links: Share Once, Work Everywhere We're introducing Universal Links — an upgrade to how URLs behave in ClickHelp. Now, any link to a topic, project, or publication in ClickHelp is smart. Copy a project-level URL, share it, and the reader will open the matching topic in the appropriate publication — automatically. Readers always see the most relevant version of the content they have access to. Works similarly to Smart Links but now applies by default to all links to project or publication topics when a reader does not have access to the target document. When this happens, the system will look for a version of the same topic among other publications of the project to redirect the reader there. Why It Matters Consistency: One URL works for everyone, in any role. Stronger user experience: Сlients always land on content they can access. Fewer support tickets: Readers always reach the correct version of a topic, as Universal Links automatically deliver the most current and accessible version for each reader. They remove the need to verify or curate links manually. When I’m chatting... --- - Published: 2025-11-18 - Modified: 2025-11-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/when-good-docs-hide-answers-a-practical-findability-audit/ Your team ships a feature. Documentation gets written—comprehensive, accurate, with screenshots and examples. Everything is reviewed and published. Then Support starts forwarding tickets: "I checked the docs but couldn't find how to do X. " You click the link they supposedly searched. The answer is right there. Page two of the search results. Or buried under a title that made perfect sense internally but means nothing to users. The content exists. It's accurate. It's just invisible. Here's what we've learned from hundreds of documentation portals: the problem isn't missing content—it's findability. The good news? It's surprisingly fixable once you know what to look for. This article will walk you through a practical audit you can run this week to uncover why your docs are hiding answers—and how to fix them with small, targeted changes. What "can't find it" actually looks like in your data When readers say they "couldn't find it," they're usually telling the truth from their perspective. The content exists, but something in the discovery path broke down. Here's what that looks like in real data: The search-and-bounce pattern: People type something into your docs search box, don't click anything, or click a result, immediately return to search, try another result, repeat, then leave. Ghost queries: No-result searches for terms that feel completely obvious to your team. You know you covered that topic. Your search engine doesn't. The multi-tab shuffle: Sessions where someone opens five similarly named topics in under a minute, skims each one, closes all of... --- - Published: 2025-11-12 - Modified: 2025-11-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/support-site-architecture-and-documentation-role/ What Is a Support Site? A support website is a centralized platform designed to provide comprehensive assistance to consumers of a service or product. It serves as a web-based, single point of access where users can find answers, resolve issues, and access resources with minimal direct interaction with support staff. Typically hosted online, a support site comprises a collection of tools and features aimed at enhancing self-service capabilities. The primary goals of a support site are to reduce the workload on customer support personnel by empowering customers to help themselves and to maximize overall customer satisfaction by delivering timely and easy-to-use solutions. With intuitive navigation and well-structured content, support sites help prevent user frustration and foster customer loyalty. Statistics underscore the impact of well-designed support sites. Companies with effective support platforms often see a 40–60% reduction in support requests. For example, organizations with comprehensive knowledge bases experience fewer escalations to live support agents, allowing support teams to focus on complex issues while users handle simpler queries independently. This approach not only lowers operating costs but also enhances user satisfaction by providing instant access to information. Architecture of a Modern Support Site Contemporary support site design is built on adaptive components that work synergistically to deliver seamless user experiences. Essentially, a support site comprises multiple elements designed to handle diverse user interactions and workloads. The principal components are: Knowledge Base: A centralized repository of articles, guides, and resources organized by topic, serving as the backbone of self-service. It allows users to... --- - Published: 2025-11-05 - Modified: 2025-11-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/self-service-revolution-redefining-customer-support-paradigms/ Customer support has undergone a revolution. What was once a phone-centric, agent-dependent process has transformed into a digital-first, self-service-driven ecosystem. This shift isn’t just incremental—it has fundamentally redefined how businesses interact with their customers, drastically reducing costs, accelerating issue resolution, and giving users unprecedented autonomy. Customers expect support anytime, anywhere. Millennials and Gen Z, in particular, demand instant, self-guided solutions over traditional phone interactions. The data is compelling: 81% of customers attempt to solve issues via self-service before contacting a live agent. Organizations that fail to embrace this revolution risk falling behind in efficiency, satisfaction, and competitive advantage. The Self-Service Ecosystem A successful self-service strategy requires an integrated ecosystem that addresses diverse customer needs: Knowledge Bases: Searchable repositories of articles, FAQs, and diagnostics that empower customers to self-solve issues. Interactive Wizards: Step-by-step guided workflows to help users troubleshoot problems. Video Libraries: Instructional videos for visual learners who prefer examples over text. Community Platforms: Peer-to-peer forums where customers can share solutions and experiences. AI Chatbots: Automated agents providing instant responses and escalating complex queries to humans. Mobile Apps: On-the-go access for self-service anytime, anywhere. An integrated, multi-channel approach ensures customers can resolve issues efficiently, preventing frustration from fragmented or inaccessible support channels. Example: Imagine a customer wants to return a product but doesn’t have time to call support. Through a mobile app, they access a step-by-step guide in the knowledge base, watch a short instructional video, and, if needed, get an instant answer from a chatbot. If the issue requires human... --- - Published: 2025-10-29 - Modified: 2025-10-30 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-october-2-2025-release/ We’re rolling out improvements that make everyday work simpler: AnswerGenius now gives more complete answers in chat (and does it faster), the Reader UI aligns with WCAG 2. 2 AA, the improved File Manager is built into the Topic Editor, imports from MadCap Flare bring index keywords, and WebHelp search in Japanese gets a small boost. What’s in this release AnswerGenius: Higher answer rates in chat, quicker responses, language-aware replies, and support for meta-questions like “What can you do? ” and “Who are you? ” Accessibility: The Reader UI now aligns with WCAG 2. 2 AA (previously 2. 1 AA). Topic Editor: The improved File Manager now powers image insertion and asset picking directly in the editor. MadCap Flare migration: Import now includes index keywords, reducing manual rework. WebHelp (Japanese): Slight relevance improvements for Japanese search. AnswerGenius: more complete answers, faster replies, in your reader’s language We put serious work into AnswerGenius—both its logic and its speed—and the results held up in testing. To validate, we used 200 difficult, real questions from our docs portal. In this run, the bot produced a content-grounded answer in more than 95% of cases and replied faster than before. A manual review found the answers high quality and, in many cases, more complete and actionable than earlier iterations. We’re proud of this step forward and glad to put it in your hands; keep the feedback coming so we can keep improving. AnswerGenius now follows the language of the question—ask in German, get an answer... --- - Published: 2025-10-28 - Modified: 2025-10-28 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-do-i-create-a-table-of-contents-in-word/ A Table of Contents (TOC) in Microsoft Word helps readers navigate long documents by listing headings with page numbers. Below you’ll learn how to insert, create subsections, customize, and update a TOC in Word—and how the ClickHelp TOC solves multi-author and web-publishing needs. Why You Need a Table of Contents in Word A table of contents is helpful because it: • Structures your document with clear headings and sections for easier reading. • Lets readers jump to important topics instantly. • Keeps long reports, manuals, or training materials organized. • Automatically reflects changes when you edit headings or pagination. How a Table of Contents Works in Word Word builds the TOC from built-in Heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3). Apply these styles to the paragraphs you want included. Word then creates a formatted list with numbers and links that update as needed. Tip: Manual formatting (bold, font size) doesn’t count. Use the Styles gallery (Home tab → Styles). How to Insert a Table of Contents in Word Working with large Word documents can be disorienting, so adding a table of contents makes navigation much easier and gives your document a polished, professional look. Here’s how to add one in both the desktop and web versions of Microsoft Word. For the desktop version of Word: 1. Open the Word document where you want to insert the table of contents. 2. Go to the References tab on the top ribbon. 3. Select Table of Contents. 4. Choose an automatic style,... --- - Published: 2025-10-22 - Modified: 2025-10-24 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-manuals/ Manuals are a valuable resource in guiding end-users, technicians, and personnel to operate products, perform tasks, and adhere to procedures. This is particularly relevant in IT, where technological complexity demands accurate, well-organized documentation. Understanding the different types of manuals enables organizations to develop tools that simplify product usage, enhance safety, and improve efficiency. This article explores the main categories of manuals through practical examples. What Is a Maintenance Manual? Maintenance manuals provide step-by-step instructions for maintaining and repairing equipment or systems to ensure long-term, reliable operation. They typically include maintenance schedules, troubleshooting instructions, and part replacement procedures. Practical Example: In IT, maintenance manuals are crucial for data centers and network hardware. For example, a server maintenance guide explains how to clean delicate components like fans and heat sinks without causing overheating, update firmware, replace failing hard drives, and ensure uninterrupted power via routine UPS battery tests. Following these manuals helps IT staff reduce hardware failures and maintain high system availability. Why Maintenance Manuals Are Irreplaceable A well-designed maintenance manual consolidates critical information into a single source, eliminating uncertainty and delays. Clear, concise instructions allow technicians to diagnose and resolve issues quickly, reducing downtime and the costs associated with unexpected failures. Such documentation promotes consistency by enforcing standardized procedures across teams, ensuring tasks are performed correctly and safely. Maintenance manuals are also crucial for safety. They outline proper handling, identify potential hazards, and provide emergency procedures, protecting both personnel and organizations. Moreover, they expedite the training and onboarding of new technicians,... --- - Published: 2025-10-20 - Modified: 2025-10-20 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-create-a-signature-in-word/ Sometimes, when you try to insert a signature into a Word document, the image may appear distorted or enlarged. Even if you delete it and try inserting a new signature line or copy it from another file, the same issue can occur. Adjusting the box size often just increases the zoom, making the signature appear too large. Such display glitches can happen when working with signatures in the Word editor. Still, signing and adding signatures to Word files remains a common and essential practice for contracts, agreements, and other formal documents. Including a verified signature helps maintain authenticity and professionalism. This tutorial will guide you through different ways to add signatures in Microsoft Word — from inserting scanned images to creating secure digital and electronic signatures with tools like DocuSign. Why Would You Need to Insert a Signature in Word? Adding a signature to a Word document allows you to: Sign files electronically or insert an image of your handwritten signature when printing isn’t practical. Ensure authenticity and give a professional touch to contracts, letters, and other formal papers. Use eSigning tools to speed up approval processes without the need to scan or fax documents. Sign securely with digital certificates that verify the signer’s identity. Many professionals and organizations rely on Microsoft Word for preparing and signing documents because it supports multiple signature methods — from simple image-based signs to advanced digital certificates. How to Add Signature in Word It is simple to add a handwritten or stored signature in... --- - Published: 2025-10-17 - Modified: 2026-02-13 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-delete-a-page-in-word-step-by-step-guide/ Deleting a page in Microsoft Word can sometimes be tricky, especially when the page is blank, hidden behind formatting, or in the middle of a complex document. This guide explains why you may not be able to delete a page, and shows step-by-step methods to remove any page safely, including solutions for iOS Word and ClickHelp users. Why Can't I Delete a Page in Word? You may notice that despite deleting content, a blank page remains in your document. Common reasons include: Hidden paragraph marks (¶) Page breaks or section breaks Objects or tables that occupy space Tip: Turn on formatting marks: Home → Show/Hide ¶. This will display paragraph marks, page breaks, and section breaks so you can see what is preventing the page from being deleted. Show/Hide ¶ button in Word Deleting a Blank Page in Word Blank pages often appear due to extra paragraph marks, page breaks, or section breaks. To delete a blank page in Word: Go to the blank page. Enable Show/Hide ¶. Place the cursor at the start of the page. Press Delete or Backspace to remove unwanted paragraph marks or page breaks. If the blank page is caused by a section break, select it (double dotted line labeled “Section Break”) and press Delete. For instance: If you encounter a page break marker like this one: Select it and press Delete to get rid of the blank page. How to Select and Delete any Page in Word Sometimes you need to delete a page... --- - Published: 2025-10-15 - Modified: 2025-10-15 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/ai-powered-knowledge-management-transforming-how-organizations-drive-information/ Many developers and creatives use tools like Notion, Obsidian, ClickHelp, and others to organize their knowledge. These platforms allow easy categorization and tagging of articles, code snippets, and other resources, enabling users to maintain a structured library of information that is quickly accessible when needed. Some professionals prefer dedicated knowledge management systems such as Roam Research or Evernote, which provide advanced features for linking ideas, creating interconnected notes, and building a dynamic network of information. Recently, the integration of AI agents has revolutionized knowledge management. By automating note organization, identifying relationships between content, and surfacing relevant information based on context, AI has transformed static knowledge bases into dynamic, intelligent ecosystems. AI-powered knowledge management now allows organizations to improve information access, employee productivity, and customer service experiences simultaneously. This article explores in depth what knowledge management is, how AI transforms it, the practical applications of AI, key features of AI-driven software, comparisons with traditional systems, and the best current AI solutions available. What Is Knowledge Management Knowledge management (KM) encompasses the strategies, processes, and systems organizations use to capture, store, organize, and share knowledge. KM deals with both explicit knowledge—such as documents, manuals, SOPs, and reports—and tacit knowledge, which resides in the skills and experience of employees. Effective KM ensures that the right knowledge reaches the right people at the right time, improving decision-making, problem-solving, collaboration, and overall productivity. Organizations increasingly rely on SaaS platforms to facilitate KM. Atlassian Confluence, for instance, serves as a centralized hub where teams collaboratively create,... --- - Published: 2025-10-08 - Modified: 2025-11-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/ai-powered-knowledge-base/ Imagine you’ve added AI to your company. It pulls answers from your knowledge base and auto-completes responses as you type, speeding up the work of support teams. It also summarizes conversations and automatically resolves simple inquiries. Chat functionality is included as well, directing routine questions and escalating to a human agent when necessary. This allows customers to receive faster answers and reduces busywork for teams, without fundamentally changing their workflow. An AI-powered knowledge base is transforming how companies store and share information with customers and internal teams. By leveraging artificial intelligence-driven knowledge software, organizations can deliver faster, more accurate answers and significantly improve the customer experience. Leading SaaS providers and multinational companies are adopting AI-powered knowledge engines to optimize support infrastructure and reduce resolution times. What Is an AI Knowledge Base? An AI knowledge base is a digital repository of information powered by artificial intelligence. Unlike traditional documentation systems, AI knowledge base applications leverage machine learning and natural language processing to understand user questions, provide relevant content, and learn incrementally through interactions. For instance, if a user asks a complex question, the system considers the surrounding context and instantly retrieves precise documentation or suggests appropriate resources. This capability benefits not only customers but also internal teams such as support agents and sales representatives, enabling them to locate answers quickly and streamline daily operations and onboarding. The typical implementation process for most teams is as follows: Begin with a tool for building a knowledge base integrated with the customer support system... --- - Published: 2025-10-07 - Modified: 2025-10-23 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-documentation-debt-you-cant-see-until-its-too-late/ Your most experienced writer just left the company. A week later, the new hire asks: "Where do I even start? " Half your content structure existed only in one person's head. The other half? Scattered across Google Docs in three different shared drives, a wiki that hasn't been updated since 2022, Slack threads that are now impossible to search, and someone's personal Notion workspace that you didn't even know existed. Welcome to documentation debt Your team ships features faster than you can document them. Writers leave without transferring knowledge. "We'll update the docs later" becomes "we never updated the docs. " Take Sarah. She's your go-to person for the API — not because she's the only one who understands it, but because she can actually explain it. She knows which endpoints are deprecated but still in use, which parameters have undocumented quirks, why the authentication flow works differently for legacy customers. She's translated all that complexity into answers that support can use. None of this is written down. Sarah's got it figured out, and everyone's learned it's faster to just ask her. When she goes on vacation, support's response time doubles. When she leaves for a better offer, that knowledge walks out with her. But even if Sarah had documented everything perfectly, you'd still have a problem. Documentation doesn't just need to exist — it needs to stay accurate. Say, you open a three-year-old article to update it. Ten minutes in, you're still figuring out why it references features that... --- - Published: 2025-10-01 - Modified: 2025-10-02 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-october-2025-release/ Have you ever wondered how your users really interact with your documentation? You create guides, articles, and FAQs, but do you know which answers actually help your users solve their problems?   At ClickHelp, we created a tool called AnswerGenius — an AI-powered assistant built right into your documentation. It allows users to ask questions directly within the docs and instantly get relevant answers. This way, they can find the information they need faster, while reducing the load on your support team. With this release, we’re introducing AnswerGenius analytics, which provides clear insights into user interactions, popular questions, and overall engagement. You can see exactly how users leverage your documentation, identify opportunities to optimize content, and make data-driven improvements. Managing your subscription can be tricky, so we’re introducing Monthly Subscription Expiration Notifications. They help you stay informed about upcoming renewals and ensure uninterrupted access to ClickHelp. AnswerGenius Analytics: Gain Clear Insights into User Engagement Knowing what works for your users is the first step to improving your content — and even more, to understanding how your product is actually used and perceived. When managing documentation, it’s important to understand which questions users ask most often so that you can focus on improving high-impact content. While Full Text Search reports already give you insights into what users are looking for in your documentation, AnswerGenius analytics takes this a step further. By analyzing user questions in chat, you get more context and a clearer picture of the real issues and pain points... --- - Published: 2025-09-24 - Modified: 2025-09-24 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-code-documentation-best-practices-for-developers/ Clean, effective code is only half the battle for software developers. The other half is thorough documentation, which makes your work visible, maintainable, and scalable. Whether you work alone or in a team, good documentation bridges the gap between people and code, simplifying collaboration and future updates. This article will guide you through the fundamentals of code documentation, offering best practices, examples, and tools to help you get started. Why Code Documentation Matters Before exploring the “how,” it’s important to understand the “why. ” Code documentation serves as a guide to your codebase, explaining what the code does, how it works, and why certain decisions were made. It lowers the learning curve for new team members, reduces maintenance errors, and improves the user experience for APIs or libraries. Poor documentation causes confusion, wasted debugging time, and even project abandonment. Good documentation, however, fosters innovation by enabling developers to build on existing work instead of reinventing it. Documentation is not optional—it is an essential part of professional software development that ensures transparency and efficiency. Types of Code Documentation Understanding the different types of documentation helps you tailor them to your project’s needs. Inline Comments Short notes added directly to code, explaining specific lines or sections. Use them sparingly—reserve comments for complex logic or non-obvious decisions. Example (in Python): def calculate_discount(price, discount_rate): # Apply discount rate to the original price discounted_price = price * (1 - discount_rate) return discounted_price # Returns the final price after discount Function and Class Documentation Also known... --- - Published: 2025-09-17 - Modified: 2025-09-17 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-true-cost-of-reviewing-documentation-in-word/ You're building something important: critical documentation that informs users, guides developers, or ensures compliance. Your team is collaborating, diligently crafting each section. Then the review phase arrives – and the familiar scenario unfolds: a master document in Word, a handful of reviewers, and a flurry of emails carrying attachments back and forth. Before starting the review, you might try to estimate the time and cost involved. However, even an approximate calculation is often difficult. For example, reviewing 1,000 pages of contracts, proposals, or work orders could take anywhere from a few hours to several full workdays depending on content complexity, sensitivity, and duplication. Consider another scenario: a team of three technical writers, developers, and subject matter experts working on 200 knowledge base topics. Each receives the document, makes edits in their own copy, and sends it back. Then comes the daunting task of consolidating, comparing, and reconciling all changes. Someone has to sift through every version, decide which edits to accept, and ensure nothing is lost. The Real Cost of Manual Review Even if your review process looks simple on paper, in practice it can be far more complex and costly. Consider a typical workflow: A document is drafted or updated with track changes. It’s sent to the first reviewer, then passed along to others sequentially. Each reviewer works on their own copy and returns it. Someone consolidates all edits manually. The final reviewer accepts changes, and the document is stored in the “approved” folder. In this process, weak points... --- - Published: 2025-09-10 - Modified: 2025-09-10 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-content-management-systems/ Managing content effectively can be a real challenge. That’s where Content Management Systems (CMS) step in. If you need a system where: colleagues log in through your organization’s existing SSO, pages can be previewed in a visual editor, content is available for SSR (server-side rendering), and pages connect easily to testing platforms, then a CMS is likely the right solution. However, the world of CMS is more nuanced than just "WordPress versus Drupal. " There are several CMS types, each designed for specific scenarios. Understanding these differences is key to selecting the right tool. What Is a CMS? At its core, a CMS is software that lets users create, manage, and modify content on a website or digital platform without specialized technical skills. It provides a user-friendly interface on top of the complex code, databases, and servers that power your digital presence. Beyond the Basics: Exploring CMS Types Over time, CMS platforms have evolved to serve diverse content needs. Here’s a breakdown of the most prominent types: Web Content Management System (WCMS) A WCMS is the most recognizable CMS type. It’s designed to manage website content — everything from text and images to videos and blog posts. Typical features include: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors for easy content creation Templating systems for consistent design and branding User management and permission controls SEO tools for search optimization Plugins and extensions for added functionality Examples: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Squarespace, WixIdeal For: Businesses of all sizes that need websites,... --- - Published: 2025-09-03 - Modified: 2025-08-20 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/secrets-to-writing-requests-for-proposal-that-get-results/ Crafting a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a critical step in any project that requires outside expertise. A well-written RFP acts as a compass, guiding potential vendors toward solutions that meet your needs. A poorly written one, however, can result in wasted time, irrelevant proposals, and projects that fail to deliver. This article reveals how to write RFPs that attract the right partners and set the stage for project success. What Is an RFP and Why Is It Important? At its core, an RFP is a formal document that organizations issue to request proposals from vendors for a specific project or service. It outlines requirements, expectations, and evaluation criteria, enabling vendors to assess whether they are a good fit and, if so, to present their proposed approach, methodology, and costs. The importance of a well-crafted RFP cannot be overstated. It: Clarifies Your Needs: Writing an RFP helps you clearly define project goals, scope, and deliverables. Attracts Qualified Vendors: A detailed RFP ensures you receive proposals from vendors with the right expertise. Facilitates Comparison: A consistent format allows you to compare proposals fairly and efficiently. Sets Expectations: The RFP lays the groundwork for contracts, outlining each party’s responsibilities. Reduces Risk: Careful vendor evaluation minimizes the chance of choosing a partner who cannot deliver. Who Is an RFP Manager? Ideally, executives should not be responsible for writing and managing bids — this role belongs to a specialist. A strong RFP manager requires a distinct skill set that must be developed separately, including... --- - Published: 2025-08-27 - Modified: 2025-08-13 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/document-lifecycle-with-version-control-from-creation-to-archiving/ Documentation is the lifeblood of any organization, but simply creating it isn’t enough. Effective management throughout the entire lifecycle—from creation to archiving—is essential. Consider a team where developers avoid using a version control system (VCS). Each works independently, storing code in personal locations. If a developer leaves without documenting their files, the team may lose access to nearly all versions, leaving only a single copy. Even with management encouraging VCS adoption, progress can stall. Checking changes in another developer’s project often requires manually retrieving and comparing archived code—a time-consuming and frustrating process. A VCS solves these problems by simplifying collaboration, tracking changes, and preventing data loss. Understanding its benefits can help teams overcome resistance and improve workflow efficiency. This article also explores version control as a key component of effective document lifecycle management, showing how it fits into the broader process and providing a roadmap for organizations to manage documents throughout their lifespan. Benefits of Version Control Systems (VCS) This scenario can happen to any game developer: You’ve been working on a new UI area, saved your progress, and went to sleep. The next day, you realize you accidentally modified a base prefab, breaking every menu in the game. Ctrl+Z no longer works after a restart. Instead of panicking, you turn to your VCS and restore the affected prefab files. Everything is back to normal. This is the power of version control. In Git, a commit is a saved snapshot of your project at a specific point. The key rule... --- - Published: 2025-08-20 - Modified: 2025-10-08 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/faq-systems-vs-ai-bots/ Today, delivering excellent customer support is essential for business success. Customers expect quick, accurate answers to their questions, and companies are continually searching for the most efficient and cost-effective ways to meet these demands. Two popular solutions for handling customer inquiries are FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) systems and AI-powered chatbots. While both aim to streamline the support process, they differ significantly in their capabilities and overall impact. So, which one represents the future of customer support? The Traditional Approach: FAQ Systems FAQ systems have been a cornerstone of online customer support for years. They consist of a predefined list of common questions and answers, usually organized by category and searchable by keywords. Advantages Cost-effective: FAQs are relatively inexpensive to create and maintain. While initial setup requires effort, ongoing costs are low since updates are only needed periodically. Easy to implement: Many CMS platforms and website builders include built-in FAQ features or plugins, making setup straightforward. Immediate answers: Customers can quickly find responses to common questions without waiting for a live agent. Consistent messaging: FAQs ensure all customers receive the same accurate information, reducing miscommunication. Reduces agent workload: By handling frequent inquiries, FAQs free up support staff to focus on more complex issues. It’s important to note that a chatbot still relies on this foundational knowledge—FAQs or a knowledge base—to provide useful answers. Without a well-maintained set of questions and answers created or curated by a support team, chatbots lack valuable data to function effectively. You can build a good bot... --- - Published: 2025-08-13 - Modified: 2025-08-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-a-policy-and-procedure-manual/ In modern business, a strong foundation is essential for long-term success. One often-overlooked but critical component of this foundation is the Policy and Procedure (P&P) Manual—a comprehensive guide outlining the rules, guidelines, and processes that govern an organization’s operations. More than just a set of rules, a P&P manual is a living document that fosters consistency, ensures compliance, and promotes efficiency at every level. It functions like an organization’s operating system, keeping everyone aligned and working toward shared goals. Without a well-defined, easily accessible manual, organizations risk inconsistencies, errors, and serious compliance issues. What Is a P&P Manual in Practice? A P&P manual is typically divided into clear, easy-to-navigate sections. For example, it might include topics such as Placing Orders, Processing Refunds, or Opening and Closing Procedures. Within these sections, information can be presented in a Question-and-Answer format, such as: When do we issue refunds? On which day of the week do we place orders? Who are our approved suppliers? This format not only guides employees in their day-to-day work but can also be used to test their knowledge and pinpoint areas where additional training or communication is needed. Common structural elements of a P&P manual include: Practical Work – Clear descriptions of what employees are expected to do, including specific tasks, quality standards, and “dos and don’ts. ” Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – Step-by-step processes for opening, operating, and closing the business. These may outline variations for peak hours versus slow periods, or client-facing versus non-client tasks. Employee Information... --- - Published: 2025-08-06 - Modified: 2025-08-06 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/cloud-services-public-vs-private-vs-hybrid/ Onsite hosting has been the de facto standard for businesses for decades—but then cloud computing came along. The key benefits of cloud computing are scalability and "right-sizing. " If the bill from one provider is too high, you can explore alternatives. In addition to major players like Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure, smaller data centers may offer more cost-effective solutions. The wide variety of cloud service providers is a major reason companies of all sizes now leverage the cloud to increase agility, reduce costs, and accelerate innovation. However, the cloud is not a one-size-fits-all solution. On-premise data handling remains a popular choice. In some cases, it can even be more cost-effective than cloud computing—especially when factoring in the right hardware, maintenance, and labor. That said, managing infrastructure locally also means assuming all legal and operational risks, including those related to natural disasters, fires, and power outages. These risks can be mitigated, but not eliminated, through insurance. As a result, some companies operate entirely in the cloud, while others prefer to host infrastructure locally. Sometimes the cloud is more affordable; other times, on-premise solutions make more sense. It all depends on the organization's needs and budget. Another key decision involves selecting the appropriate cloud deployment model—public, private, or hybrid. Understanding the differences between service models such as SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, and XaaS is also critical to unlocking the full potential of cloud computing tailored to your business. This comprehensive guide explores these cloud deployment and service models in depth, offering insights... --- - Published: 2025-07-30 - Modified: 2025-12-23 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/top-20-software-documentation-tools/ Imagine that you have recently started a new role as a TW (technical writing) specialist at a software company that develops cloud-based solutions. Your main responsibility is to overhaul and organize the company’s technical documentation. This includes migrating existing content, ensuring consistency, and establishing workflows for review and publication. Localization and translation will also need to be addressed down the line. As the first technical writer in the company, you’re also responsible for selecting the documentation tool the team will use. So, where do you begin, given the crowded landscape of tools—each claiming to be the ultimate solution for your documentation needs? First, you’ll need to identify the company’s specific requirements, research available options, and evaluate them carefully based on those needs. In this article, we’ll guide you through the key considerations for selecting the right documentation tool, explore different categories of tools you might consider, and share insights to help fellow technical writers facing similar challenges. Let’s dive in! What Are Software Documentation Tools? Software documentation tools are applications designed to help teams create, manage, and maintain documentation for software products. These tools streamline the process of writing, organizing, storing, and updating content—ensuring that everyone from developers to end-users can easily access the information they need. The best documentation tools support collaboration, version control, and efficient search. They improve product usability and support efforts while reducing the workload for technical writers and developers. Here are some of the core requirements you may want to evaluate: Ease of Use: The... --- - Published: 2025-07-24 - Modified: 2025-07-24 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-july-2025-release/ Ever spent more time managing files than actually working on your documentation? You’re not alone. Whether it’s hunting down that one image buried somewhere deep in your folders or juggling dozens of assets for a release, file management can quickly become a productivity killer. That’s why we rebuilt the file manager from the ground up — to support the way you work with content in ClickHelp: faster navigation, easier organization, and fewer clicks. Whether you're managing documentation assets, updating images, or organizing supporting files,this improved experience is designed to save you clicks and give you valuable time back. A Whole New File Manager Experience:  Ever wasted 10 minutes trying to find that one image you know you uploaded — but can’t remember where? Now you don’t have to. The updated file manager lets you search across all folders — instantly surfacing results, no matter how deeply buried they are. Releasing a new product version and need to share assets with the team? Instead of downloading each file one by one, just download the whole folder in one click. It’s perfect for collecting images, attachments, or documentation bundles for review or publishing. Not sure if a file is still in use somewhere? Right-click and select “Where is this file used? ” to see exactly where it appears in your projects — no need to leave the file manager or dig through topics manually. Сopying or moving files is now faster and clearer. The updated interface is easy to navigate, with a... --- - Published: 2025-07-21 - Modified: 2025-07-21 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/chm-files-the-complete-guide-to-creation-editing-and-usage/ Ever hit that F1 key in a Windows app and see a helpful window pop up? Chances are, you've stumbled upon a CHM file! Think of them as little digital books, bursting with info and ready to guide you through software, explain tricky tech, or even just offer a good read. This guide is your friendly introduction to CHM files – what they are, how to whip them up, how to tweak them just right, and how to tackle any little snags you might run into along the way. So, What Is a CHM File, Anyway? Imagine a super-organized digital scrapbook. CHM stands for "Compiled HTML Help," which is a fancy way of saying it's a bunch of web pages (HTML), images, and other resources bundled together in a single file. It includes a table of contents, an index, and even a search box. To make it clearer, consider this example: Suppose your company stores countless instructions, procedures, specifications, and checklists as . docx files across numerous folders. Navigation is a nightmare — especially during audits, when you need to find and present these documents quickly. Then one day, you receive a sample . chm file used by another company to store all this information. It looks like a website, with a navigation tree on the side and links between pages. It's clean, fast, and easy to use — a much better way to distribute documentation internally compared to Word files. In simple terms: A CHM file is like a... --- - Published: 2025-07-18 - Modified: 2025-07-17 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-insert-a-video-in-documents-a-complete-guide-for-clickhelp/ Insertion of videos into your content is one of the most effective ways to engage and educate users. Whether you're creating a user manual, a knowledge base, or a web help system, videos can explain complex processes more clearly than text alone. Inserting videos in ClickHelp is simple and flexible, allowing you to include visual tutorials, step-by-step guides, and demos. In this article, we will guide you through adding videos to your ClickHelp documentation, supported file types, and optimizing your videos for performance and accessibility. We will also cover how to add videos to websites and social media to extend your reach. Video Formats You Can Insert ClickHelp allows embedding videos from popular hosting platforms such as Vimeo, YouTube, and Wistia. These platforms handle encoding, streaming, and cross-device support, making them ideal for embedding in documentation. While ClickHelp does not host videos itself, you can embed videos in your documentation via third-party hosting services. Common video formats supported by most video hosts include: MP4 – The most widely supported video format across browsers and devices. WebM – An open, web-optimized format. OGG – Another open standard format, but less commonly used. For maximum compatibility and performance, we recommend hosting your videos on YouTube or Vimeo and embedding them using their provided embed codes. Inserting Videos in ClickHelp Documents ClickHelp offers multiple easy ways to embed videos directly within your documentation topics, using its built-in WYSIWYG editor and convenient Insert tab options. Here’s how you can add videos step-by-step, depending on... --- - Published: 2025-07-16 - Modified: 2025-10-08 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-it-takes-to-be-an-ai-documentation-specialist/ Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are revolutionizing businesses worldwide, driving innovation and transforming operations across industries. As these technologies continue to evolve at a rapid pace, the demand for precise, clear, and comprehensive documentation has never been greater. This growing need has given rise to a new role: the AI Documentation Specialist — a professional who bridges the gap between complex AI/ML concepts and accessible, user-friendly content. In this article, we’ll explore who an AI Documentation Specialist is, their typical responsibilities, where they are needed, the qualifications required, and how to break into this exciting and emerging field. Who Is an AI Documentation Specialist? An AI Documentation Specialist is a technical writer with deep expertise in documenting artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. While general technical writers may cover a broad range of topics across various fields, an AI Documentation Specialist focuses specifically on AI/ML subject matter—including algorithms, models, and tools—and can accurately convey complex technical information to diverse audiences. This specialist is often concerned with how AI and advanced software can help businesses and professionals work more efficiently. They are typically brought in to address the following questions: What repetitive or time-consuming tasks (such as documentation) does the team regularly face? Which parts of the workflow are inefficient or could benefit from automation? What data-heavy processes (e. g. , content creation or analysis) could be streamlined? Are there pattern-recognition tasks that consume a significant amount of time? What software-related pain points are causing friction in... --- - Published: 2025-07-15 - Modified: 2025-07-15 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/html-manual-the-ultimate-guide-for-beginners-and-beyond/ HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the backbone of web development. It provides the structure and layout for web pages, enabling developers to create visually appealing and user-friendly sites. Whether you're a complete beginner or looking to sharpen your skills, this guide will walk you through the essentials of HTML—from basic tags to advanced features—ensuring you have a solid foundation for your web development journey. What Is HTML? The Foundation of Web Development HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and it is the standard language used to create web pages. It consists of a series of elements, or tags, that define the content and structure of a webpage. These tags instruct the web browser on how to display text, images, videos, and other multimedia elements. HTML is called a markup language because it uses tags to "mark up" text, indicating how it should be structured and presented. For example, tags can define headings, paragraphs, links, images, and lists. The beauty of HTML lies in its simplicity and versatility—it’s accessible to beginners yet powerful enough for experienced developers. In web development, HTML works in tandem with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and JavaScript. While HTML provides the structure, CSS handles visual styling, and JavaScript adds interactivity. Together, these technologies form the foundation of modern web development. Essential HTML Tags Every Developer Should Know To get started with HTML, it’s crucial to understand some of the essential tags that form the building blocks of any webpage. Here are some fundamental tags every developer... --- - Published: 2025-07-11 - Modified: 2025-07-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-embed-math-equations-in-documents-a-complete-guide-for-all-formats/ Embedding math equations in documents enhances clarity and professionalism, particularly in academic, scientific, and technical writing. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the reasons for embedding equations, the tools available for various formats, and best practices to ensure your equations are displayed correctly. Why Embed Math Equations? (Use Cases & Benefits) Quite often, users of various platforms and online resources find themselves needing a way to write math equations—whether using LaTeX or alternative formats. Let’s begin with a simple example that highlights an accessibility concern: screen reader compatibility with mathematical expressions, particularly for multiplication. Consider the different ways multiplication can be represented: using the times symbol (×), a dot (·), or no symbol at all. The following three expressions are mathematically equivalent, and all are accessible to screen readers: Expression 1 (no symbol): x(y+z) Expression 2 (dot) : x·(y+z) Expression 3 (times symbol): x×(y+z) At the college level, it is far more common to use the dot or omit the symbol entirely. The times symbol is generally associated with elementary-level math. However, the dot can be problematic for screen readers. For example, "x dot" could be misinterpreted as ẋ—that is, x with a dot above it, often used to denote a derivative—leading to potential confusion. On the other hand, for users with partial vision, the dot may actually enhance readability, since it is more visually distinct from the letter x, which can resemble the times symbol. This example is relatively simple, and all three methods for denoting multiplication are... --- - Published: 2025-07-09 - Modified: 2025-07-09 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/readability-metrics-explained-how-to-measure-and-improve-your-texts-clarity/ Clarity in writing is more important than ever. Whether you're crafting a blog post, a technical report, or marketing copy, making your writing easy for readers to understand can significantly impact engagement and comprehension. This is where readability scores become essential. In this article, we’ll explore what readability scores are, why they matter, the most effective formulas used to calculate them, and how to apply these tools to make your writing clearer. What Are Readability Metrics and Why Do They Matter Readability scores are numerical indicators that show how easy or difficult a piece of text is to read. These scores are calculated based on factors like sentence length, word complexity, and syllable count, all aimed at determining the overall readability of the content. Why Readability Scores Matter: Understanding the Audience: Different audiences have different reading abilities. Readability metrics help ensure your content matches your target audience's reading level. For example, a technical audience may prefer in-depth explanations, while a general audience often benefits from simpler language. Engagement: Clear and accessible writing encourages readers to continue engaging with your content. This can lead to lower bounce rates and an improved overall user experience. When people easily understand your material, they’re more likely to share it and return for more. SEO Benefits: Although readability is not a direct SEO ranking factor, search engines tend to favor well-organized, easy-to-understand content. Readable writing improves user experience, which in turn can boost your visibility and drive more organic traffic. Efficient Communication: In business, clear... --- - Published: 2025-07-07 - Modified: 2025-07-07 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/dale-chall-readability-formula-how-it-works-and-when-to-use-it/ In presenting new information, clarity is more essential than ever. Whether you're addressing students, experts, or a general audience, your message must be easy to understand. That’s where readability formulas come in. One of the most established, well-researched, and widely used tools is the Dale-Chall Readability Formula. Known for its precision and application in education, this formula helps writers assess how easily their content can be understood by readers at various grade levels. In this article, we’ll explore what the Dale-Chall Readability Score is, how it was developed, how it works, when to use it, and how to interpret your results. What Is the Dale-Chall Readability Score? The Dale-Chall Readability Formula is a test that measures reading difficulty or ease. It evaluates text based on two key factors: vocabulary difficulty and average sentence length. Unlike other formulas that rely heavily on syllable count (such as the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level), the Dale-Chall formula uses a curated list of familiar words to determine a text's complexity. This makes it especially useful for evaluating content aimed at beginning readers or those with limited vocabularies. The lower the score, the more readable the content. The higher the score, the more challenging the text, making it better suited for advanced readers. The Dale-Chall formula is widely used in education, publishing, and content development to ensure that written materials are appropriate for their intended audience. What Is Readability and Why It Is Important for Web Content? Readability is often defined as how well a piece of... --- - Published: 2025-07-02 - Modified: 2025-07-02 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/why-your-business-needs-project-management-software/ Effective project management plays a critical role in achieving organizational goals and enhancing team efficiency. Whether you run a large enterprise or a small business, the right project management software can simplify processes, improve collaboration, and contribute to your success. In this article, we’ll explore the key features of project management software, why it’s essential for modern teams, and highlight some of the top tools available today. What Is Project Management Software? Project management software is a suite of digital tools that help teams plan, organize, and manage projects efficiently. It provides a centralized platform where team members can communicate, assign tasks, track progress, manage resources, and share documents. Key features often include: Task assignment and tracking Time tracking File sharing Progress dashboards and reporting These features help maintain alignment across teams and ensure timely completion of deliverables. Imagine your organization is moving toward a more modern and efficient planning system. You're seeking better project visibility and real-time updates to improve communication. Currently, if your team relies on scattered emails, phone calls, and various apps (e. g. , MS Teams), it becomes difficult to: Track the latest updates Locate relevant files Know who responded to what and when Centralizing everything into one platform resolves these issues. It allows stakeholders to quickly access the latest project files and updates—eliminating confusion and duplicated efforts. In a centralized system, you might establish the following project roles: Project Manager Mechanical Engineer CAD Designer Here’s how the workflow might look: The Project Manager creates the... --- - Published: 2025-06-26 - Modified: 2025-12-15 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-june-2025-release/ Your documentation used to just sit there. You wrote it. You published it. Maybe someone read it. But things have changed. Your documentation is no longer just written and published—it's a living, collaborative workspace used by teams across countries and time zones. It helps your customers solve problems, powers integrations, and shapes how your product is understood worldwide. This release marks the start of ClickHelp AI Suite: our commitment to building fast, practical, and transparent AI tools that scale with your team. It introduces a unified usage model — ClickHelp AI Points (CAPs) — designed to grow with future features and remove complexity from how you plan and work with AI. Combined with enhanced DeepL translation, this update helps your docs stay ahead of growing demands — with smarter tools, better answers, and less overhead for your team. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new. Introducing ClickHelp AI Suite: Smarter Docs, Backed by Smarter Tools Over the past year, we’ve introduced powerful AI features to help teams write faster, support users better, and find information more easily. With this release, we’re taking the next step: launching ClickHelp AI Suite — a new paid add-on that brings all AI tools together and lays the foundation for what’s next. This isn’t just packaging. It’s a statement. We believe AI should be a practical, everyday part of your documentation workflow — not a gimmick or an experiment. That’s why we’re investing in building AI tools that are fast, accurate, easy to use,... --- - Published: 2025-06-24 - Modified: 2025-07-01 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-insert-links-in-documents-and-clickhelp-a-step-by-step-guide/ Today, the ability to seamlessly insert links into your content is crucial. Whether you're working on a document, crafting an email, or building online help, hyperlinks are the key to connecting information and guiding users through a web of resources. In this article, you’ll learn how to effectively insert hyperlinks in various scenarios, including an in-depth look at ClickHelp. What Is a Hyperlink and How Does It Work So, what is a hyperlink, exactly? A hyperlink is a link from a document to another location, usually a web page on the World Wide Web. It allows users to click on a specific word, phrase, or image (the anchor text) and be instantly taken to a different section of the same document, a new document, or an external website. The mechanics are simple: the anchor text is associated with a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) — the address of the destination page. When a user clicks the link, their browser requests the content at that URL. How to Insert Hyperlinks in Documents Let's explore how to add hyperlinks in common document types, such as Word processors. First, go to the Insert menu, then select the Insert Link (or Hyperlink) option. If you’ve already defined your headers and title using Styles, then simply highlight the words you want to turm into a link, choose Insert Link, then select "Link to a place in this document". You'll see the headers you defined, and you can choose one to link to. If you want to... --- - Published: 2025-06-18 - Modified: 2025-06-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/task-management-software/ If you're trying to become more organized, efficient, and—most importantly—ensure tasks don’t slip through the cracks, it’s time to consider task management software. At the same time, you might be hesitant to adapt software to fit your strategy and make it work for you. You’re likely looking for an out-of-the-box solution—something you can start using right away, with minimal setup, to handle task management effortlessly. You may also have specific requirements. For instance, you might want to integrate the task management tool with Microsoft Office, particularly Outlook, since email management plays a major role in your daily workflow. Whether you're part of a small team or a large organization, task management software can help streamline your workflow, enhance collaboration, and increase productivity. In this article, we’ll explore what task management software is, highlight its key features and benefits, and guide you on how to choose the right solution for your needs. What Is Task Management Software? Task management software is a digital tool designed to help individuals and teams plan, organize, and track both group and individual tasks and projects. It allows users to centrally schedule duties, assign due dates, allocate responsibilities, and monitor progress. By providing visibility into what’s being done, when it's due, and who’s responsible, task management software helps ensure deadlines are met and projects stay on schedule. Types of Task Management Software Task management software comes in various forms, tailored to different needs and workflows. Below are the most common types: Standalone Task Management Tools These... --- - Published: 2025-06-11 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-the-smog-index-a-complete-guide-to-readability-scores/ Understanding the readability of a text is crucial for writers, marketers, educators, and anyone aiming to ensure their content is easily understood by the target audience. Among the various readability formulas available, the SMOG Index (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) is a widely recognized tool used to assess the reading level of written material—especially in marketing, education, and healthcare. In this guide, we'll explore what the SMOG Index is, how it works, why it’s useful, how to interpret your SMOG score, and how to check and improve your content’s readability. What Is the SMOG Index? The SMOG Index (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) is a readability formula developed by G. Harry McLaughlin in 1969. It estimates the number of years of education a person needs to fully understand a piece of writing—without perceiving it as “gobbledygook,” or confusing, nonsensical language. The formula works by counting polysyllabic words (those with three or more syllables) to assess the complexity of a text. The SMOG Index is especially popular because it offers a quick, reliable, and easy-to-use measure of readability. It’s particularly useful in marketing, education, and healthcare—fields where clear communication is critical. These sectors often deal with sensitive or high-stakes information, making comprehension vital. For example, in healthcare, it's essential that patients clearly understand instructions for medications, medical diagnoses, or the usage of medical equipment. Misunderstandings here could lead to serious health consequences. The same applies to educational materials—if learners struggle to understand the content, their well-being and academic progress may suffer. In marketing,... --- - Published: 2025-06-04 - Modified: 2025-11-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/top-document-collaboration-tools-for-teams/ Document collaboration software has become essential in today’s digital world, where teams need to stay aligned and work seamlessly together. Whether your business is creating technical documentation, marketing content, or internal knowledge bases, the right collaboration tool can automate workflows, improve communication, and significantly boost productivity. As remote work and distributed teams become more common, effective collaboration is more critical than ever. I’ve seen teams break apart when workflows are scattered: one person edits in Google Docs, another keeps track in Notion, someone else in email. The right collaboration tool pulls all that together — comments, version control, accessibility — so the whole team moves as one. — Alexander Muravyov, CEO at ClickHelp. In this article, we’ll explore why document collaboration software is a must-have, compare the top options available, and walk you through the key features that set each one apart. By the end, you’ll have the insight needed to choose the ideal tool to enhance your team’s collaboration. Why Document Collaboration Software Is a Must-Have Here's why document collaboration software is essential for modern teams: Better Team Communication. Successful collaboration depends on clear and timely communication. Document collaboration tools enable real-time commenting, discussions, and feedback directly within the document. This eliminates lengthy email threads and ensures that all team members stay on the same page. Increased Productivity. Traditional document-sharing workflows often create version-control issues and delays, with users waiting their turn to contribute. Modern collaboration platforms allow multiple users to edit a document simultaneously, greatly speeding up the... --- - Published: 2025-05-28 - Modified: 2025-05-28 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-your-product-manual/ When you start using a new digital product, device, or gadget, it's an exhilarating experience—you’re eager to see how well it performs and what features it offers. However, to truly unlock its full potential, a well-designed manual is essential. A good product manual is key to understanding and maximizing the product’s capabilities. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore what a product manual is, why it’s important, what it typically includes, and how to use it to get the most out of your experience. What Is a Product Manual? A product manual—also known as an instruction manual or user manual—is a document that provides detailed information about your software product, device, gadget, or equipment. It covers everything from key features and installation to operation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and how to contact customer support. The primary purpose of a product manual is to help you use your device effectively and safely, ensuring you can take full advantage of its features without unnecessary confusion or frustration. Why Is a Product Manual Important? As unexciting as it may seem, a product manual is not something to overlook. Even a quick skim can provide valuable insights. Here's what you gain by flipping through its pages: Easy Setup. When transitioning to a new digital product or device, the last thing you want is a complicated setup. A well-written product manual offers clear, step-by-step instructions for installing (if necessary) and getting started with your device. With the right guide, you can have your software or hardware up and... --- - Published: 2025-05-21 - Modified: 2025-05-21 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-practices-for-making-user-assistance-more-engaging/ User assistance (UA) is essential for helping users navigate and use software applications effectively. It is closely tied to user onboarding, enabling users to quickly understand and experience the value of your app. Traditional static documentation is no longer sufficient, as users increasingly expect interactive and engaging learning experiences. To meet these evolving expectations, organizations are adopting modern user support strategies that integrate interactive and visual elements with AI-powered tools. In this article, we’ll briefly explore best practices for creating effective user support through interactive tutorials, visual content, and the strategic use of AI. Revolution Towards Interactive and Visual User Support Interactive Tutorials Interactive tutorials engage users by allowing them to learn through doing. Rather than passively reading instructions, users follow guided, step-by-step experiences that help them complete tasks in context. This hands-on approach not only improves retention but also builds user confidence in navigating the software. Best Practices for Interactive Tutorials Step-by-Step Guidance: Break down complex processes into clear, manageable steps with concise instructions and contextual hints. For example, guiding a user through creating a report should include everything from selecting the report type to customizing the layout. Immediate Feedback: Offer real-time visual cues—such as checkmarks, tooltips, or gentle error messages—so users can self-correct and understand their actions instantly. Progress Indicators: Display tutorial progress through checklists or progress bars. Visualizing completion helps motivate users and reduces drop-off rates. A successful interactive user assistance process helps users quickly realize your product’s value. Core components may include: An interactive product tour... --- - Published: 2025-05-15 - Modified: 2025-05-15 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-guide-clear-effective-step-by-step/ One of the biggest challenges in writing documentation is not knowing what the final product should look like. Common questions include: What should I document? How should I write it? What does good documentation look like? How should it be structured? It's difficult to create effective documentation without a clear model to follow. High-quality documentation is a critical success factor for any product or service today. A documentation guide helps define how to write, organize, and maintain content that remains relevant to users. This article explores what a documentation guide is, why it’s essential, key principles to follow, and best practices illustrated with examples. What Is a Documentation Guide? A documentation guide serves as a master template that outlines how product, service, or system documentation should be created, maintained, and stored. It provides a standardized framework that developers, technical writers, and teams can follow to build a consistent, usable, and effective corporate knowledge base. Key Components of a Documentation Guide: Document Types: Defines the various types of documentation—such as user guides, FAQs, technical references, and in-app help screens. Each serves a specific purpose for a particular audience, making it essential to choose the right format for the intended message. Writing Standards: Establishes guidelines for language, tone, and style to ensure consistency and clarity across all documentation. This includes usage of technical terms, grammar, punctuation, and formatting, helping authors produce high-quality, user-friendly content. Structure and Organization: Recommends best practices for content layout, including consistent use of headings, bullet points, and tables... --- - Published: 2025-05-14 - Modified: 2025-05-14 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/management-plan-essentials/ If you ask a project manager for a project plan, what do you usually expect? What do you consider a project plan to be? Some people think that a project management plan is simply another term for a project charter or a project schedule. However, you may come across a project management plan that includes several subordinate plans—such as a Cost Management Plan, Risk Management Plan, and Stakeholder Engagement Plan. For smaller projects, a project plan might be little more than a Gantt chart accompanied by a page or two of explanatory text. In this article, we’ll explore the essential components of a management plan, walk you through the steps to create one effectively, examine its crucial role in project management, and highlight common mistakes to avoid to achieve optimal results. What Is a Management Plan? A management plan is a formal, written document that outlines the goals, strategies, and procedures for effectively running a project or organization. It enables all stakeholders to understand their roles, responsibilities, and the overall objectives of the project. An effective management plan typically includes: Objectives: Clear, concise statements of what the project aims to achieve, providing direction and purpose. Strategies: A summary of how the objectives will be accomplished, outlining the approaches and methods to be used. Performance Metrics: Defined criteria for measuring success, helping track progress and evaluate outcomes. Project plans should be proportional to the size and complexity of the project. There are generally two approaches to creating project management plans: Concise... --- - Published: 2025-05-13 - Modified: 2025-05-13 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-fall-of-stc-the-profession-at-the-crossroads/ To the technical communicators reading this—your profession is not dying. It's evolving. And with the right tools, the best is yet to come. In 1953, at the dawn of the technical revolution, a group of forward-thinking professionals gathered in Washington, D. C. to establish the Society for Technical Communication (STC). Born in an era of emerging technical documentation needs—when aerospace, computing, and industrial technologies were rapidly expanding—the STC represented more than just an organization. It was a beacon for professionals transforming complex technical information into clear, accessible language. For decades, STC stood as the premier organization for technical communicators. Its annual conferences, journals, and certification programs were considered the gold standard. However, the digital revolution would soon challenge its traditional model. On February 3, 2025, the Society for Technical Communication (STC), a 72-year-old institution, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, ceasing operations immediately. The decision didn’t come out of nowhere. One of the reasons was the steady decline in the membership: it dropped by over 30% in a decade, while operational costs (e. g. , conferences, certification programs) outpaced revenue. Attempts to cut costs and pivot to digital offerings fell short. At the same time, STC missed the opportunity to go global. It remained heavily focused on North America, despite the rapid growth of technical communication in Asia, particularly India. Its pricing models, certification requirements, and conference locations were inaccessible to professionals in emerging markets.   For further reading, explore the STC Bankruptcy FAQ or the LinkedIn analysis by Peter Yorke.... --- - Published: 2025-05-08 - Modified: 2026-01-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-readme-alternatives-for-documentation/ In the speed of modern development, solid documentation isn't just a nice-to-have—it's the bedrock of success for any product or project. Readme. io has carved out a significant space as a go-to platform for many, especially when it comes to crafting and managing interactive API documentation. Think automatically generated docs straight from your OpenAPI specs, the power to make it truly your own with branding, and a central hub for all your developer resources. Since 2014, it's been a key player in helping companies streamline their documentation game and empower their users. But what if it doesn’t suit your team well? Then, let’s take a look at the seven best alternatives to Readme. What is Readme? Readme. io is a documentation platform that helps developers create and maintain interactive API documentation. Founded in 2014, Readme has become a go-to solution for many companies looking to streamline their documentation process and provide better resources for their users. Imagine a dedicated digital workshop built specifically for crafting and nurturing your API documentation—that's the core of what Readme. io offers. It's a platform designed to take the often-daunting task of API documentation and make it more manageable and even... dare we say... interactive! Automatically pulling information from your OpenAPI specifications helps you create documentation that keeps pace with your API. It's become a trusted solution for countless companies aiming to provide their users with clear, comprehensive, and easy-to-navigate resources. Key Features of Readme API Documentation. Watch your API documentation practically build itself! Readme.... --- - Published: 2025-05-07 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/lewins-change-model-in-action/ As the world rapidly evolves in response to changing business landscapes, companies must also adapt to address new challenges, technologies, and business requirements. Embracing change—whether through new technologies, team restructuring, or cultural shifts—is essential for success. Effective change management is the key to ensuring that this success is sustainable over the long term. One of the most effective models for managing change is Lewin's Change Model, developed by psychologist Kurt Lewin in the 1940s. This model offers a simple yet powerful framework for defining and implementing organizational change. Let's take a closer look at the three main stages of Lewin's Change Model: unfreeze, change, and refreeze. Step 1: Unfreeze The first stage of Lewin's Change Model is "Unfreeze. " This phase involves preparing the organization for change by disrupting the current state and creating openness to new ways of working. The goal is to foster an environment where employees are willing to embrace change rather than resist it. For example, a company is transitioning its documentation process from Google Docs to ClickHelp. While the new platform offers better structure, version control, and user access, some technical writers may feel uncertain or resistant, especially if they’ve used Google Docs for years. In this situation, it's important to involve someone experienced with documentation platforms and change management to explain the benefits, provide relatable success stories, and answer concerns. Writers should be invited to share input and even pilot early usage of ClickHelp, fostering engagement and ownership of the change. Key Actions in... --- - Published: 2025-05-06 - Modified: 2025-05-06 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/toc-a-key-organizational-tool-for-readers/ Imagine that you are using Microsoft Word and trying to figure out how to create a Table of Contents (TOC) for a 100-page technical document. Rather than having a table on the first page, you’re considering a navigation pane on the side of the page, which is essentially a form of a regular TOC. The navigation pane will allow you to see the structure of the document no matter where you are, and easily jump to another section by clicking on the name. You’re unsure where to start. This blog will help you understand the importance of a TOC and provide valuable insights on how to implement it in your technical documentation. A Table of Contents (TOC) is much more than just a list of headings and subheadings in a document. In technical writing, it serves as a vital organizational tool, providing structure, clarity, and ease of navigation for readers. Whether you’re crafting a user manual, API documentation, or a detailed product guide, the TOC plays a crucial role in how the content is perceived and used. In this article, we’ll explore how a TOC functions as an organizational tool and why it’s indispensable in technical writing. Understanding the Role of a Table of Contents At its core, a Table of Contents is a blueprint for your document. A TOC is typically created by gathering paragraphs tagged with heading-level styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. ). The content from each paragraph is mapped to a TOC style (TOC 1, TOC... --- - Published: 2025-05-05 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-user-friendly-help-topics-for-beginners/ Well-written help topics play a crucial role in making services and products accessible to users. When users encounter issues or have questions, they often turn to help documentation to find solutions. Clear and effective help topics can greatly enhance the user experience, reduce frustration, and build a positive relationship between the user and the product. However, many beginner writers make a few common mistakes when creating help content, which can lead to confusion and dissatisfaction. This article aims to offer practical guidance for writing help topics that are clear, accessible, and truly helpful—so that users of all experience levels can easily find the information they need. Knowing Your Audience First, it's essential to understand your users' workflows and create task-based documentation that aligns with their needs. This approach contrasts with traditional reference manuals that offer general, all-purpose information. Simply listing what every button or menu item does is not helpful if users don’t know what they’re trying to achieve. Who Will Read Your Help Topic? The first step in creating user-friendly help topics is identifying your audience. Are you writing for novice users with little to no experience, or for advanced users who already understand the subject matter? Knowing your audience allows you to tailor your content to their specific needs. For example, beginners often need more explanations, context, and examples, while experienced users may prefer concise, straight-to-the-point instructions. Recognizing these differences helps you adjust both the tone and depth of your content appropriately. User Needs and Pain Points Always... --- - Published: 2025-05-02 - Modified: 2026-01-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-paligo-alternatives/ Paligo is a cloud-based Component Content Management System (CCMS) built for structured authoring and getting your information out across all the channels that matter. Think modular content that you can mix and match, perfect translation workflows, and the kind of scalability that growing teams dream of. But sometimes, it’s just not what you need. Perhaps your team thrives on a more straightforward way to collaborate without all the intricate controls? That's where the quest for alternatives begins! Let's take a look at the 7 best alternatives to Paligo. What Is Paligo? Paligo is a browser-based CCMS built on a custom DocBook XML foundation. A digital workshop specifically designed for building and managing documentation in a smart, structured way—that's the essence of it. You can create topics, reuse them across different documents, and publish them in various formats, from interactive websites to professional PDFs.   Its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, built-in translation management, and the ability to create different versions of your documentation make it a go-to for larger organizations tackling intricate documentation challenges. Key Features Topic-based authoring for modular content reuse. Think of it like LEGO bricks for your documentation—create individual pieces of information that you can then assemble and reuse in countless ways, saving you time and ensuring consistency. Translation management with version control. Got a global audience? Paligo helps you manage the translation process while keeping track of every version, ensuring accuracy and consistency across languages. Multi-channel publishing (web, PDF, mobile). Whether your users prefer reading online, downloading a... --- - Published: 2025-04-30 - Modified: 2025-04-30 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-craft-effective-technical-datasheets/ Imagine a small engineering company that designs and manufactures high-current, high-voltage power resistors for a variety of applications—dynamic braking, neutral earthing, load banks, and more. They need to create technical datasheets for their range of products. These datasheets will likely include descriptive text, an image, and a table listing available sizes, current ratings, and part numbers. Where should they start when creating these documents? What tools should they use? Is desktop publishing software the right choice? These are just a few of the common questions that arise when developing technical datasheets. Datasheets are essential tools in engineering and product design. They provide critical information about products, materials, or components, enabling engineers, designers, and procurement specialists to make informed decisions. Yet many datasheets are overly complex, vague, or simply unhelpful. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore best practices for writing clear, concise, and effective datasheets that truly serve their purpose. Understanding Your Audience Before drafting a datasheet, it’s important to understand who the intended readers are. These readers can vary widely and may include: EngineersElectrical engineers, design engineers, application engineers, technicians, and production specialists all require documentation tailored to their needs. While some information in a datasheet is discipline-specific, other details have broader relevance. Engineers primarily need technical and performance information to determine how a product will function within their designs. They look for specifications that support design decisions, such as compatibility with existing systems, material strength, or load ratings. Product DesignersProduct designers seek information related to applications, compatibility, and design... --- - Published: 2025-04-29 - Modified: 2025-04-29 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/people-process-technology-in-knowledge-management/ While working on a project, you may often feel that knowledge slips through your fingers like sand. During the creation of a deliverable, you're fully immersed in the content—it’s fresh in your mind. But once the project ends, it’s as if you hit a reset button. This can be frustrating, especially when past experiences could provide value for future initiatives. Effective knowledge management (KM) is a hallmark of a high-performing organization. Those that can successfully capture, share, and apply knowledge are better equipped to make informed decisions, foster innovation, and increase overall productivity. At the core of successful knowledge management lies the alignment of People, Process, and Technology (PPT). In this article, we’ll explore how each of these elements contributes to a robust KM strategy and how organizations can effectively implement them. People: The Heart of Knowledge Management People are the cornerstone of any successful knowledge management (KM) initiative. Without their active participation and a culture that supports knowledge sharing, even the most advanced technology and well-designed processes won’t deliver results. Written knowledge is only as valuable as its relevance. The moment information becomes outdated, it loses credibility. Phrases like “Oh yeah, that’s not true anymore” often mark the downfall of neglected knowledge systems. This reinforces the idea that people—not tools—determine the success of KM. If team members don’t consistently document and update their knowledge, no platform or tool can bridge the gap. Here are key strategies for building a people-centric knowledge management approach: Foster a Culture of Knowledge Sharing... --- - Published: 2025-04-28 - Modified: 2026-01-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-adobe-robohelp-alternatives/ If you're reading this, you've likely experienced RoboHelp's limitations firsthand—the complex desktop software, the steep learning curve, and the challenges of collaborating with team members. The good news? You're not alone, and better options exist. The technical documentation landscape offers just enough modern alternatives to eliminate RoboHelp's pain points. In this article, we'll examine the top 7 alternatives to Adobe RoboHelp, with a special focus on cloud-based solutions that are changing how teams create and manage documentation. We'll compare their features, pricing, and use cases to help you find the right fit for your specific needs—whether you're a small team looking for simplicity or an enterprise requiring advanced capabilities. What Is Adobe RoboHelp? Adobe RoboHelp is a popular help authoring tool (HAT) developed by Adobe Inc. for creating technical documentation. While it supports features like HTML5 output, single-source publishing, and various content types (help systems, policies, knowledge bases), many users find it challenging to use effectively. Despite its feature set, Adobe RoboHelp presents several notable limitations that prompt organizations to explore alternative solutions.   Primarily, its desktop-centric architecture contrasts with contemporary cloud-based platforms.   Furthermore, many users cite a steep learning curve associated with the tool, particularly with recent iterations. Advanced customization often requires a degree of HTML proficiency, potentially posing a barrier for some users. Collaborative documentation efforts can also be hampered by RoboHelp's limited built-in support for team-based workflows.   Finally, the cost of ownership can be a substantial consideration, particularly for smaller teams.   ClickHelp: A Leading... --- - Published: 2025-04-25 - Modified: 2025-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/publishing-pipeline-in-software-development/ Having a structured publishing pipeline is essential for creating and maintaining comprehensive documentation. This process often begins during the development phase and continues through post-release analysis. Different companies may have varying approaches to documenting code and features. Unfortunately, most companies either do not have a documentation SOP or have one that is not mandatory. However, if you are a tech lead, you have the authority to enforce a standard procedure within your project or team. This article aims to offer advice on documenting projects. We’ll explore the key components of this pipeline, including version control, Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools, and automated testing, while also discussing best practices for documentation. Starting Documentation Early Writing documentation typically starts as early as the development process. As soon as specific functional requirements are laid out, documentation work can begin. This is the right time to create the first documents because the development team already has a clear vision of the purpose and specifications. Therefore, at the early stage, the requirements for documentation may look like this: High-level requirements of the project: What it does, what it includes, and any limitations. Business requirements: Listing use-cases, features, wireframes (if any), and sitemaps (if any). This section will include an overall picture of how the main menu/sub-menu will look and what the main screen flows will be. Technical design: This section will include the initial design of the API endpoints, batch jobs (if any), business logic for more complex flows, etc. Appendix: This may include documentation... --- - Published: 2025-04-24 - Modified: 2025-06-04 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/7-best-archbee-alternatives-for-documentation-and-knowledge-management/ So, you're wrestling with wrangling all that crucial tech info, right? Archbee's often the name that pops up—and for good reason. Think collaborative editing that feels like Google Docs but much better, the power to hook into your favorite tools with APIs, and the ability to slap your own brand all over your docs. For many software squads and IT gurus, it’s been a real game-changer. But hey, one size rarely fits all, does it? Maybe your budget's tighter than a drum, or you're itching for AI that goes beyond just search. Perhaps your team thrives on a simpler setup where everyone can jump in without a tech manual. That's where the beauty of options comes in! We've scoured the landscape to bring you the 7 best Archbee alternatives. Let’s take a look at them. What Is Archbee? Archbee is a documentation powerhouse that lets you craft everything from internal knowledge hubs that keep everyone on the same page to polished product guides that just wow your customers. Its editor is smooth; it keeps track of every change like a hawk with reliable version control, and it plays nice with developer staples like GitHub.   It's tailor-made for those who speak in code and need their documentation to be just as sharp. Key Features of Archbee Collaborative editing for real-time teamwork. Think fewer email chains and more simultaneous creation. API support for seamless integrations. Archbee can share data with your other vital tools, making your workflow smoother. Customizable templates and... --- - Published: 2025-04-23 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/external-documentation-essentials/ Successful communication is essential for the growth and development of any company. One aspect of effective communication is external documentation, which plays a crucial role in conveying information to users, customers, and outside stakeholders. This article explores what external documentation is, why it is important, its categories, tips for producing effective external docs, and how to keep them current and useful in the future. What Is External Documentation? External documentation (also known as external-facing or customer-facing documentation) refers to any written material intended for an audience outside an organization. This can include user guides, product information, technical manuals, code documentation, marketing brochures, and web-based help documents. Customer-facing documentation may also include welcome emails for new users or companies, ticket templates, etc. The primary purpose of external documentation is to provide clear, concise, and easily understandable information to users who may not be familiar with the product or service being offered. External documents serve as a link between customers and the organization, enabling users to access the information they need to make informed decisions, use products effectively, and become familiar with available services. When created thoughtfully, these documents help users understand how to implement tools, navigate platforms, and interact with various aspects of the system. Benefits of External Documentation Effective external documentation offers numerous advantages for both organizations and their users. It serves as a bridge between a company and its customers, providing essential information that enhances user experience, supports business operations, and ensures compliance. Below are some key benefits of... --- - Published: 2025-04-22 - Modified: 2026-01-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-confluence-alternatives-for-documentation/ As companies sharpen their knowledge management game, many are realizing that the standard playbook might need a refresh. For a long time, Atlassian's Confluence has been the go-to hub for team collaboration and documentation. But let's be real; even the most reliable tools can sometimes feel like they're not quite hitting the mark anymore, right? Perhaps the user interface feels a bit like navigating a maze, or maybe the customization options leave you wanting more... Let's take a look beyond the familiar and see what the modern landscape of Help Authoring Tools (HATs) has to offer. What Is Confluence? Confluence is a team workspace platform developed by Atlassian, designed to help teams collaborate and share knowledge efficiently. Launched in 2004, it has become one of the most widely used collaboration tools. Its tight integration with other Atlassian heavyweights like Jira has made it a cornerstone for many teams, particularly in the software development world. Key Features of Confluence Page Hierarchy. Keep your content neatly organized with spaces acting as containers and pages nesting within each other – think of it as a well-structured digital filing cabinet. Rich Text Editor. Unleash your creativity with formatting options, the ability to embed tables, and seamless integration of images and videos. Templates. Hit the ground running with pre-designed page layouts for common documentation needs, saving you time and ensuring consistency. Version History. Never fear making changes! Track every edit and easily revert to previous versions if needed – it's like having a digital time... --- - Published: 2025-04-21 - Modified: 2025-11-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/data-information-knowledge-whats-the-difference/ There is an old saying: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. This is fully applicable to distinguishing data, information, and knowledge. While the difference between these concepts is significant, today data, information, and knowledge have become universally interchangeable terms. However, understanding the distinctions between them is crucial for understanding how we process and manage information. We need to differentiate them in order to make effective decisions. This article will shed light on each term, explore their unique characteristics, and discuss the role of knowledge management in using these terms to improve organizational effectiveness. Data: The Raw Material Data are raw figures and facts collected to be processed. They can be numbers, words, images, or sounds and are typically unprocessed. Data may be likened to the raw material of information. For example, a list of temperatures over the course of a week, sales figures for a product, or consumer survey opinions are all instances of data. On their own, data don't have any inherent meaning—they must be processed to become meaningful. For example, here's where data fits in the hierarchy of the three terms in question: A date of birth can be considered data if we look at it simply as a collection of data points. When you group those points intelligently, it begins to form information. Knowledge comes into play when you can use that data to make decisions—such as tailoring recruitment strategies based on age differences. Characteristics... --- - Published: 2025-04-19 - Modified: 2026-01-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/best-madcap-flare-alternatives/ For years, MadCap Flare has been the trusty sidekick for technical writers, a tool packed with features that let you create content once and blast it out in a gazillion different formats—think web help, PDFs, mobile guides, you name it.   But let's face it: the tech landscape is always shifting, isn't it? Suddenly, everyone's talking about AI that can lend a real hand, budgets are getting a closer look, and the ability to scale effortlessly is becoming a must-have. That's why teams are starting to peek over the fence, wondering if there's something out there that might just tick those evolving boxes a little better. That's where our exploration comes in! We've rounded up the 7 best MadCap Flare alternatives. What Is MadCap Flare? Think of MadCap Flare as the seasoned pro in the world of technical documentation tools—a Help Authoring Tool (HAT) that's been around the block and knows its stuff. It's built for those who need serious control over their documentation process, allowing you to break down complex information into manageable chunks, handle translations like a multilingual maestro, and bring your team together to collaborate. It's a favorite among larger companies and technical teams that need a feature-rich solution. Key Features of MadCap Flare Single-sourcing for multi-format outputs (web, PDF, mobile). Imagine crafting your content just once and then, with a flick of a switch, having it ready for your website, printable manuals, and even mobile apps – talk about efficiency! XML editor with WYSIWYG previews. For... --- - Published: 2025-04-18 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/employee-training-materials-internal-wikis-and-corporate-knowledge-bases/ Effective employee training is essential in today’s business environment, as it helps build a knowledgeable and skilled workforce. One of the most powerful tools for achieving this is an in-house company wiki or knowledge base. These web-based repositories not only serve as a foundation for training but also enable employees to share information and collaborate. In this discussion, we will explore the benefits of internal wikis, their deployment options, and how they can be transformed into a comprehensive training resource for employees. What Is an Internal Wiki or Knowledge Base? An internal wiki is a centralized platform where employees can write, contribute, and modify content related to the company, its processes, and its culture. It serves as a single repository for guides, best practices, documents, and other learning materials. A well-structured knowledge base can include various types of content, such as articles, videos, FAQs, and interactive tutorials, making it a highly effective and user-friendly learning tool. Here is an example of an internal wiki’s structure: SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) Step-by-step guides for all job-related tasks Service Catalog – Each service has an entry with an overview, SOP links, support numbers, account information, etc. Scripts/Playbooks Network and Systems – Includes network topology broken down by subnet, their purposes, supporting equipment, and change logs. Systems are categorized by location and role, with change logs. Design Documents Backup Procedures Reference Materials Essentially, an internal wiki is a constantly evolving, living document that grows alongside the company, incorporating the collective experience and knowledge of... --- - Published: 2025-04-17 - Modified: 2025-04-17 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/documentation-testing-optimizing-documentation-quality/ We often hear the term “customer-facing documentation,” but the problem is that it is frequently an afterthought. In fact, customer-facing documentation is “born” during the testing process and can be viewed as a learning opportunity that helps design, engineering, and marketing teams better consider the customer experience. To create high-quality customer-facing documentation, developers should aim to put themselves in their customers' shoes right from the development stage. As a form of “training,” they should imagine customers receiving new features without documentation. In such a scenario, customers would likely struggle to understand how to use the features, quickly gain value, or navigate around issues and dependencies. This exercise teaches the team that feature development is more than just writing code, and they will be more inclined to contribute to documentation. Proper documentation is a key driver of user satisfaction and product success. Documentation testing is a critical process that ensures the accuracy, readability, and usability of various types of documentation. This article outlines the purpose of documentation testing, what to test, key areas to focus on, the testing process, common tools used, and deliverables. Product Testing vs. Documentation Testing As a rule, the product development process starts with analyzing requirements and documenting them (in a Product Requirements Document, or PRD), writing a test specification to detail the design of the testing suite, creating test cases (inputs, expected outputs, etc. ), forming a requirements traceability matrix, and finally writing and documenting the test suite once it is complete. To put this into... --- - Published: 2025-04-16 - Modified: 2025-12-23 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/document360-alternatives/ You're aiming to build a fortress of knowledge, a go-to hub for all tech info? Document360 is here for you, and it's easy to see why. With its dual editing superpowers (Markdown for the code-savvy, WYSIWYG for the visual thinkers) and the ability to lock down access like Fort Knox, it's a top pick for teams that are laser-focused on growth and empowering users to find their answers. But every team has its own set of needs. Maybe you're deep in the trenches of complex technical writing and hope for tools that can keep up. Perhaps you're keeping a close eye on the budget, or you've got a specific set of tools that need to play perfectly together. That's where exploring your options becomes crucial! We've journeyed through the digital landscape to bring you the 7 best Document360 alternatives. We're confident that you'll find the perfect platform to build your knowledge empire among these. What Is Document360? It's a platform designed to help you craft everything from public-facing FAQs that answer every customer question under the sun to internal documentation that keeps your team aligned and informed. And here's where it gets interesting: it's got its own AI sidekick, Eddy! This digital assistant isn't just for show; it helps you fine-tune your content for search engines, translate it into multiple languages, and make your search function so intuitive it feels like mind-reading. Key Features of Document360 AI-driven content suggestions for tone optimization and SEO. Imagine having a smart editor whispering... --- - Published: 2025-04-15 - Modified: 2025-04-15 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-april-2025-release-2fa/ Here’s a stat that’s hard to ignore: in 2023 alone, over 50% of SaaS breaches stemmed from compromised user credentials. And yes — internal portals, documentation systems, and knowledge bases were part of the attack surface. Now imagine this: A third-party vendor gets hacked. One of your teammates reused their password — and suddenly, someone’s trying to log into your documentation portal. That “someone” shouldn’t be there. For a growing number of teams, documentation isn't just for internal use anymore — it's also a public-facing product, an API reference, a critical touchpoint for partners and customers. That makes it not just valuable, but vulnerable. And yet, most documentation tools still don’t treat it like the security-sensitive asset it is. Meet 2FA in ClickHelp  Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of protection on top of a password. With it, even if login credentials leak, unauthorized access becomes virtually impossible. We’ve designed our 2FA to meet real-world security demands, without breaking your team’s workflow. When 2FA matters: For regulated industries (finance, healthcare, insurance), where documentation may include sensitive internal procedures or API specs For distributed teams, especially when using contractors or external vendors For portals that serve customers or partners — where unauthorized edits could have serious consequences For companies with SSO disabled — 2FA closes a critical security gap What we’re launching TOTP-based 2FA: Works with popular apps like Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or Authy Built-in protection against brute-force login attempts Per-role control: 2FA is currently available for contributors, aligning... --- - Published: 2025-04-09 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/frequency-metrics-for-documentation/ Frequency metrics are used in all industries where an “action” component is involved. For instance, you can measure the frequency of purchases, the usage frequency of government services, the occurrence of business trips, or even the frequency of wine consumption and North Atlantic hurricanes. Similarly, frequency metrics play a crucial role in documentation management. These metrics provide insights into how documents are created, accessed, updated, and ultimately utilized. In this article, we will explore several frequency metrics relevant to documentation—helping teams in engineering, support, and content strategy with better measuring tools. Frequency Metrics Frequency metrics enable organizations to identify patterns and trends in documentation usage. By analyzing these metrics, teams can make informed decisions regarding content creation, updates, and overall documentation strategy. These decisions should align with broader content goals such as reducing support requests, improving findability, and ensuring consistent readability across all docs. Search Frequency Search frequency refers to how often users search for specific documents or keywords within a documentation system. A high search frequency for certain terms may indicate that users are seeking information they cannot easily access. By analyzing search frequency, teams can identify gaps in the documentation and guide their content creation efforts. For example, the technical support team for a software application might notice that the phrase “how to uninstall” is among the most frequently searched terms in their help center. This high frequency suggests that users are struggling with the uninstallation process. In response, the team could create a detailed article outlining the... --- - Published: 2025-04-02 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/bulleted-lists-when-why-and-how-to-use-them/ A bulleted list is an extremely handy writing tool that can make life a lot simpler and content readable and engaging to other individuals. In the following guide, we will explain what a bulleted list is, outline the benefits of using bulleted lists, explain when and why to use them, provide some advice on preparing useful lists, and explain the common mistakes to avoid. You’ll also find examples to help clarify proper usage. What Is a Bulleted List? A bulleted list refers to a vertically arranged list of items, where each item is preceded by a bullet point (•). It helps present information concisely and clearly, allowing readers to quickly identify key points without scanning through dense text. Bulleted lists can range from a single word to a few phrases and should be used to emphasize important words in an engaging way. Some say that the word "bullet" in this context originates from "bulletin" rather than firearm bullets. Bulletins serve as brief summaries or quick references to relevant information. In design, bullet points are often referred to as list markers—small symbols that appear before or after each item in a list. When combined with proper HTML or CSS, they enhance readability and visual appeal. Common list markers include squares, circles, and arrowheads. You might also see custom symbols used for visual flair depending on context. Across all Markdown rendering tools, including GitHub and WordPress, the best way to create a list is by using dashes (-) rather than asterisks (*... --- - Published: 2025-03-26 - Modified: 2025-03-26 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/collaboration-strategy-in-organizational-success/ Effective collaboration is essential for any organization that wants to succeed in today's fast-paced environment. A well-defined collaboration strategy fosters not only teamwork but also productivity and creativity among employees. In this article, we will take a closer look at what a collaboration strategy is and give an overview of ClickHelp as a tool for achieving seamless collaboration. What Is a Collaboration Strategy? A collaboration strategy is a well-defined approach to how team members interact, share information, and work together towards common goals. It serves as a guide to foster teamwork, ensure open communication, and boost productivity within an organization. This strategy outlines guidelines for communication, feedback, and workflow, ensuring all team members remain focused and engaged. For a collaboration strategy to be effective, team roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined. This often involves appointing a collaboration lead or project manager to oversee the execution of the strategy. This person facilitates communication, ensures everyone understands their roles, and provides the necessary support and resources. They play a pivotal role in setting expectations, defining objectives, and monitoring progress toward common goals. The strategy also emphasizes participation and partnership among team members. Engaging employees in developing the strategy fosters a sense of ownership and accountability. Regular meetings and feedback sessions can be scheduled to assess the effectiveness of the strategy and make adjustments as needed, creating a dynamic collaboration environment. A successful collaboration strategy should be supported by the right tools and technologies that enable smooth communication and information sharing, such... --- - Published: 2025-03-19 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/creating-a-fact-sheet-best-practices/ Speed, clarity, and conciseness are essential for effective communication. Whether presenting data to stakeholders, creating educational materials for students, or promoting a product, a well-structured fact sheet can distill the most important information into a clear and accessible format. This article explains what a fact sheet is, why it matters, and how to create one that captures attention and communicates your message effectively. What Is a Fact Sheet? A fact sheet is a concise, one- or two-page document that summarizes essential information about a subject, product, or event in a clear and organized format. It serves as a powerful communication tool, allowing readers to quickly grasp vital details without needing to wade through lengthy reports or endure extended presentations. Fact sheets are designed to provide an accessible overview, highlighting key facts and statistics with insights, without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary minutiae. For instance, imagine an IT company—let’s call it Tech Innovations—has launched a new cybersecurity software solution. To market it effectively, a fact sheet can be created, summarizing the software’s key features, benefits, and pricing. Key sections to include in the fact sheet: Overview: A brief introduction to the software, outlining its purpose and the problems it addresses. Key Features: A bullet-point list of functionalities, such as real-time threat detection, automatic updates, and intuitive user dashboards. Statistics: Relevant data to support the software’s effectiveness. For example, a 99% malware detection rate or a 30% reduction in security breaches for early adopters. Customer Testimonials and Endorsements: Quotes from beta testers... --- - Published: 2025-03-12 - Modified: 2025-10-08 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-a-documentation-plan/ Documentation plan is a planning document used to outline a strategy for generating, managing, and distributing documentation for an organization or project. It serves as a roadmap to ensure that all necessary content is created, structured, and made accessible to stakeholders. A well-structured documentation plan is valuable as it facilitates communication, ensures consistency, and provides stakeholders with the information they need to perform their tasks effectively. Why Documentation Plan Matters A documentation plan defines the scope, purpose, and target audience of the documentation to be produced. It establishes what needs to be documented, when, and how. The importance of a documentation plan cannot be overstated, as it helps to: Improve Clarity: Effective documentation planning ensures that all stakeholders clearly understand project objectives and requirements. Promote Teamwork: It fosters collaboration by defining roles and responsibilities Ensure Compliance: A structured approach to documentation helps organizations adhere to industry standards and regulations. Save Resources and Time: A well-organized documentation plan minimizes duplication and optimizes resource utilization. Key Components of a Successful Documentation Plan A well-structured documentation plan consists of several key components that work together to ensure high-quality, efficient documentation. Below is a detailed explanation of each component: Objectives: Clearly defined goals outline what the documentation is meant to achieve. These objectives may include creating easy-to-understand instructions, supporting training efforts, ensuring compliance, or improving user satisfaction. By setting specific, measurable objectives, the documentation team can ensure alignment with overall company or project goals. For example, clear objectives help eliminate ambiguity down the line.... --- - Published: 2025-03-11 - Modified: 2025-03-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/flesch-reading-ease-formula-a-complete-guide/ Ever wondered why some texts feel effortlessly clear while others leave you scrambling for a dictionary?   The secret often lies in readability—and formulas like the Flesch Reading Ease Formula are the keys to unlocking it.   In this guide, we’ll break down how these formulas work, why they matter, and how to use them to connect with your audience—no advanced degree required.   Let’s dive in! What Is the Flesch Reading Ease Score? The Flesch Reading Ease Score is a readability formula developed by Rudolf Flesch in 1975. It measures how easy or difficult a text is to understand based on average sentence length and average syllables per word. Ranging from 0–100, higher scores mean simpler content, while lower scores indicate more complex writing. Why Does the Flesch Score Matter? By pairing the Flesch score with the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, you can fine-tune content for specific audiences—whether you’re writing for 5th graders or PhDs. In short, it’s about meeting readers where they are. The Flesch Reading Ease Formula The formula uses two variables: Average sentence length (ASL): the number of words divided by the number of sentences. Average syllables per word (ASW): the number of syllables divided by the number of words Flesch Reading Ease = 206. 835 – (1. 015 × ASL) – (84. 6 × ASW) ASL = Average Sentence Length (words per sentence). ASW = Average Syllables per Word. Example:For a text with 15 words per sentence and 1. 5 syllables per word:206. 835 – (1.... --- - Published: 2025-03-11 - Modified: 2025-03-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-create-a-pdf-in-clickhelp-a-step-by-step-guide-for-professional-documentation/ PDFs are the gold standard for sharing professional documents. They preserve formatting, work on any device, and are easy to secure. Whether you’re creating user guides, training materials, or technical documentation, a PDF manual ensures your content looks polished and is accessible offline. Key reasons to choose PDFs: Universal compatibility: Opens on Windows, Mac, smartphones, and tablets. Security: Add passwords or permissions to protect sensitive data. Print-ready: Maintains layout for physical copies. Small file size: Optimized for emailing or uploading. How to Create a PDF in ClickHelp If you need to export your project, follow the next steps:  Hover over the project name and click Publish in the hover menu. Choose PDF file from the Output type dropdown list and click Next. To make sure only ready content is exported, enable the Publish only Ready topics option and click Next. Choose the necessary Export Preset. Once the exporting process is completed, you will see a link to the exported file — click it to open the file, Download to download the file, or Finish to exit the wizard. Alternative Ways to Create PDFs If you’re don’t need to export your documentation from ClickHelp, but still need to turn something into a PDF, you can try one of the following ways. Method 1: Convert from Word Open your document in Microsoft Word. Go to File > Save As > Save as Adobe PDF. Method 2: Use Online PDF Creators Tools like Adobe Acrobat Online let you convert documents to PDF and... --- - Published: 2025-03-11 - Modified: 2025-03-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-import-a-space-from-confluence-to-clickhelp-a-migration-guide/ We’re not asking why you want to move your documentation from Confluence to ClickHelp.   We’re just telling you how to do it. Before You Begin Make sure you have the following: Administrator access to your Confluence instance. Valid login credentials for Confluence. An API token (for Cloud/Data Center editions). Learn how to get it here: Manage API tokens for your Atlassian account. Knowledge of which space you want to import. Starting the Import Open the Projects page in your ClickHelp portal. Click the Import button to launch the Import Wizard. Select Confluence as your import source. Choose where to import the content: Create a new project (recommended if importing an entire space). Add to an existing project (useful for partial imports). Note: In ClickHelp, a Project serves as the equivalent of a Confluence Space. If creating a new project: Enter a name in the Project name box. Specify the Project language from the dropdown. Click Next to proceed. Selecting Your Confluence Edition The Confluence Login step will open, presenting three options: Confluence Server Confluence Cloud Confluence Data Center Select the edition that matches your Confluence instance. Providing Confluence Credentials In the Confluence portal URL box, enter your portal URL.   If you're unsure about the exact portal URL, you can insert any link to your Confluence instance (such as a page or space link). ClickHelp will automatically attempt to recognize the correct portal URL. Next, enter your authentication credentials: For Confluence Server: Enter your Confluence login. Enter your Confluence... --- - Published: 2025-03-07 - Modified: 2025-03-07 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/the-coleman-liau-index-why-use-it-for-readability/ Ever feel like you’re writing into a void? You’ve poured hours into crafting your docs but somehow something just doesn’t click with users? Well, maybe this something is a problem with readability. Meet the Coleman-Liau Index. Let’s take a look into this readability compass and see how it can sharpen your content’s impact. What Is the Coleman-Liau Index? The Coleman-Liau Index is a readability formula designed to estimate the grade level required to understand a text. Unlike other formulas (e. g. , Flesch-Kincaid), it relies on characters per word and sentences per word instead of syllable counts, making it easier for computer programs to calculate.   Developed by linguists Meri Coleman and T. L. Liau in the 1970s, it’s still widely used in education, publishing, and content creation to ensure texts match the reading level of their audience. Key advantages:  No need to count syllables—use characters and sentences. Works well for non-English texts. Provides a quite accurate measure of reading difficulty. Who Uses the Coleman-Liau Index? Technical writers simplifying complex information for broader audiences. Educators assessing textbook difficulty for schools. Researchers analyzing literacy trends. Content creators tailoring blogs or articles to specific grade levels. Coleman-Liau Formula For reliable results, analyze texts with at least 300 words. Shorter passages may produce less consistent scores as a single complex sentence or word can disproportionately affect the outcome. Coleman-Liau Index (CLI) =0. 0588 x (Characters per 100 words) – 0. 296 x (Sentences per 100 words) – 15. 8 How to Calculate CLI... --- - Published: 2025-03-06 - Modified: 2025-03-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-make-a-background-image-in-microsoft-word-template-step-by-step-guide/ The presentation of your documentation matters just as much as its content. An image instead of a plain white background is just another way to reinforce your brand identity, enhance readability, and create a cohesive look across reports, letterheads, or marketing materials. The best part? You don’t need advanced design skills to achieve this. Just follow our guide. Why Add a Background Image in Word? A background image in Microsoft Word can elevate your document’s visual appeal, making it perfect for: Professional templates (e. g. , certificates, resumes). Branded business materials (flyers, brochures). Creative projects (invitations, posters). Adding a subtle watermark for document security. How to Insert a Background Image in Word Follow these steps to add a background image directly via Word’s built-in tools.   Step 1. Open your Word document. Go to the Design Tab → Page Color → Fill Effects. Step 2. In the Fill Effects window, click the Picture Tab → Select Picture. Choose your image (logo, or subtle texture). Adjust transparency (20-30%) so text stays readable. Your words shouldn’t duel with the background! Step 3. Backgrounds in Word might not print by default. To fix this: File → Options → Display → Check "Print background colors and images". Save as a . dotx Template File so you can reuse it forever. Future you will high-five present you. The result. Avoid These Busy backgrounds. Keep images muted or abstract. Low-res pic. Use high-resolution files (300 DPI+) for crisp printing. Forgetting margins. No text should cuddle the... --- - Published: 2025-03-05 - Modified: 2025-03-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-march-2025-release-pdf-import/ Importing PDFs into documentation should be easy—but most tools make it anything but. We tested 30 different solutions on the market, and the results? Inconsistent formatting, broken tables, missing lists, and hours wasted on cleanup. That’s why we built our own native PDF import, designed to work as well as the best solutions out there—but fully integrated into ClickHelp. No external converters, no extra steps, just clean, structured documentation from the start. With ClickHelp, you can: Migrate from outdated documentation tools without losing structure and formatting. Seamlessly integrate vendor PDFs into your knowledge base, making them easy to search and update. Make legacy documents more accessible by transforming static files into structured topics. Why ClickHelp’s PDF Import Stands Out: Flawless Formatting – Lists, tables, and structure stay intact.   Smart Structuring – Import as a single topic or automatically split content based on paragraph outlines. Fully Integrated – No need for third-party tools—everything happens within ClickHelp. With ClickHelp, PDF import isn’t just an extra feature—it’s a time-saving, quality-preserving solution that helps you focus on what matters. Try it now in open Beta and help us make documentation import better for everyone. Experience documentation importing the way it should be. Good luck with your technical writing! ClickHelp Team Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices. --- - Published: 2025-03-05 - Modified: 2025-03-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/understanding-a4-paper-size-dimensions-uses-and-standards/ Ever wondered why a sheet of A4 paper fits perfectly in folders, printers, and hands worldwide? This unassuming rectangle is a marvel of design, rooted in mathematical precision and international standardization. Let’s explore why A4’s dimensions make it a universal favorite for offices, artists, and everyone in between. A4 Paper Dimensions: The International Standard The A series was first defined in the 1920s in Germany as DIN 476. It was later adopted internationally as ISO 216 in 1975.   Now, A4 paper (21. 0 × 29. 7 cm / 8. 27 × 11. 69 in) is the cornerstone of the A-series. Its secret? A √2 aspect ratio that allows easy scaling—fold an A4 sheet in half, and you get A5; double it, and it becomes A3. This geometric harmony ensures consistency across printers, copiers, and filing systems. No more awkward mishaps while resizing. A4 Paper Size in Centimetres (cm) The A4 format measures 21. 0 cm (width) x 29. 7 cm (height). Perfect for printing reports, sheets, and documents. A4 Paper Size in Inches In inches, A4 translates to 8. 27 in x 11. 69 in.   A4 Paper Size in Pixels Pixel dimensions depend on resolution (DPI). Common values: DPIPixels (Width x Height)Use Case72595 x 842Web graphics3002480 x 3508High-quality printing6004960 x 7016Professional posters How does A4 compare to US Letter size? A4 paper (210 × 297 mm or 8. 27 by 11. 7 inches) is slightly narrower and longer than US Letter size (215. 9 × 279. 4 mm... --- - Published: 2025-02-26 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-progress-report/ Suppose you are the manager of a software development team in a technology startup that is developing an innovative, cloud-based CRM system. The release date for the software is approaching, and as the manager, it is your responsibility to update the team on project statuses. You will inform them of potential risks and the steps required to address them. Additionally, you’ll prepare a progress report to ensure everyone is aligned. In your report, you will emphasize critical achievements, such as completing the user interface and successfully integrating it with the database. You’ll also address important issues, including recent security vulnerabilities identified in testing, which might delay the launch. This approach will clearly communicate both successes and challenges, keeping all stakeholders informed about the current state of the project and enabling them to devise solutions as needed. Good communication and clarity are essential today. Progress reports play a key role in sharing project status, milestones achieved, and challenges that must be addressed. Knowing how to write an informative progress report can make a significant difference, whether you’re working with a small team or managing a large-scale software development project. In this article, we will discuss the main components of a progress report and demonstrate how to enhance your reporting process using ClickHelp’s Project Readiness Report feature, ensuring that your stakeholders stay well-informed. Why Are Progress Reports Necessary? A progress report provides essential support in managing projects across fields like engineering design, IT, and more—especially those involving numerous stakeholders, complex processes, and... --- - Published: 2025-02-20 - Modified: 2025-02-20 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/gunning-fog-index-how-to-calculate-and-example/ Now more than ever, clarity and readability in writing are essential. One of the most widely used methods for assessing the difficulty of written material is the Gunning Fog Index. This index produces a number that represents the years of schooling a person would need to read and understand your work. In other words, the Gunning Fog Index is a measure of text readability. It calculates readability based on the average number of words per sentence and the number of complex words, determining how many years of formal education an average reader would need to comprehend the text. In today's article, we will explore what the Fog Index is, how to calculate it, and what your score means. What Is the Fog Index? The Gunning Fog Index is a readability test used to assess the complexity of English writing. It was developed by Robert Gunning in 1952 to estimate the years of formal education a reader would need to understand a text on the first reading. A higher score indicates more difficult text, often requiring higher educational attainment, while a lower score suggests the text is easier to read and comprehend. In practice, the Gunning Fog Index is commonly used to determine the grade level of school textbooks. However, among English teachers (both language and literature), it is sometimes seen as a limiting factor because it discourages the introduction of new vocabulary. As a result, students may be exposed only to materials that match or fall below their current reading... --- - Published: 2025-02-19 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/creating-effective-installation-guides/ An installation guide is a crucial document that provides step-by-step instructions on how to install a product or software. Imagine a leading automation company that launched a smart thermostat. The product experienced numerous installation issues, which became the primary reason for calls to their customer support team. As a result, the company recognized the need for clarity and created a detailed installation guide, complete with step-by-step instructions, images, and troubleshooting tips. This not only helped end users self-install their device but also significantly reduced the number of support calls. Whether you’re developing a new software application, hardware device, or any other product, a well-crafted installation guide can greatly enhance the user experience and reduce support requests. In this article, we will explore the essential components of an effective installation guide and provide a step-by-step approach to creating one. Why an Installation Guide Matters An installation guide serves several important purposes: User Empowerment. It enables users to install the product on their own, reducing frustration and increasing satisfaction. Consistency. A standardized guide ensures that all users follow the same installation process, which minimizes the chances of error. Reduced Support Costs. A clear installation guide can lead to fewer support requests, saving time for both users and the support teams. Professionalism. A well-documented installation process reflects positively on your brand and demonstrates a commitment to quality and user support. An installation guide is an effective way to empower users, ensure consistency, and maintain professionalism. By providing clear instructions and anticipating challenges, it... --- - Published: 2025-02-11 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/techcomm-conferences-2025/ Conferences serve as excellent platforms for technical writers and communicators to stay up-to-date on industry trends, gain new insights, and expand their professional networks. These events provide invaluable opportunities to engage with industry leaders, exchange ideas, and build relationships that can lead to career growth and collaborations. Workshops and sessions introduce the latest tools, technologies, and best practices, ensuring writers remain competitive. Conferences also help attendees stay informed on industry trends, preventing them from falling behind in a rapidly evolving field. Expert-led discussions offer deep insights into emerging challenges, while the dynamic environment fosters creativity and motivation. Many events also provide certifications and serve as valuable recruitment opportunities. With several exciting conferences lined up for 2025, technical communicators can look forward to gaining knowledge, making connections, and advancing their careers. Techcomm Conferences in 2025, Organized by Month Here are some of the most anticipated technical communication conferences in 2025: MEGAComm 2025 Date: February 12-13, 2025 Location: Jerusalem, Israel MegaComm is a unique technical communication conference that blends informality, networking, and knowledge-sharing, reflecting the culture of Israel. Known for its welcoming atmosphere, MegaComm brings together professionals from diverse industries to exchange ideas and expertise. In 2025, the conference returns in a hybrid format—both in-person and online—allowing international participants to join remotely. While previous years saw a global audience attending in person, this year’s event will primarily be local, with international speakers presenting online. The event features Speed Networking sessions, workshops, and insightful discussions on AI-driven documentation, content strategy, and evolving industry... --- - Published: 2025-02-07 - Modified: 2025-02-07 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/clickhelp-february-2025-release/ Your technical documentation isn't just content – it's often the first impression users get of your product. And for your support team, it’s their most powerful tool for helping users succeed. Today, we’re introducing two improvements that make both aspects better. First, AnswerGenius is moving out of beta, bringing refined AI-powered assistance to help your users find answers faster. Second, we're introducing a new API documentation engine that makes your API reference look as professional as your product.   AnswerGenius: AI Assistance Now Fully Unlocked Many software companies, just like yours, face the challenge of users struggling to find the right information in documentation, even when it's available. Support teams often spend valuable time answering repetitive questions. This is where AnswerGenius makes a difference. Now AnswerGenius is officially out of beta! It enables users to easily ask questions in natural language and quickly receive relevant answers, along with direct links to the right sections of your documentation. This not only saves your team time but also helps users get the information they need with ease. Here’s how AnswerGenius is helping you: Users get the right answers faster, reducing frustration and time spent searching for information. Long conversations now feel more natural, allowing users to get the information they need without having to repeat themselves. AnswerGenius now delivers answers that are even more aligned with what users actually want, particularly in ongoing conversations. Our customers are already seeing the benefits: “I did a few tests asking how to perform various tasks,... --- - Published: 2025-02-05 - Modified: 2025-02-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-reports/ Data-driven decision-making is essential for success. Consider an IT company that has just secured a large contract to develop a state-of-the-art software solution for a high-profile client. As the project progresses, numerous challenges arise related to resources, timelines, quality assurance, and client expectations. The company cannot afford to operate without comprehensive reports. Performance reports will track the progress of individual team members, project reports will outline milestones and deliverables, and management reports will provide executives with the information they need to make informed strategic decisions. Without these essential documents, the company risks falling behind schedule, exceeding budgets, and ultimately compromising the project’s success. Reports are among the most critical tools in business, academia, and other fields. They are used to track progress, monitor developments, and provide insights for decision-making. Understanding the various types of reports is key to selecting the right format for your specific needs. In this article, we will explore several common report types, including performance reports, project reports, management reports, and more. Performance Report A performance report analyzes the effectiveness and efficiency of an individual, team, or organization over a given period. These reports often include key performance indicators (KPIs), which reflect progress toward predetermined goals. Performance reports are valuable tools for assessing productivity, showing how well employees or teams are meeting their targets. By analyzing performance data, organizations can identify weaknesses and areas for improvement. These reports also hold individuals and teams accountable for their results. Consider a company like TechSolutions Inc. , a leader in... --- - Published: 2025-01-29 - Modified: 2025-11-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/20-chatgpt-alternatives/ In the artificial intelligence ecosystem, many businesses have turned to tools like ChatGPT to streamline their operations, enhance customer interactions, and increase overall efficiency. As a result, a whole 'generation' of companies in fields such as IT, data privacy, and marketing became highly dependent on ChatGPT for various tasks, from content creation to automating customer support. As companies grew and their needs became more sophisticated, they sought solutions that could better address the evolving demands of their operations. While ChatGPT proved valuable for tasks such as content creation and customer support automation, some companies began exploring additional AI tools to complement and enhance their workflows. These businesses were looking for alternatives that offered greater flexibility, customization, and security. In response to these needs, companies began integrating ChatGPT with other AI tools that better aligned with their specific goals. This approach allowed them to leverage the strengths of multiple platforms, improving performance, personalization, and data privacy. In today's article, we will explore some of the alternative AI tools that have helped companies meet their unique challenges while driving creativity and success in their respective fields. The world of AI tools is vast, and while ChatGPT leads in popularity, there are innovative alternatives that offer functionality designed to enhance documentation and other critical tasks. — Ian Corvin, Product Manager at ClickHelp Why Look for ChatGPT Alternatives? With users taking to AI tools for every need nowadays, there are quite a few reasons why one should look for alternatives to ChatGPT. Following are... --- - Published: 2025-01-22 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-step-by-step-guide/ Effective communication relies on clarity and simplicity. Whether you're showcasing a new software application, teaching a technical skill, or outlining a complex process, a well-structured step-by-step guide can greatly improve comprehension. For example, consider the launch of a popular IT product—a cloud storage service—that was released without a comprehensive user manual. Many users became overwhelmed by the interface and features, leading to confusion and frustration. As a result, the company faced a surge of customer support inquiries and negative reviews, highlighting the critical need for clear instructional content. By following the guidelines presented in this article, you'll be able to avoid similar pitfalls and create a guide that empowers users to navigate your product with confidence. Why Use a Step-by-Step Guide? A step-by-step guide simplifies complex information by breaking it down into manageable parts. This format is beneficial because it ensures the following: Promotes Clarity: Minimizes ambiguity in instructions. Provides Visuals for Understanding: Allows readers to follow along at their own pace, reducing frustration. Supports Learning: Helps with retention by breaking down information into digestible pieces. A step-by-step guide is a valuable tool that simplifies even the most complex tasks and boosts efficiency. By breaking down processes into manageable steps, it helps users navigate challenges with confidence. Whether it's learning new skills, completing projects, or achieving personal goals, a structured approach not only makes the journey smoother but also more successful. These guides empower individuals to tackle even the most daunting tasks with clarity and ease. Steps to Create Your... --- - Published: 2025-01-15 - Modified: 2025-11-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/what-is-a-digital-workplace/ As technology continues to evolve and the way we work changes, the digital workplace has become essential for businesses looking to boost productivity, improve collaboration, and increase employee satisfaction. But what is a digital workplace, and how can organizations tap into its potential to compete in today’s landscape? Let’s look at a real-life example of a hypothetical company — Manufacturing LLC, a mid-sized firm that had traditionally operated without any concept of a digital workplace. For years, Manufacturing LLC relied on paper-based processes and in-person meetings, which led to inefficiencies, miscommunication, and a lack of collaboration among teams. Workers often struggled to access critical information in a timely manner, resulting in delays and frustration. Realizing the need for change, the leadership team decided to adopt a digital workplace solution. With the implementation of a suite of digital tools, such as cloud-based project management software, collaboration platforms, and document management systems, Manufacturing LLC underwent a transformation. Teams could now communicate in real time, share documents, and access critical information, whether on the office floor or the shop floor. This shift also fostered a cultural change, sparking innovation and collaboration among employees. Transitioning to a digital workplace isn't merely about adopting new tools; it's about fostering a culture of collaboration and agility. When employees are equipped with the right digital resources, innovation thrives. — Alexander Muravyov, CEO at ClickHelp In today's article, we will explore the key elements, advantages, and effective strategies for successfully implementing a Digital Workplace. What Is a Digital... --- - Published: 2025-01-09 - Modified: 2025-03-26 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/types-of-knowledge-from-tacit-to-tribal/ Knowledge is more than a collection of facts and figures; it’s a multi-dimensional concept that encompasses various forms and types. These include tacit knowledge, tribal knowledge, explicit knowledge, social knowledge, cultural knowledge, and procedural knowledge. In today's article, we will explore each of these types and their unique characteristics. Understanding Variants of Knowledge Tacit Knowledge: The Unspoken Insights Tacit knowledge refers to the kind of knowledge a person possesses but struggles to share with others. This type of knowledge is typically gained through personal experience and resides in the mind—often in the subconscious. It is demonstrated through individual practices, such as riding a bicycle, playing a musical instrument, or developing interpersonal skills. In contrast, tacit knowledge is the opposite of explicit knowledge, which can be easily written down and transferred to others. Characteristics of tacit knowledge: Tacit knowledge is personal and contextual. It is closely bound with the experiences of the individual and the specific context in which it was acquired. Difficult to transfer. The underlying elements being hard to verbalize, direct interaction or mentorship may become essential for sharing the tacit knowledge. Intuitive. It is usually intuitive and instinctive instead of being explicitly acquired by way of classes or training. Imagine a child learning to ride a bicycle. Riding a bike is an example of knowledge that cannot easily be explained in abstract terms. A parent might describe the actions needed—pedaling, steering, and balancing—but the only true way for the child to learn is through direct experience and practice.... --- - Published: 2025-01-02 - Modified: 2026-01-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/10-best-google-docs-alternatives/ Have you ever worked on a group assignment and suddenly felt that Google Docs wasn't quite meeting your needs? Maybe you're trying to collaborate with team members across different locations, and the comments and revisions are becoming overwhelming. Or perhaps you're aiming to create a complex document with sections requiring unique formatting, but Google Docs just doesn’t seem up to the task. Imagine a marketing team assembling an in-depth manual detailing their product’s features. They start with Google Docs but quickly realize it can't handle the level of complexity and customization they need. Eventually, they switch to another tool, and the difference is remarkable. If this scenario sounds familiar, you're not alone. In this article, we’ll explore some of the top alternatives to Google Docs for collaborative document editing and management, helping you find the one that best fits your team’s needs. What Is Google Docs? Google Docs is a free, web-based word processor and document management tool offered by Google as part of its Google Drive service. It enables users to create and edit documents online, making it a popular choice for collaboration and web-based document storage. With Google Docs, users can access their documents anytime, anywhere, as long as they have an internet connection. This makes it ideal for teams and individuals working on shared documents from different locations. Some of the important features of Google Docs include real-time collaboration, where multiple users can edit documents simultaneously; automatic saving, which ensures that work is never lost; revision history,... --- - Published: 2024-12-25 - Modified: 2024-12-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/tech-writing-trends-2025/ As we approach 2025, the landscape of tech writing continues to evolve rapidly, driven by advances in technology and shifts in industry needs. This article examines the key trends predicted for 2025 and reflects on some of the predictions for 2024 that have already come to fruition. Why Should Tech Writers Care About the Industry Trends for 2025? As technology continues to develop, the tools and methods used for communicating information evolve as well. This is why staying up to date with these trends ensures that technical writers remain relevant and competitive in the rapidly changing job market. Knowing what is on the horizon allows writers to optimize the user experience. According to Statista, an online trend analysis resource, the market for artificial intelligence surpassed 184 billion U. S. dollars in 2024, marking a significant increase of nearly 50 billion compared to 2023. This impressive growth is expected to continue, with the market projected to exceed 826 billion U. S. dollars by 2030.   This trend is clearly illustrated by the chart below: With trends in AI-driven content creation and immersive documentation on the rise, writers can create more engaging materials while also making them easier for users to understand. This focus on user experience is crucial, as it directly impacts how well information is communicated. Furthermore, new technologies in augmented and virtual reality, as well as voice-activated systems, are emerging. Technology writers must evolve their skills in response to these innovations. With the new tools at their disposal, writers... --- - Published: 2024-12-18 - Modified: 2025-11-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/ai-tools-for-technical-writers/ Technical writing serves as an important tool in converting complex information into user-friendly documentation in the world of ever-changing technology. Tech writers always strive to make their content clear, concise, and interesting. With the development of AI tools, new ways have been discovered that could support their productivity and creativity. Imagine a situation where a tech writer is asked to author a software manual that needs to be sold in a variety of international markets. While ChatGPT can create content and then provide translations en masse, the technical jargon, cultural context, and industry terminology cannot vary as greatly between languages. DeepL Write and similar resources are tools that can be very helpful here. Such tools are not only capable of providing high-quality translations but can also offer contextual suggestions to ensure the technical language is conveyed accurately and remains culturally appropriate. With this, the tech writer can create documentation that speaks to a wide array of users, thus ensuring a much better user experience. Incorporating AI tools into the documentation process has allowed our team to streamline workflows and deliver high-quality content more efficiently. — Ian Corvin, Product Manager at ClickHelp In this article, we will introduce some of the lesser-known AI tools for technical writers, beyond the popular and much-discussed ChatGPT and the like. We will introduce a few unique resources that can help enhance your writing process. Beyond ChatGPT: AI Tools You May Not Know About Hix AI: Your Writing Companion Hix AI is a powerful AI writing... --- --- ## Events --- ## Glossaries - Published: 2025-05-14 - Modified: 2025-05-14 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/backlog/ Every strategic product or project requires ongoing support and improvement. Whether it's bug fixes discovered by users, enhancements proposed by team members, or adjustments based on user preferences—each change needs to be tracked and implemented. To manage this work, teams rely on a structured task list known as a backlog. A backlog serves as one of the most essential tools for managing the continued development and support of both digital and non-digital products. Understanding the Backlog A backlog is a prioritized list of tasks that need to be completed to improve or maintain a product. It typically includes items such as: New features (user stories) Bug reports Technical improvements Documentation tasks Backlogs are most commonly used in Agile and Scrum frameworks, but the concept is useful in any structured project workflow. One key characteristic of a backlog is that it is constantly evolving—tasks are regularly added, updated, reprioritized, or removed as the project progresses. What Is the Purpose of a Backlog? A well-maintained backlog offers multiple benefits: Single Source of Truth It centralizes all pending work for a project, which is especially useful when multiple teams are involved. Everyone has access to the same, up-to-date task list. Facilitates Team Collaboration Teams can use the backlog to discuss priorities, dependencies, and potential improvements across different departments. Improves Task Management Tasks are broken down, clarified, and prioritized, making them easier to assign and track. This leads to increased productivity and clearer expectations. Why Is Backlog Management Important? Backlog management ensures that teams... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/online-documentation-portal/ An online documentation portal is a web resource that hosts various online documentation a company provides. Sometimes it is also called a "support portal" meaning that this is one of the self-help technical resources. A documentation portal usually hosts several different types of content: Software documentation User guides Online tutorials Video lessons and demonstrations FAQ lists Samples and how to articles Knowledge bases Troubleshooting guides The resources may be public when they are available to everyone on the web without authentication. This approach also generates organic traffic from the search engines like Google or Bing. Some resources in a documentation portal may be protected with login. This approach is used when the documentation access must be provided only to the clients or partners for whatever reason. Quite often, companies combine the two approaches and provide both public and protected resources in their documentation portal. Is it not a website? Online documentation portal software is often a very specialized CMS - you still create and update the online content, you attract visitors that consume the content in a web browser. But this type of software makes it much easier to create software documentation and user manuals that have hundreds and thousands of topics, rather than individual web pages. On top of the technical differences between CMS and documentation portal software, there is an important organizational difference. Unlike a web site, online documentation portal is often managed by technical writers and developers, rather than the Web Team and Marketing. As a rule,... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/online-help/ Online help is a topic-based information delivered to software users in an electronic form to provide assistance or information. The ways computer programs deliver online help includes: Web Help, Context Sensitive Help, Microsoft WinHelp (HLP), HTML Help (CHM), Microsoft Help 2 (HXS), Microsoft Help Viewer 1. 0 (MSHC), and many others. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ontology/ Usually, the term “ontology” refers to the philosophical study of being. In technical writing, an ontology is a collection of taxonomies. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/operation-and-maintenance-manual/ Operation and maintenance manual (O&M Manual) is a type of technical documentation that describes how to use some product correctly and/or how to troubleshoot problems. They are also known as operation manuals, operation and installation manuals, operation and maintenance manuals, setup manuals and so on --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/operation-manual/ Operation manual is a technical writing deliverable that instructs the end-user on the documented product: what is it, what is its purpose, how to use it safely and how to troubleshoot problems. It is a kind of deliverable that goes, for example, with any piece of technology. Imagine that you’ve bought a new printer. When you do the unpacking, there’s always a user manual included in the package. In case of a printer, from the operational manual you may find the description of the product and its functionality, learn how to maintain it, how to connect it to your PC and so on. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/operations-manual/ Operations manual (not to be confused with operation manual) is a type of technical documentation that is assigned to the employees, and that instructs them on how to perform their tasks efficiently and safely. Operations manuals are not training materials - they are employee handbooks, and their purpose is to remind experienced and qualified staff on how to carry out their duties and reduce human errors. It is an internal knowledge base of the company that may contain the following information: Hierarchy of the company Job descriptions Documented processes Safety instructions Emergency procedures Contacts There’s no need to spread printed copies among the staff. Operations manuals are a part of the internal documentation of the company, and they can be stored online for quick and easy access. Modern documentation tools also provide hosted online documentation portals that allow to store your information in a password-protected place safely. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ordered-list/ A list of elements that is sorted in a specific order. Even though an ordered list is a broad term since it does not specify the sorting order, this term is often used to denote a numbered list where the order is defined by the sequential number assign to each element. See also Numbered List. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/pace-layering/ Pace layering is a term that is about changes at different rates for different groups within one company. For example, a business person can change the pace faster than a person from another group, such as IT. So, it means that your taxonomy should be flexible and adaptable to changing business environments. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/policy-and-procedure-manual/ Policy and procedure manual is a type of technical documentation that states business goals and policies and communicates appropriate standards of action and behavior for the employees. It contains the company’s best practices, descriptions of the key business processes, methods, and standards of how work is performed. Useful manuals provide methods and instructions for staff communication and their interdepartmental interactions. Policy and procedure manuals are an essential management tool. This document should always be within reach of every employee so that they could consult it anytime. There’s no need to have a printed copy for everyone - modern documentation tools allow hosting password-protected online documentation portals that can be used as a storage of internal company documentation. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/pre-classified-and-post-classified-systems/ Following the gathered information about your users, you can program the CMS to render the information in different displays according to your users’ needs. So, you can dynamically change the information. There are two terms that refer to the dynamic display of information: A pre-classified system. It sets up fixed portals that the user can enter to learn necessary information displayed in different ways. A post-classified system. It creates the portals on the fly in a list of facets that users can navigate when they enter a search term. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/press-release/ A press release (it’s also known as a news release, press statement, media release) is a document or a video that aims to announce news about a product. Usually, it’s faxed, mailed, or e-mailed to editors or journalists at radio stations, television stations newspapers, magazines, etc. Press releases are just a page long - two pages. Here are the usual structural elements: Headline Dateline Introduction Body Close Contact information --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/product-description/ A product description is a piece of writing that describes the benefits and features of a product to a customer. The goal of a product description is to provide enough information to encourage customers to buy the product. If you want to write a product description that converts, it should be concise and answer the following questions: what problems does your product solve? What benefits will a customer get from using your product? Why should a customer buy your product? You should not write just how your product is great. Product descriptions should contain useful information. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/programmer-guide/ A programmer guide is a document that’s written for programmers. It’s most commonly associated with computer hardware, electronic goods, and software but they can be written for any product. A programmer guide can describe information about an application, debugging, and so on. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/proposal/ A proposal is a document that aims to persuade the reader to approve a proposed project or implement a proposed plan. It may contain recommendations, results of surveys, technical background, information about feasibility, and so on. Types of proposals: Internal and external. Internal proposals are created for someone within your organization. An external proposal is usually written for people that are not members of a company. Solicited and unsolicited. A solicited proposal is a document that a recipient has requested. Usually, a company sends out requests for proposal (RFP) via email, for example. Unsolicited proposals are those in which the recipient has not requested proposals. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/quality-assurance/ Quality assurance as a common term can be described as the permanent procuring of the product’s quality. Whatever the sphere we are working at, from food-producing to the creation of sophisticated software, QA is a vital part of any working process from the product's first to the last stages. If we talk about a digital world, in particular, quality assurance can be described as a procedure of procuring digital product’s quality, concerning all the aspects and sides of its development and operation. What is the purpose of quality assurance? As it is obvious from the definition, quality assurance is used to look after the product’s accordance with the particular criteria. These criteria, on their side, are taken from the product’s documentation, and requirements, created even before the work has started. It is worth noticing that documentation is also inspected on the subject of logical, technical, or any other mistakes to prevent any flaws occurring at the beginning and crush the entire production process. This specific process is called documentation testing and is considered as the first quality assurance stage. What do QA engineers do? Examination of the product’s quality is vital for the regular work of any digital product; that’s why it is under the responsibility of a unique team called QA engineers. They have an extensive list of procedures necessary to procure the product from any other mistakes or system mistakes. Testing of the documentation of all kinds. There must be no flaws in logical, technical, and resource aspects,... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/quick-start-guide/ A quick start guide (QSG) is a shortened version of a manual. It aims to make a buyer familiar with a product quickly. Usually, it describes steps of using a product so that a buyer can use it without any delay. Also, QSG can include installation steps. A quick start guide most commonly focuses on easy instructions with featured illustrations. Concerning the format, it can be a single A4 sheet, a folded card or a booklet. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/readability-score/ A readability score is a computer-calculated index that helps technical writers learn what level of education a reader will need to understand a text easily. Readability really matters since tech writers should write user-oriented documentation that users will gladly read. Moreover, search engines like Google also care. Google has publicly stated that readability is one of the factors in its ranking algorithm. That’s why the readability score also helps you improve SEO. ClickHelp provides you with a number of readability metrics. For example, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Index, New Dale-Chall Formula and so on. You can learn more here: Readability Metrics. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2025-12-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/release-notes/ Release notes are documents that describe changes made in a product. They can contain descriptions of new features, bug fixes, upgrade guides, and more. Typically, a technical writer creates release notes based on information from marketing advisers, product managers, engineering teams, and other subject-matter experts (SMEs). Nowadays, technology evolves rapidly, and the continuous development of digital products requires clear communication with users about updates. This is where release notes play a vital role. Understanding Release Notes Release notes are a specific type of documentation that provides details about changes to a product or service, including updates, new features, bug fixes, and other improvements. Usually, a technical writer is responsible for creating these documents. To make release notes user-friendly, technical writers gather information from SMEs, project managers, developers, QA engineers, designers, and marketers. This collaborative process ensures that the content is accurate and comprehensive. Technical writers don’t work in isolation. Consulting SMEs—individuals with in-depth knowledge of the product or system—is the most efficient way to gather information. This collaboration helps avoid delays and ensures the release notes contain the most up-to-date information. Why Are Release Notes Important? Release notes provide several key benefits: Quick Updates for the Team: Project teams can quickly learn about all changes made to the product, reducing the risk of miscommunication and downstream issues. Cost and Time Savings: Staying informed about the latest updates helps teams avoid problems that could require additional time and resources to resolve. Supporting Marketing: Marketers benefit from comprehensive release notes because they... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/remote-configuration/ Remote configuration – a software development technique which allows to modify particular features of an app (mostly mobile) remotely without the necessity to launch a huge update or deploy a new version of it. For that goal, a special interface is used. It allows to define parameters and then to set new values for these parameters in the app itself. At the end of the process, the new parameters of app’s configuration are changed from a remote server. The new values may be automatically added the next time a user starts working with an app. The remote configuration is very useful as it allows you to make changes in the app without going through the long process of approval of online app stores such as App Store or Google Play. One of the main features of remote configuration is that it can limit access to an app according to some user’s criteria such as age or location. Moreover, this technique affords to change accessibility of app’s functionality by delivering different values to different users. That means that some users can have data or additional content while others keep working with the old version of the app. All these manipulations are made with the help of so-called feature flags. Feature flags help to save new content and then on and off it remotely according to the user’s data and profile. Feature flags are one of the most widespread tools in the mobile development industry. Remote configuration can also be useful for... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/rendering/ Rendering (image synthesis) – the term of computer graphics which defines the process of generating a photorealistic or non-photorealistic image from a 2D or 3D model by means of a computer program. During the rendering, a program defines a model by using a scene file containing geometry, texture, lighting and shading information about the object. The resulting images of rendering are called renders. Two main kinds of rendering (according to the ability of making parallel computations): multithreaded rendering - computations are performed in one thread synchronously, on several processor cores single-threaded rendering - computations are performed in one thread synchronously Types of rendering: Software rendering allows to get the images of the highest quality Hardware rendering renders images to disk with help of PC’s video card and drivers Vector rendering creates wireframes, tonal and line arts, 2D graphics Cloud rendering helps to create photorealistic graphics by using the cloud system Rendering is one of the major topics of 3D computer graphics as it gives the final result of all graphics creating processes. It is the process that provides the final appearance of the model. Rendering begins only after the full completion of the wireframe by adding additional texture (bitmap and procedural), lights and positioning to other objects. Rendering is used in: Architecture Video games Simulators Visual effects in movies Design visualization. The main tools used in rendering: Shading – helps to vary the color and brightness of surfaces Shadows – the main effect of highlighting and obstructing light Texture-mapping –... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/report/ A report is a document with information that’s written for a specific audience and purpose. Reports may refer to specific periods, events, occurrences, or subjects, and may be communicated or presented in a written or oral form. The standard structure of a report is the following: introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Reports may feature tables, graphics, images, and other visual content to make complex issues more accessible. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/research-proposal/ A research proposal is a summary of your proposed research, generally in the sciences or academia. It outlines the area of study, what prior research has been done on the topic, the results of the study and so on. Usually, research proposals are 2,000–3,500 words (4-7 pages) long. They include: Title Abstract Research context Research questions Research methods Significance of research Bibliography Research Proposals can be: Solicited - they respond to a request with specified requirements. Unsolicited - they are written without prior request. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/review/ Review is a process of checking and verifying documentation to watch if it was correctly written. In other words, this is a procedure responsible for looking after the correctness of documentation writing and for document’s agreement with special technical writing standards. As creating project documentation is considered one of the essential parts of the entire project working process, its quality assurance is undeniably significant. For this purpose, businesses always make primary checking of documentation, also known as the review process. Now let’s discover what the review is and why it is so important. What is the Review Process? As it was said, a review is responsible for ensuring documentation quality. Nevertheless, it is different from quality assurance (QA) that tests project requirements and documentation. The main difference is that process of quality assurance executed by a QA team is a far more complicated procedure that sometimes involves a lot of time and resources. QA engineers test different aspects of technical and non-technical documentation through deep research. On the other hand, the process of reviewing requires less time and resources as it only checks the logic of narration and the textual content itself. So, this process is simple and represents only superficial testing. Despite that, documentation review has a special procedure and people responsible for it. The Process of Reviewing The simplest explanation of this type of assurance is that after the part of a document has been written, it is immediately given to a responsible person who reads it and... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/rfp-document/ RFP stands for a request for proposal. It’s a document that is usually written by an organization, often a government agency or large enterprise to get a response from potential vendors for the desired IT solution. It includes aspects what a customer is looking for and criteria on which a vendor's proposal will be assessed. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/rfq-document/ RFQ stands for a request for quotation. It’s a document that an organization submits to potential suppliers to elicit quotations for a product or service. The main goal of RFQ is to get information about prices for something, for example, hardware. Read about a request for proposal. It’s another type of documentation that’s created when an organization's requirements are more complex. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/robots-txt/ Robots. txt is a special text file web developers use to help the search engines index their web resource correctly. Each web site has directories and pages that should not be indexed by search engines. For example, printed versions of web site pages, pages of the security system (registration, authentication). There may also be directories like administrator resources folder, various technical folders. In addition, webmasters may want to give additional information about indexing to search engines. For example, the location of the sitemap. xml file. All these tasks are performed by the robots. txt file. It is just a text file of a specific format, and you put it on your web site (to the main directory) so that the web crawlers know how to properly index the web site contents. Full specification of this file format can be found in the Google Developers portal. To learn more, read about Robots. txt in our blog. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/saas-software-as-a-service/ Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, is a could-based service or product. Users do not download and install software on their computers, they access it via the Internet on a subscription basis. It is an alternative to traditional on-premise software. SaaS offers customers several payment plans with different sets of features included. It means you pay only for what you are going to use and the features that meet your needs, or you pay for the amount of information you are going to store. That matters as well. As a rule, two payment plans are available: monthly and annual. A SaaS company is a company that maintains servers and databases to make its product available to users over the Internet. Products run directly through a web browser. SaaS companies have the following characteristics: Focus on users’ needs Pay attention to details Create highly-customizable products The most common scenario of SaaS use is the following: you need to log into your account (do not forget your login credentials) from a web browser, and that’s it. A scenario like that is often called cloud computing. It means that you can use a SaaS product or service from any computer or laptop and anytime. Some products even have a mobile version. SaaS products are used for a wide range of business needs: CRM (customer relationship management), data storage and sharing, project management, sales management, accounting, employee communication, human resource management, marketing, etc. SaaS services provide a great customer experience, accessibility, scalability, data protection, higher speed, and... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/scrum-master/ The Scrum Master role is a part of the Scrum framework. The Scrum Master is a leader of the Scrum Team. This professional is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum. They help everyone understand Scrum principles, theory, rules, practices, and values. The Scrum Master arranges and facilitates the team’s meetings like sprint retrospective, planning sessions, and the like. The Scrum Master also helps to improve interactions between the organization and the Scrum team to maximize the effectiveness of these interactions. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/scrum/ Scrum is an agile process framework that helps teams work together. According to the Scrum approach, a team breaks large services and products into small pieces that can be completed by a cross-functional team quickly. Then Scrum teams inspect each batch of functionality when it’s completed and then based on feedback, minimizing risk and reducing waste, they consider what will be created next. Scrum is most frequently used by software development teams, but the principles of this approach can be applied to all kinds of teamwork. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/sdk-documentation/ SDK stands for a software development kit. An SDK is a set of software development tools used for developing applications for a specific device or operating system. The Windows 7 SDK, the Mac OS X SDK, and the iPhone SDK are the most popular examples of SDK. As companies want to encourage developers to create applications for their platform, SDKs are usually provided free of charge and write extensive documentation that can include FAQ and tutorials. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/semantic-architecture/ Semantic architecture is a concept in the software architecture. Here are some goals of semantic architecture: to describe a system architecture at a high level of abstraction; to permit analysis of architectural quality attributes; to support automatic generation of software architecture models. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/seo/ SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization - a process of improving a web resource visibility and ranking by making changes to the resource itself, making it more search engine friendly. The idea is simple - the easier it is to find your online resource in a search engine, the more visitors you have. SEO specialists know (or they think they know) the main principles that affect a web site ranking in search engines. Based on this information, they implement a number of changes to make sure the resource shows up more often to the target audience. SEO-focused changes not only increase the traffic volume, but also improve its quality by using the right keywords in the content. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/single-sourcing/ Single-sourcing may have different definitions related to various spheres of activity. First of all, the ‘single-sourcing’ term is used when people talk about businesses that use only one source to get goods, raw materials, services, and other things necessary for production. It doesn’t mean that other sources are unavailable, but a company uses only one of them. When we talk about the sphere of digital technology and technical writing, single-sourcing means using one single document or piece of content to create multiple documents. It is a must-have when creating manuals or tutorials for teams and end-users. The term ‘single-sourcing’ can also be extended to the term ‘single-source publishing’. What Are the Benefits of Using Single-Sourcing? Single-sourcing allows to make document creation faster as a single document template or piece of content can be used to create documentation of different formats. Single-sourcing helps to avoid duplicated work by allowing multiple reuses of the existing content. Main Principles of Single-Sourcing Here are the main principles of single-sourcing: No duplicated work and copy and pasting. Everyone wants to work faster, and single-sourcing is one of the best methods of achieving this goal as it provides multiple reuse of content. Easy and quick document creation. Single-sourcing allows technical writers to create numerous documents using single-sourced content, just like bricks that are used to build a wall. Easy documentation update. Updating the single-sourced content takes seconds and it helps technical writers avoid mistakes. There is no need to update each document manually. When Is Single-Sourcing... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/sneak-peek/ Sneak peek is an opportunity to see something before it is officially released to the public. Here is an example of a sneak peek: ‘ClickHelp March Release Sneak Peek: Navigation, Taxonomies, mini-TOC, FTS’. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/snippet/ Snippet is a special term used in programming. It describes a small part of a machine or source code or just a part of a text. In most cases, snippets are considered to be units that are incorporated into larger modules of code or text. Adding and editing snippets can be the responsibility of different team members from code writers to content managers, who deal with editing and creating сontent of any kind, including textual. Unlike content managers, program source code editors, for example, dive deeper into the core of a product. What Is the Purpose of Snippet? From the snippet definition, we may understand that it is used to perform operations requiring some sort of routine in editing. For those who create content, snippets provide templates or prototypes and help to control structures of text or code, as it allows to avoid repeated typing and copy and pasting. Key Areas of Using Snippets Snippets can be used in software development, code editing, and creating or editing texts. The algorithms of snippet’s performance remain the same in their origin, while there can be some small differences related to the area of use. Keeping that in mind, we may talk about snippet management, a process when code writers or content writers use and edit parts of code or text (or snippets themselves) with the help of snippet tools, represented mainly by special software. Benefits of Using Snippets The first and the most apparent benefit of using snippets is that they save... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/software-design-document-sdd/ Software Design Document (SDD) is a document that describes the architecture of a software product. It is one of the primary types of documents in software development. It can be written by a project manager, software developer, or software designer. Ideally, it is a collaborative document created by the whole team. Its purpose is to facilitate the software development process and figure out the way for all team members. A well-thought-out SDD saves time and money. It is a source of information for everyone involved in the development of a piece of software: from clients to technical writers and QA testers. An SDD describes in detail who does what, thus helping all parties to agree upon points at issue. One of the best ways to write an SDD is to use iterations. This approach allows authors to verify goals and development strategies, collect information more efficiently, and get feedback from all stakeholders. Besides, an SDD is a document that helps them plan their workflow and workload and agree upon their actions in order not to do unnecessary work. Here are the basic sections of a software design document: Title. Authors and reviewers. Introduction. Roles and responsibilities. Overview. User interface. Functions. Scope. Milestones. Glossary. References. As a rule, each company can add other sections to the document or omit some of them, customizing it to special workflows, plans, goals, and needs. Another piece of advice for those who are going to write an SDD is to use flowcharts, diagrams, screenshots, videos,... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/software-documentation-application-documentation/ Software documentation is written material, images, or video instructions that come with computer software. As a rule, software documentation explains how to use a program or a service. However, there may be different types of software documentation, depending on the audience it is created for. Here are some examples of the software documentation types: Requirements documentation. Typically created in the beginning of a software development project. Has the goal to clearly and precisely specify the expectations in regards to the software being created. May include functional requirements, limitations, hardware or software requirements, compatibility requirements, and so on. Architecture documentation. Defines the high-level architecture of the software system being created. May describe the main components of the system, their roles and functions, as well as the data and control flow among those components. Technical documentation - Documentation of the software code, algorithms, APIs. Written for the technical audience like software developers. End user documentation - Refer to User Guide. As a rule, there’s a special team in a company occupied with technical writing - the documentation team. Although, workflows can differ. In some companies, support, dev or QA can do documentation authoring. Another option quite popular as far as software documentation is concerned is outsourcing. Many organizations choose documentation writing to be done by outsource technical writers, and there are some solid reasons for that. Read about the reasons to outsource technical writing in our blog. Creating User Documentation There’s a certain process developed over the years for creating quality user... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/software-localization/ Software localization can be described as the process of adapting software to the culture and language of an end-user. Despite internationalization, software localization provides plain translation into other languages and changes in software’s design and user experience to make it look more natural for a foreign user. As the businesses now function in the world of globalization, they all come across the problem of proper interpretation and providing their product to foreign users. Here, the localization helps. Now let us see the importance and advantages of this part of the development process. The necessity of software localization In most cases, software localization may be considered as part of a document development life cycle, as software documentation (description of software’s work) should be reorganized to become clear for users of different languages and cultures. Software localization is important both for developers and for users. In the modern world of globalization, this process allows reaching foreign markets through making digital products understandable for the locals of the country or region it is sold to. Users, on the other hand, see the product as friendly to them, so they are more attracted to buy it. In that way, internationalization is not enough. Main areas of software localization There are several points used for localizing software that covers all elements of a digital product. Text and writing systems – tools that allow changing textual content to make it more convenient for users of another culture. Except for simple translation, this technique changes the interface... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/sop/ A Standard Operating Procedure (an SOP) is documentation that contains detailed and step-by-step instructions on how workers should carry out their routine operations in accordance with laws, industry regulations, or a company’s standards. It is a guide for employees. A well-written SOP is clear, unambiguous, and easy-to-understand, steps are short and simple. Both experienced employees and newbies are more productive when they have clear guidelines on how to work. The main purposes of this document are: workflow efficiency reduction of errors unification of processes in a company smooth onboarding for new employees safety consistency and reliability a way to resolve conflicts protection of employees protection of customers troubleshooting scheduling of processes and procedures etc. As a rule, printed SOPs have the following structure: title table of contents introduction body attachments SOPs are considered to be the main source of information in all businesses where quality standards are used. These can be companies from any industry: IT, HR, pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, restaurants, etc. Various formats can be used to write an SOP depending on a company, industry, and regulations: checklists, steps, ISO 9000 (for international businesses), flowcharts, etc. Some industries benefit from using standard operating procedures templates. These are ready-made structures to store and use information. Companies of all sizes pay a lot of attention to developing SOPs, as this type of technical documentation is crucial - working according to well-defined Standard Operating Procedures is an essential aspect of any quality-management system. Another important question is updating and managing an SOP.... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/structured-authoring/ Structured authoring is an XML-based methodological approach to technical writing where content and form are separated. It has topic-based information architecture, a constrained writing environment with software-enforced rules, and content reuse. It enables content from any source to keep the same structure so each piece of writing will have exactly the same format, style, and consistency. Editing time is reduced by increasing the task’s ease. Structured authoring has the following advantages: Content reuse helps to avoid content duplication and make maintenance easier. Structure enforcement is used to make sure certain topic types always have the same parts in the right order. Collaborative work. All authors can have access to the same content files and contribute to the same manual. Single-sourcing output for different audiences. Consistency. XML here will not allow writers to author creatively. Multi-format output. Separation of content from styling allows sending the same content through multiple stylesheets to create multiple outputs. Content management. XML files are in text format, which lends itself to setting up a repository for storage. Despite a lot of advantages it gives, structured authoring is not a jack-of-all-trades. Structured authoring does not fit for: The small scope of documentation. Creative writing. Low-value content. Budget savings. Novices in technical writing. There are many tools that allow you to enjoy the benefits of structured authoring. Such tools are essentially text editors that you can use with a markup language such as XML or DITA to “tag” content based on a predefined structure or set of rules,... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/structured-writing/ Structured writing – a form of technical writing that is used in the sphere of creation of structured documents. It is one of the central parts of the method of analyzing, organizing, and displaying data and knowledge in an online presentation of text and graphics. Structured writing had been developed with certain purposes of solving problems of complex writing. The main problems structured writing addresses to: Maintaining an orderly structure to provide a consistent experience to users; Ensuring the completeness of documentation; Targeting particular content to a particular audience; Organizing pages of different content in a way that will help users to understand its place in the entire language system; Structured writing is based on the information blocks which are the structural components of documentation types. These blocks are assembled into 7 information types: Concept; Procedure; Process; Principle; Fact; Structure; Classification; Process of a structured writing obeys particular rules, called constraints which define the content from many different sides. Examples of the constraints: A second level heading can only be used after a first level heading; Every sentence must start with a capital letter; A list consists of at least one item; A formula must consist of at least two variables; Structured writing may be considered so only if it obeys at least one constraint (typically 3 and more). In structural writing one of the most important means of creating content is a parallel structural writing which uses the same patterns of words in order to show that several ideas... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/style-guide/ A style guide is a document that contains standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It can also include information on punctuation rules, word usage, spelling, capitalization, and so on. A style guide governs a lot of the smallest things like Oxford comma usage, as well as some bigger stuff like the tone of writing, for example. This document is not only about rules, but it also may contain best practices. For example, website style guides describe technical aspects along with text, while guides that cover usage may suggest best practices on describing people to avoid homophobia, racism, and sexism. Style guides can be created for different goals, for example, it can be for general use of a broad public audience like Microsoft manual of style, or it can be specialized - for the group of people or specific industry. Does your company need a style guide? Learn more from our blog post: Why Your Company Needs a Style Guide. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/support-site/ A support site is a resource intended to provide the customer or end user with information and support. This site usually includes FAQs, contact information, helpful articles, useful links and so on. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/taxonomy/ Taxonomy is a term that represents the formal structure and hierarchical representation of information objects. It organizes knowledge to make the search and browsing capabilities of the content more functional. As taxonomy expresses hierarchical relationships, your tree-like organization of topics is taxonomy. Taxonomy is crucial for technical writing; it helps your readers find necessary information quicker and makes your documentation more effective and easy-to-interpret. Here is an example of taxonomy: Read how you can use taxonomy in ClickHelp. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-communication/ Technical communication is a field that includes any form of communication, for example: Communicating with using technologies, for example, social media sites, websites and so on. Communicating specialized technical topics. Providing necessary information and instructions about how to do something. Technical communication helps to make technical information more user-friendly; those people who work in this sphere and write mentioned instructions called technical communicators or technical writers. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-communicator/ A technical communicator is a person who works in the technical communication sphere. Usually, technical communicators write documentation, user manuals, white papers, specifications, patents, online help, etc. They usually write for a specific audience, for example, for consumers, end users, and so on. Technical communicators often work with other teams, for example, with subject-matter experts (SMEs). --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-description/ A Technical Description is a document that is created for readers; it gives information about a product, mechanism, process; it describes how it works, what it consists of, what functions it has, parts, size, components, key details, etc. A Technical Description may contain only several lines and be a part of a larger document, or it may contain several pages and be a separate document. There are three main types of Technical Descriptions: Product description Process description Mechanism description Here is a general plan for writing a Technical Description: Definition. Name the object described. Overview. Describe what it looks like (size, shape, color, etc. ) Components. What does it consist of? - Parts, details, etc. Explanation. How does the object work and fulfill its functions? Conclusion. A brief summary. References. Additional materials and background information. This plan may differ from company to company, depending on the object, audience, industry, final result, etc. The purpose of writing a Technical description is to help the audience better understand a particular object. The document should be clear, comprehensive, and efficient. Please note that a technical description is not an instruction, it doesn’t help users complete tasks or solve problems. Its purpose is to give the audience comprehensive and clear information. Here are the steps to write a Technical Description: Define the audience. It is your end-user with specific problems. Define the result. Make it clear why you write your technical description. Create a plan. You can use the above-mentioned plan or modify it.... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-report/ A technical report is a document that describes the progress, results, or process of scientific or technical research. A technical report may also include some conclusions and/or recommendations of the research. Technical reports are considered to be "non-archival" publications so that they can be published elsewhere in peer-reviewed venues with or without modification. Here are types of technical reports: Report-length proposal. Technical specifications. Technical-background report. Primary research report. Feasibility, recommendation, and evaluation reports. Instructions. Business prospectus. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-specification-document/ A technical specification is a detailed document that defines a set of technical requirements that a product should have. A technical specification is like a blueprint of the future product. It stipulates technical designs, workflows, tests, and procedures in the use of the system. Generally speaking, this document provides information about the stages of product developing. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-specification/ A technical specification is a type of the technical standard that includes a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a product, design, material, and so on. There are different types of specifications: Requirement specification. It’s a set of documented requirements. Functional specification is a kind of requirement specification that can include some functional diagrams. Design specification describes the features of the design solutions for the requirement specification. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-standard/ A technical standard is a formal document that establishes requirements in regard to technical systems. It can include uniform technical or engineering criteria, processes, practices, methods, and the like. Technical standards may exist as: Public documents, so anybody on the Internet can read them. Private documents owned by an organization; only members of the organization can read them. Controlled documents that contain classified information. All these types of standards can be created and stored by means of a help authoring tool that allows content creators to password protect documents. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-translations/ Technical translation is a specific type of translation connected with scientific and technical materials. Technical translation demands possession of a specific vocabulary, and the translator should be prepared by having an acquaintance with the subject. There are many cases when the translator has not got the experience of working with the sphere needed, so they are accompanied by special dictionaries or consultants, who help them with the specific vocabulary. The technical translation may also be supported by translation management systems (translation management software) that helps to structure and localize the completed text. Purpose of Technical Translation As it was said in the definition, technical translation is aimed at the text of a particular scientific or technical subject, so its main purpose is to translate and localize such texts for a particular area or market. There is hardly any business, especially connected with technology, that doesn’t have technical translators or other people responsible for technical translation in their staff. Key Areas of Technical Translations Except for businesses that provide technology of any kind and services connected, technical translations have many other spheres of usage. First of all, education. Schools and especially universities demand implementation of such translation to provide information for international students or print books and other material for particular subjects. The widest usage of that occurs in the linguistic universities or technical universities where the studying can’t be properly performed without localization. One more sphere is connected with the business but from the user's point of view. Technical translation... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-writer/ A professional writer who creates various types of technical documentation, helping people understand how to use a product or a service. The examples of the documentation technical writers create include: online help, user guides, online training material, white papers, design specifications, project plans, business correspondence, etc. This documentation can be delivered to the end user both as a printed version or as an electronic version. In many organizations, the role of a Technical Writer is delegated to software developers, support engineers, quality assurance engineers. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-writing-tool/ When people say "Technical Writing Tool", they mean one of the software programs used by technical writers to produce documentation. Every technical writer uses a lot of tools for this: help authoring tools, graphical editing tools, screen recorders, HTML editing tools, sound recorders and editors, API documentation tools, etc. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2025-09-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/technical-writing/ Technical Writing is a form of technical communication that involves creating content to convey complex information in a clear, concise, and accessible way. It is widely used across industries such as software development, engineering, aeronautics, biotechnology, finance, and more. Common outputs of technical writing include user manuals, online help, API documentation, training materials, troubleshooting guides, and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Technical writing is performed by technical writers (also called technical communicators)—specialists skilled in analyzing complex information, structuring content, and using tools to manage documentation workflows. Technical writing is a continuous process of learning, carefully gathering, sifting, organizing, and assessing, all while trying to craft something that makes sense for a user. Krista Van Laan, The Insider's Guide to Technical Writing In modern environments, especially with the rise of cloud-based tools like ClickHelp, technical writing has shifted from static files to dynamic, collaborative, online documentation. Purpose To explain technical concepts to specific audiences To enable users to interact with products or systems safely and effectively To streamline knowledge transfer within organizations To reduce support costs by empowering self-service To maintain regulatory or compliance standards through clear documentation How It Works Technical writing is a process-oriented discipline that involves: Analyzing the audience and purpose of the documentation Gathering source material from subject matter experts (SMEs), product specs, or hands-on testing Planning and structuring content using documentation frameworks or templates Writing clear, concise content using plain language principles Reviewing and revising with stakeholders to ensure accuracy Publishing in appropriate formats (online, PDF, CHM,... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/toc/ A table of contents (TOC) is a navigation element for readers used in many types of writing: from technical documentation to books. It includes the list of main chapters and headings, topics, sections, subsections, etc. It is hard to imagine a piece of technical documentation (an instruction, manual, report) without a table of contents. Printed tables of contents have page numbers where each chapter starts, while a digital TOC provides links to each topic. What Is the Use of a Table of Contents in Documentation? A TOC provides readers with the information where they can find relevant content. It is placed at the very beginning of a document and shows readers how topics or chapters are interrelated. In case of online documentation, chapters mentioned in a TOC are linked with each other and transfer readers to the content they are interested in. A TOC speeds up the work with documentation. For example, you don’t need to read the entire report you need only to find which part is devoted to the theme you are interested in. Basic Requirements for Creating a Table of Contents A table of contents must be written according to special rules. First of all, the style and font of a TOC should match the style of the whole document. As a table of contents includes headings of all levels, it would be better to highlight the main parts to make them visible and easy to find. A TOC should meet the needs of readers and help... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/tone-of-voice/ The tone of voice is about how your business comes through in your words, both written and spoken; it’s also about the impression that makes on everyone in your audience. The tone of voice expresses the brand’s personality and set of values. Brands pay attention to their tone of voice because it shows the people who are behind the brand that makes a company more personalized. This concept sets you apart from the rest, builds trust and the like. To learn more, read this article Tone of Voice Strategy in Technical Documentation --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/training-documentation/ Training documentation is a type of technical documentation used to provide instructions and manuals for product users. In other words, it is specifically organized documents, the main goal of which is to provide basic skills and experience of using any product or functionality. As we live in a world of widespread high technologies, it is necessary for people to get prepared (at least basically) for the usage of any devices, programs, and software. For that purpose, training documentation is used, as it is responsible for creating detailed instructions for any digital and non-digital product. The Main Purpose of Training Documentation As it was said, training documentation is considered an area of technical documentation aimed at providing basic knowledge and understanding of any product. Through that, the main result of this type of documentation gains its practical use in training manuals . Training manuals are performed as books of different sizes to get acquainted with the subject and basic information. The Peculiarities of Training Documentation Creating manuals leads to the necessity of a special way of narration. Two main features of training documentation are: A specific structure is connected with the training documentation being a part of technical documentation, so it obeys particular standards of writing and information providing (for example, going from easier tasks and theory to more difficult). A specific way of writing implies that people reading manuals meet with the subject for the first time, obtain a small amount of knowledge or face problems while working with it.... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/training-manual/ A training manual is a booklet or a book with instructions that aim to improve the quality of a performed task. Usually, training manuals are used as: a general reference document an outline during training an introduction to the subject matter a subject after training A training manual may be also used as an important part of the training programme, or it can include information about skills, processes, and other necessary information that should be gathered in one place. Training manuals can be designed as self-paced guides, handouts, workbooks, job aids and so on. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/translation-management-system/ A translation management system (TMS) is a system that supports complex translations. It allows companies to centralize and automate the management of localization workflows involving several collaborators that can work simultaneously without geographical restrictions. This is also known as translation management software. Initially, translation software was primarily built for linguists. The shift to TMS puts more control in the hands of managers while providing a fluid and flexible solution for team collaboration across departments. Translation management systems are not just translating texts; these systems help you maintain brand vision and identity by contextualizing the translated content. In TMS, most of the translation is made automatically with the help of machine learning or AI, and then native speakers revise it for context. TMS helps organizations boost productivity and reduce costs by centralizing linguistic assets. It also: Automates processes. Translators and project managers perform repetitive, time-taking tasks daily. A TMS enables customized workflows and the automation of tasks that saves valuable time. Monitores workflows. Project tracking is a critical resource. A TMS provides this through the main dashboard centralizing critical information such as translation progress or missed deadlines. Facilitates collaboration. A TMS provides efficient real-time communication and collaboration for translators and enterprises working on the same project. There are different kinds of translation management systems. They generally include three main components: Computer-assisted translation tools (CAT) Workflow automation tools Project/team management and reporting The type of translation management system you choose depends on a few things: The number of languages and regions that... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/troubleshooting-documentation/ First of all, what is troubleshooting? Troubleshooting is a process of searching for the source of a problem in order to solve it. So, troubleshooting documentation is a technical communication document intended to give a user or customer information on how to solve and prevent those problems. It’s commonly written for computer hardware, electronic goods, and software but they can be written for any product. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/tutorial/ Tutorials are a special type of documentation whose primary purpose is to provide help at the very beginning of a working process with any software, program, functionality, or other sorts of digital and non-digital product. Tutorials can be presented in many forms and formats (printed, created as digital documents, or recorded as videos or audios). Hence, everyone had an opportunity to work with them, no matter the circumstances. Talking about the documentation, a tutorial is represented by step-by-step instruction created to help the user master the product's first level. What Is the Purpose of a Tutorial? As can be understood from the previous description, the first purpose of the tutorial is to provide some ‘guide’ for the user on how to use the main functionality of the digital or any other product. It is performed by providing step-by-step instructions describing those steps and explaining functionality’s work. Businesses widely use the tutorial for the end-users of their product or service and the working teams. Such instructions allow us to understand the mechanisms and software the development team will work with. They are also good for further development of the product as the team members can be easily reminded about the functionality, and new members can quickly master the basics of work. Because of such an importance for the working process, companies tend to have technical writers, people who are responsible for writing all the documentation, including tutorials and instructions. Therefore, this piece of documentation has its own specific rules of writing.... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ui-design/ UI Design can be described as the process of creating the user interface of the software, program, or any device. This process implies the creation of graphics and some interface parts that are in direct interaction with the user while the digital product is working. It is worth mentioning that the user interface is connected with the visual part and any physical impact from the user's side. For example, a voice-controlled interface also refers to the UI. User interface design is the area of particular specialists, UI designers who create the visual part. UI Design is one of the most important parts of any product, and great amounts of time and resources are spent on its development. What Is the Purpose of UI Design? The UI design is extremely important for the product’s life path as it is responsible for the ‘skin. ’ Interface directly implies what the user has to work with. Hardly any user of an application dives into its code (simply because they don’t have authority and access to the app’s inner part), but everybody is interacting with all the buttons, links, pictures, and text that we can find. Without UI, those working with any app would have to deal with plain pages of code or something so unattractive that they would leave it and never return. What Is the Difference Between UX and UI? People who are not connected with the sphere of information technology may be confused while facing UI and UX, as they will... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/user-assistance/ User assistance is a broader term than online help and includes a tutorial and procedural information. User assistance is a term for providing information to help a user to interact with a software product. Generally speaking, it describes steps that help users apply the software capabilities to their needs. There are three main forms of the user assistance: Instruction manual Online help Helplines --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/user-guide/ Another name for User Manual. User guide is a document or a set of documents that give assistance to the users of a particular system. Most commonly used in the computer industry - written for computer software or hardware. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/user-manual/ Another name for User Guide. A user manual is a type of technical documentation that helps people use, maintain, and fix this or that product. A product can be a tool, mechanism, device, app, etc. The main goal is to do it safely and efficiently. But there can be secondary goals as well: meeting legal requirements or creating a great user experience, for example. In other words, a user manual educates readers on a product. A comprehensive user manual consists of both text and visuals (graphics, tables, illustrations, etc. ), procedures (detailed instructions) and concepts. A user manual is written for all kinds of users. Not only beginners read it, experienced users sometimes need to refresh their knowledge and look up some relevant information. A user manual usually contains the following information: product name, type, features, elements, safety warnings, installation, maintenance, repair information, glossary. This type of technical documentation can be both as long as a book and only several pages long. Today, user manuals can be of different formats: printed and online. The latter is becoming more and more popular. Here are some tips on how to write a user manual: Define your goal. When you know what you want to tell users, you are ready to represent the information in the form of step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow. Define your reader. When you know whom you are writing for, you know how to write. Use clear language. Do not use technical jargon for non-technical audiences. Use... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/ux-designer/ UX is an acronym for User Experience. A UX designer is a person who helps software developers design the user interface of their product or web resource in a way that makes it easier to use for the end users. This term also applies to physical devices, but is getting very popular in the software development and web design fields. The is no well-defined list of things a UX designer does, this depends on the company and specific project. As a rule, the goal of a UX project is to improve the product usability, make it more appealing, help the users complete their tasks easier and faster, make the user interface more useful, etc. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/web-api/ Web API is a specially created programming interface used for web servers or web browsers that is characterized by limitations on the client-side. In other words, web API doesn’t include implementing details of server or browser unless they are publicly accessible. The work of any app is a very complicated process that is mostly built on permanent interaction among parts of the software. Access to data in the database and connection between client activity and websites are also important parts of any app or website’s functionality. Through that, web API is an extremely useful kind of programming interface. Now let’s look closer at it. What is the Web API's Purpose? In addition to the previous definition, it is possible to say that web API is a special framework that allows developers of digital products (software, program, website) to build, develop and maintain various RESTful services based on HTTP. The practical usefulness of web API is that this special interface allows applying any application on a distributed system and also gives services on different devices. The Main Technologies of Creating a Web API As a programming interface, web API is built by using programming languages. The most popular of them are: Java; PHP (provides free and open code); C# (. NET) (provides a great variety of libraries); NodeJs (guaranties the fast process of code performing); Python. The Principle of API’s Work Web API is based on a specific sequence of actions. First, it receives requests from various devices used by clients... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/web-design/ Web design is a bunch of web development responsible for creating app interfaces. In more complicated words, it is a separate part of digital developments and the design itself that makes user interfaces of sites and web applications projects. What is the Importance of Web Design? As one of the essential parts of any digital product except functionality, the interface is this very thing that catches the user’s attention. This means that the customer’s satisfaction seriously depends on the outer part of the product. So, creating a proper interface is crucial for a business’s prosperity. And here, the web design helps. Who is Responsible for the Web Interface? It is necessary to mention that web design is a sphere that requires special qualifications and skills; that’s why there are always particular people in the project team. They are called web designers or UX designers (User experience designers) . They instruct software developers in building a digital product interface that would be convenient for the end-user. This leads to the necessity for web designers to obtain both technical and artificial skills as their work requires a combination of these two areas. Main Functions of Web Design So, it is evident that web design serves for several main issues: It is used to project the logical structure of a web page. It is responsible for the ways of providing information that is most convenient for the end-users. It works on the artificial framework and sight of the product. Types of Designing While... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/web-help/ Web Help is a one of the online help variants. It can be delivered both through the Internet as online content, or may be distributed as a set of HTML and resource files to be used locally on a computer offline. Web Help is typically created in a specialized help authoring tool, and may be one of the output format of that tool. For example, ClickHelp can generate various output types, including HTML5 Web Help. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/white-paper/ A white paper is a report or guide that addresses a particular topic, for example, help readers understand an issue, make a decision, or solve a problem. The main goal of a white paper is based on facts and evidence, but it’s not a marketing document, it’s not about why people should buy your product. It usually includes a title page, table of contents, short executive summary, introduction, body with solutions, and a conclusion. It also can feature images, charts, and so. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/wysiwyg/ WYSIWYG stands for "what you see is what you get". In computing, a WYSIWYG editor allows users to edit content in a form closely resembling its end result. The first WYSIWYG editor was a word processing program called Bravo and invented by Charles Simonyi at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s. It became the basis for WYSIWYG applications like Word and Excel. ClickHelp is also a WYSIWYG application, so technical writers can easily write documentation and visualize what they will get. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/cms/ Acronym for content management system. It’s a software application that is used to manage, edit and create digital content. The system supports collaborative work. CMSs include such features as format management, indexing, search, version control and Web-based publishing at the document level. Speaking about granular level, component content management systems (CCMS) are used for modification and creation of digital content at this level. CCMS is a specific part of CMS. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/community/ It’s a modern name of Forum. Community may be an information platform where users may post, discuss, collaborate, give advice and so on. Such sites are developed on the basis of the Slack platform or other platforms. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/compiled-html-help-chm-help/ Is an online help format that was developed by Microsoft. It contains an index, HTML pages, hyperlinks and other tools. The files are deployed in a binary file with the . chm extension. Some files may be opened in a browser but others can only be opened by using a CHM viewer. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/component-content-management-system-ccms/ It’s a part of content management system that manages modification and creation of digital content. Each component refers to a specific topic. It can be product description, image and so on. The component size varies from a word to a chapter. ClickHelp, our technical documentation platform, is also a CCMS since it uses the topic-based authoring approach to user documentation creation. One topic can be re-used in multiple places via Content Snippets. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/cross-platform/ Also known as multi-platform software or platform-independent software. It’s a computer system that can run on multiple types of computing platforms. For example, Adobe Photoshop is available for Mac OS and for Windows. So Photoshop is a crossplatform application. There are two main types of cross-platform: 1. The first type requires compilation for each platform. 2. The second one may be run on any platform without compiling a special version for each. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-08-23 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/dita/ DITA - Darwin Information Typing Architecture is an open standard defined and maintained by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee. The latest (current) version is 1. 3, approved in December 2015. An errata document for DITA 1. 3 was approved in October 2016. DITA is an XML standard for authoring, publishing, and producing technical documents. It consists of a set of design principles that help to create and manage content separately from formatting. If you want to understand how it works, you must understand how DITA uses topics, maps, and output formats. DITA helps to: standardize and organize the content into topics; make the content more versatile and portable by separating information from its format; transform the content into other formats. You create your content in DITA topics, apply DITA maps to define which topics move into which deliverables, then handle those maps to DITA output formats to produce your final deliverables. Localization DITA provides support for translation via the localization attribute group. Element attributes can be set to indicate whether the content of the element should be translated. The language of the element content can be specified, as can the writing direction, the index filtering, and some terms that are injected when publishing to the final format. A DITA project can be converted to an XLIFF file and back into its original maps and topics, using the DITA-XLIFF Roundtrip Tool for DITA-OT and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools designed to implement the translation workflow suggested by the article "Using XLIFF to... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/forum/ It’s a web site where people may communicate, discuss different issues, share ideas and so on. Forums are usually thematic. Speaking about forum managing, users can write messages anonymously or have to register. Depending on forum settings and level of user access a message might need to be approved by a moderator. Now Forum is commonly referred to as Community. Communities are developed on the basis of Slack platform or other platforms. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/knowledge-management-tool/ Knowledge Management Tool is a technique that helps to create, use, share and manage information and knowledge of a company. There are four well-known tools: Knowledge bases. It’s a wiki-based site or an internet portal that contains descriptions for some procedures, tutorials, answers for the most popular questions and so on. Knowledge map. The bottom line is that employees may find an expert who can give advice on outstanding matter. Bank of ideas. It contains successful ideas that were generated in a company. Community of practice. It’s a professional community where members are united by a common activity sphere and may share projects, ideas, goals and so on. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2025-05-13 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/knowledge-base/ Nowadays, the development of modern technologies and science demands greater and greater amounts of information to work with all the new mechanisms and tactics. This amount can be so large that it may be impossible to use it without proper storage and maintenance. Therefore, businesses (and others) of all kinds create special databases. These databases collect all the necessary knowledge for effective work, both within the company and in the market, for future use. These databases are called knowledge bases, and their value to any project can’t be overstated. What Is a Knowledge Base? A knowledge base can be described as a special library that contains data or any sort of information about a particular subject. A knowledge base, in its broader sense, can be divided into two main types: machine-readable and human-readable. Machine-readable knowledge bases contain systematized information and are mostly used for perception and processing by artificial programs. They differ significantly from human-readable bases, which are more interactive and used directly by people. This type is mainly represented by various articles, documents, or answered questions that can be used by any member of the team. Types of Knowledge Base Articles As mentioned, knowledge bases can be represented by documents and articles. The most popular types of articles are: User guides – A document or a set of documents that assist the users of a particular system. Guides refer not only to the IT sphere but to any field of human activity. User manuals – A type of technical... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/online-troubleshooter/ It’s a step-by-step guide. Online Troubleshooter helps users to solve problems or tells what to do if an application or a device don't work as expected. Generally it’s designed in a table format where the left column contains the description of a problem and the right column is about problem solving. Online Troubleshooter is also developed by technical writers. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/pdf/ PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It’s a format of electronic documents that may contain page images, diagrams, hyperlinks and so on. It can be sent between computers but content can’t be changed. PDF files are used for different documents from magazines to user guides. The main advantage of such files is small size and compactness. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/screenshot/ May also be called a "screen capture". It's an image of a computer screen or a mobile device and it may be saved as a graphic file. It may contain icons, running programs and so on. There are many tools to make and save screenshots, but nowadays they’re unnecessary. For example, on a Windows platform just press the Print Screen button. A screenshot will be saved to the Clipboard. On macOS, press the Command+Shift+3 combination. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/subject-matter-expert/ Also known as SME or domain expert. It's a person who has deep knowledge of a particular topic, function, process, machine, technology and so on. Technical writers develop manuals, documents, books with assistance from subject-matter experts. SMEs help to convert information into a suitable form for the target audience, check written materials for technical accuracy and so on. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/wiki/ Wiki- it’s a website that allows users to add, delete and complete the content by using a browser. The most striking example is Wikipedia that is based on these principles. The distinguishing feature of wiki is that the content is created without any defined leader or owner, unlike blogs. Ward Cunningham is the developer of wiki software. In the interview he described wiki as "the simplest online database that could possibly work". --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/administrative-guidance/ An administrative Guide is a list of non-binding recommendations that’s developed by the administrative agency. It describes how to comply with a particular regulation or law. Guidance is used to interpret a nonspecific or vague requirement or law. Usually, guidance documents include standards or expectations which are part of a requirement or rule. Administrative guidance documents also explain internal practices or policies to simplify an organization's interactions. For example, a guidance document could explain how to write a report, what information it should contain before submitting a complaint. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/agile-software-development/ Agile describes approaches to software development. It focuses on team collaboration, continual planning and learning, innovation, empowerment, incremental delivery, short cycles, and delivering business value to customers with fewer headaches. The main idea is to adapt to the reality you are in today and figure out what you can do. It is important how people do their work, how they cooperate with each other, and how efficient a team’s self-organization is. It means that each team can figure out its own workflow, goals, standards for usability and quality. Agile software development is a term that describes a set of frameworks and practices that are based on the principles of the Agile Manifesto. It is efficient and convenient to use a particular approach to software development because it helps to decide what should be done in a particular context. Agile is rather a set of mind than an approach as it has its own values and principles, it is a way of thinking and acting. Teams choose agile to be able to respond to the rapidly changing market, the needs of their customers and to be able to change direction when needed. In other words, they want to deliver more value to customers and reduce the risk of creating products that the market does not need. Long delivery cycles are divided into short periods - sprints. Thus delivery time shortens, and getting feedback allows teams to make corrections. Using a method like that, teams make sure that the final product meets... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2025-05-12 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/agile-sprint/ Modern digital and non-digital products often require significant time, resources, and coordination across multiple operations and teams. Managing such complexity effectively requires structured methodologies and efficient collaboration. Agile is one of the most widely used project management methodologies. It focuses on continuous, incremental development, where the product evolves gradually through a series of short, manageable cycles called sprints. A key feature of Agile is that at the end of each sprint, a working product increment is delivered. This allows for early feedback and faster adaptation to changing requirements. Agile is especially popular among software development teams, though it is now also used in other fields such as marketing and product design. What Is an Agile Sprint? An Agile sprint is a short, time-boxed period during which a specific set of work is completed and prepared for review. Sprints are central to the Scrum framework, which is one of the most commonly used Agile practices. There is no fixed duration for a sprint, but it typically lasts between one and four weeks, with two weeks being the most common. Shorter sprints allow teams to be more flexible and adapt quickly to feedback. Each sprint begins with a Sprint Planning Meeting, where team members define goals, prioritize tasks, and estimate required resources. When the sprint concludes, the team holds a Sprint Review to present the completed work and a Sprint Retrospective to discuss what went well, what didn’t, and how to improve in future sprints. Role of Technical Writers in Agile Technical... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/api-documentation-tool/ API documentation tool is special software or program used for API documentation. Such a tool takes part in creating instructions connected with the usage and integration of the API to better the effectiveness of such operations. Usage of API documentation tools is vital in the digital world as API itself is responsible for some ‘communication’ between the applications. Key Areas of API Documentation Tool Areas of application of these tools are countless as they are used in any sphere of digital community that consists of API integration. For example, when you send a message of any kind through social media or look through the weather on your iPhone, the API works here. Through that occurs a necessity of creating documentation for it to make the processes more effective. The API documentation provides some tutorials and instructions that must be considered to use API properly. And to create documentation, we need documentation tools. So, the small conclusion that can be made is that API documentation tools are needed in any sphere of our everyday interaction with digital devices and applications. Benefits of Using API Documentation Tools It is evident that, as with any other tool, the API tool contributes to creating API documentation by making it easier and allowing to avoid mistakes while the working process. Usage of API documentation tools saves time, as it sometimes can provide templates and examples. Time-saving is one of the things all businesses are looking for nowadays, so they are likely to integrate these instruments... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/api-documentation/ API (or Application Programming Interface) refers to a set of rules (functions, variables, classes, protocols, etc. ) that specific systems (applications, libraries) use to communicate with each other. The API documentation is a technical content deliverable, containing instructions about how to effectively use and integrate with an API. The basic requirements for API documentation are the same as for any piece of technical documents: it should be easy to learn, easy to follow, hard to misuse and always be up-to-date. Programmers often generate API documentation with different tools, but this approach has its cons against professional technical writing solutions. Many programmers think that auto-generated docs are sufficient, but in most cases, it’s not true. Advanced solutions for technical documentation allow formatting, designing your code snippets and the whole look of the docs, creating advanced navigation and using search as well as many other opportunities. You don’t need to create a website or a Wordpress page with API docs - many modern content management systems offer a hosted online documentation portal. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-06-13 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/api/ API stands for application programming interface. It’s a communication interface definition that allows two applications to “talk” to each other. For example, when you send an instant message, use an app like Facebook, or check the weather on your phone, you’re using an API. Technical writers also create API documentation. Its content contains instructions about how to effectively use and integrate with an API. More details you can find here: API documentation. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/assistant-panel/ Assistant panel is a type of Context Sensitive Help. It looks like a special area in the application UI - a panel with some useful content for the end user. This panel shows some tips and links, based on the state of the application - usage tips, troubleshooting tips, performance advice, etc. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/audit/ An audit is an objective examination of documents, statutory records, books, vouchers, and accounts of an organization to clarify the truth of the financial and non-financial statements of the company according to applicable rules, regulations, and laws. It can be done by employees or heads of a particular department. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/authoring/ Authoring – the process of writing an electronic document or software program, mostly a hypertext or multimedia application. It happens by using authoring system which is the program that has elements for the development of interactive multimedia software titles. Authoring system is one of the main tools of the technique of structured writing. Authoring is rather similar to the structured writing but it covers a narrower field. It is possible to say that the authoring uses software that affords to create multimedia applications for working with multimedia objects. Authoring system is highly used in the development of educational software. The main advantage of it as the software can be created by a user who doesn’t have skills in programming (for example, by designer or technologist). All the programming features are built in the system but they are hidden behind the interface. Two main components of authoring provided by authoring system: Content organization – structures and make the sequence of text and multimedia components; Control of content delivery – organizes and provides the ability for the creator of the content to set and control the pace of the content’s delivering; also allows to control other user’s access to the content; While using authoring software, an author uses a special authoring language that is a programming language implemented in the system. Most famous authoring languages: DocBook; DITA; PILOT; TUTOR. Authoring languages provide different functionality for different users. For example, it may give only programming functionality for the software developers and only representation... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/backup/ Backup is a process that implies building a data copy on any digital media with the further purpose of its restoration. In other words, a backup system allows recovering data if they are crushed for any reason or were accidentally deleted from the system. Modern technologies allow the storage of enormous amounts of data but they are not totally protected from being lost or destroyed. For this purpose, anyone who works with computer systems uses backup as one of the easiest and most reliable ways of saving digital data. Now, we will discover the principle of backup work and methods of backup that are commonly used. Peculiarities of the Backup Besides its main and widely known function, backup also performs as a warning system as it may take files worth saving or considered purely protected. Despite being very useful, usage of backup systems may cause trouble. That happens because of the large requirements of backup data storage. Nevertheless, the variety of backup types avoids most complications by providing many ways of saving data. The Principle of Work First of all, the idea of backup saving implies that the copy must be stored in any place different from the saving place of original files. There are several types of such places: Another folder (easy to perform but also not very safe if the entire system crashes); USB-storage (protected from any problems with the computer itself, but being a physical carrier, it may be lost or get “infected” with a virus); Digital... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/breadcrumb/ A breadcrumb is a navigation element in the user interface. Typically, the breadcrumb shows where you are in terms of the application navigation (section, sub-section, and so on). Breadcrumbs are used a lot in web design and software documentation development. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/bulleted-list/ A bulleted list is an unordered list of items where every item has a graphical bullet. The bullets may be characters of different fonts, as well as graphical icons. Bulleted lists help the author structure the text in a better way - provide a list of application components, list of usage scenarios, etc. When the order of elements is not important and you don't need to refer to a list element later in the text, it's good to use bulleted lists. They help avoid the perception of the elements order importance. When the order of elements is important (instruction steps, list of itemns ordered by importance), you can use a numbered list instead. --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2025-05-06 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/bulletin/ The rapid pace of changes occurring in all spheres of life demands a constant flow of information, as people want to stay aware of the latest news and developments regarding the products and services they use daily. To meet this need, both general users and professionals receive reports that provide full descriptions of events that have happened or are planned regarding the products or services they interact with. However, full reports are often unpopular because they are too long, overly detailed, and may contain complex professional vocabulary that is difficult for the average person to understand. In contrast, bulletins are much more effective for both everyday users and specialists in narrow fields, as they are short, clear, and easy to comprehend. What Is a Bulletin? A bulletin can be described as a brief report that shares news, events, and important information requiring attention. Organizations and companies issue various kinds of releases—mainly through media outlets—along with bulletins that are shared internally among business teams or work groups. The primary goal is to provide necessary updates about completed or upcoming projects, services, or organizational changes. The range of information conveyed in bulletins can be truly vast. Bulletin Examples The term bulletin covers a wide variety of announcements. Outside the realm of information technology, a bulletin might take the form of: News announcements on television or radio; Weekly newsletters; Regular publications for particular social communities; Regular posts on social media; Brief news updates provided by media outlets; Work or progress reports within organizations.... --- - Published: 2024-04-25 - Modified: 2024-04-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/software-documentation-glossary/callout/ A callout is a graphical element used in user guides. It consists of a text block that gives some description and a line or an arrow that points to an image element being described. Callouts are used when you need to point to a specific software application UI element on a screenshot --- --- ## Release notes - Published: 2025-11-21 - Modified: 2025-11-21 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-november-2025/ ClickHelp November 2025: Universal Links route readers to accessible content automatically. API now supports large file uploads and imports from Word, Markdown, and more. This November release makes documentation links smarter — they now route each person to content they can actually access. We also expanded the API with large file uploads, multi-format imports, and project deletion. Plus a new security option to auto-disable inactive users. Smarter Documentation Links We changed how documentation links work — they're now much smarter about who sees what. Before, if you copied a link from your browser and shared it, people often hit dead ends. Send a project link to a customer? Login wall. Share an internal publication with a colleague who has different access? 404 error. The link only worked if the recipient had the exact same permissions you did. In complex permission setups, finding the right link to share became tedious work. Now, one link works for everyone. Copy any URL from your browser and share it. ClickHelp figures out what each person can access and sends them there — to the latest published version, their authorized publication, or the project if they're a contributor. No more login walls or 404s. Enable this in Portal Settings → Administration → Link behavior (existing portals).  New portals get this by default. API Improvements Upload large files The API now handles large binary files without encoding them as Base64. Upload in one request or split into chunks — either way works. Import from multiple formats You can now import content through the API from these formats: Word, HTML, Markdown, RTF, EPUB, ODT, docfx, ClickHelp Project Backup, and OpenAPI. Upload... --- - Published: 2025-10-29 - Modified: 2025-10-27 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-october-2025-answergenius-quality/ This release greatly improves AnswerGenius — your readers get better answers, faster, in any language. We also upgraded accessibility standards and made importing from MadCap Flare easier. This release greatly improves AnswerGenius — your readers get better answers, faster, in any language. We also upgraded accessibility standards and made importing from MadCap Flare easier. AnswerGenius Improvements We've drastically reduced the number of situations where AnswerGenius couldn't provide an answer. It understands more ways people ask questions and delivers answers faster. What improved: Understands more question variations. AnswerGenius recognizes synonyms, related terms, and different ways people phrase the same question. Faster responses. Answers arrive about 20% faster on average. No language barriers. Readers can ask questions in their preferred language and receive answers in that same language — regardless of your documentation's language. Self-awareness. Readers can now ask "What can you help me with? " and similar questions to understand how to use AnswerGenius effectively. Accessibility Improvements The Reader UI now meets WCAG 2. 2 AA standards, up from WCAG 2. 1 AA. Your documentation portals support current accessibility requirements for government, education, and enterprise compliance. MadCap Flare Import Index keywords now transfer when you import MadCap Flare projects. You no longer need to manually recreate your index keywords after the process. New File Picker in Topic Editor When you insert images in the Topic Editor, you'll now see our new File Manager. It loads faster, handles large file lists better, and matches the experience you get when managing files elsewhere in ClickHelp. Japanese Search Improvements in WebHelp Search accuracy improved for Japanese language documentation in Web Help format. The new version will be gradually rolled out to... --- - Published: 2025-10-02 - Modified: 2025-10-02 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-october-2025/ This month, we are giving you a direct line to your readers' thoughts. The new AnswerGenius usage report shows you what your users are asking, in their own words, helping you to pinpoint gaps in your documentation and make it more effective. We also added renewal reminders for monthly subscriptions and made Ask Your Docs easier to start using. This month, we are giving you a direct line to your readers' thoughts. The new AnswerGenius usage report shows you what your users are asking, in their own words, helping you to pinpoint gaps in your documentation and make it more effective. We also added renewal reminders for monthly subscriptions and made Ask Your Docs easier to start using. AnswerGenius Usage Report We've added a new report that shows all reader interactions with AnswerGenius in one place—whether they ask questions in your documentation portal, an embedded widget on your site, or through a custom API integration. You can find it on the Reports page. With this report, you can: Track key metrics like total questions, success rate, and unique users. See trends in user questions and the answer success rate over time. Review every question to understand what your readers are looking for. Instantly find unanswered questions to pinpoint gaps in your content. The report is available to all customers with an active AI Suite subscription. Ask Your Docs (Beta) Improvements We've made a few usability updates to Ask Your Docs. The feature is now more visible in the UI, and we've added example prompts to make it easier to start using. It remains a beta feature. Monthly Subscription Renewal Reminders Portal administrators will now see a notification banner seven days before a monthly subscription is due for renewal. This notification can be disabled in your portal settings. Additional Improvements Various bug fixes and stability enhancements across the platform. The... --- - Published: 2025-07-24 - Modified: 2025-07-24 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-july-2025/ July 2025 ClickHelp: New File Manager with search and bulk operations, API docs 10x faster, AnswerGenius API and localization. We've completely rebuilt the File Manager to help you work faster, made API documentation load up to 10x quicker, and added new ways to use AnswerGenius in your workflows. New File Manager We rebuilt the File Manager from scratch based on your feedback. Here's what you can do now: Search everywhere at once: Type a filename and instantly find it across all your folders and subfolders. No more clicking through each folder to find that one file. Select and move files in bulk: Select all files with Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on Mac), then move or copy them anywhere. What used to take minutes now takes seconds. See where each file is used: Right-click any file and select Where is this file used? You'll see every topic that references it, making it safe to update or delete files. Download entire folders: Need to back up a folder? Download it as a ZIP with all its subfolders and files intact. Know what you're working with: The status bar shows exactly how many files are in your folder and how many you've selected. Work faster with shortcuts: Navigate with arrow keys, rename with F2, delete with Delete. Mac users get native shortcuts that match macOS. All file operations are now much faster than before. Faster API Documentation If you use the modern engine* for API docs, you'll notice a huge speed boost: Complex API documentation pages now load dramatically faster.   Even massive API references with hundreds of endpoints load smoothly without freezing your... --- - Published: 2025-06-26 - Modified: 2025-07-17 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-june-2025/ This June, we’re launching ClickHelp AI Suite — a new paid add-on with a flexible AI points system (CAPs). AnswerGenius now requires AI Suite, while Ask Your Docs debuts in beta to help you test how AI understands your content before your readers do. This June release introduces AI Suite — a paid add-on with a unified points system for AI features; plus Ask Your Docs, a new beta tool that lets you preview how AI will answer your readers' questions. AI Suite Add-on We're introducing AI Suite, a paid add-on that unifies all AI capabilities under one subscription with a flexible points system: 30,000 ClickHelp AI Points (CAPs) monthly: A single monthly allowance that replaces separate daily limits for individual AI features. AnswerGenius leads the way: As our most proven AI feature, AnswerGenius is the first to transition to the CAPs system. Each query uses 10 points from your monthly allowance. Usage tracking: Monitor your CAPs usage in My Subscription. Administrators receive notifications at 70%, 90%, and 100% usage levels. Monthly refresh: Your CAPs usage counter resets on the 1st of each month. Early Adopter Special: Subscribe before December 31, 2025, to lock in special pricing. WriteAssist and other AI features currently maintain their existing limits and will join the AI Suite in future updates. Ask Your Docs (Beta): See How Your Readers Will Experience AI Test how AI understands your documentation before your readers do: Preview AnswerGenius responses: Ask questions your users might ask and see exactly how AI will respond based on your content. Find gaps before they do: Discover where your documentation might leave readers confused or searching for more information. Test everything: Check drafts, private docs, and restricted content—see how all your documentation performs with AI. Build confidence: Understand... --- - Published: 2025-04-15 - Modified: 2025-04-18 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-april-2025/ TOTP authentication, smarter search behavior in AnswerGenius, and performance enhancements — here’s what’s new in the April 2025 ClickHelp release. This April release brings TOTP-based two-factor authentication (2FA), smarter AnswerGenius behavior, and traditional performance improvements. Two-Factor Authentication (TOTP-based) You can now enable two-factor authentication using TOTP codes from mobile apps like Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator: Works offline — ideal for on-premises installations with no internet access. Organizations that need phone or SMS 2FA can use an external SSO provider. This gives customers more flexibility in meeting security requirements. AnswerGenius Improvements We’ve updated AnswerGenius to deliver more relevant results: Now searches the publication user is currently in first. Falls back to other accessible topics only if needed. Detects duplicate topics across publication versions and selects the most relevant version. These changes reduce confusion and improve result accuracy, especially in large multi-version documentation. Additional Improvements We’ve implemented several performance optimizations behind the scenes. The new version will be gradually rolled out to customers within 2 weeks. You'll receive a notification 72 hours before your server's planned update. The update process is seamless with no service interruptions. --- - Published: 2025-03-11 - Modified: 2025-03-11 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-march-2025/ New in ClickHelp in March 2025: PDF import, faster topic loading, and new default styles for new users. Here's what's new in ClickHelp this March. PDF Import (Beta) We've added a new import option that lets you bring PDF documents directly into ClickHelp: Import PDF documents without converting them to other formats first. Preserve formatting features including tables, lists, images, and text styles. Choose between importing as a single topic or automatically splitting by headings. Access the new option in the standard Import Wizard interface. The PDF Import is currently in beta with a limit of 15 files per portal per month. This feature works best with text-based PDFs rather than scanned documents. Faster Topic Operations We've significantly improved performance when working with topics: Save huge topics (300KB+) up to 15 times faster than before. Complete routine operations like status changes, adding comments, and unlocking topics much faster than before. Experience the most dramatic improvements when working with translation projects containing multiple languages. These improvements directly reduce wait times when managing your documentation, especially for complex projects with translations. Refreshed Default Template New users will now receive an updated Minimalist template with a modern design: Enhanced typography and layout that improves content readability. Updated color scheme providing better contrast and visual hierarchy. This template refresh is available for all new trial users starting with this release. Additional Improvements Fixed several bugs across the platform. Made various performance and stability enhancements. The new version will be gradually rolled out to customers within 2 weeks. You'll receive a notification 72 hours before your server's planned update. The update process is... --- - Published: 2025-02-07 - Modified: 2025-02-07 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-february-2025/ Enhanced API docs, AnswerGenius is now generally available. Here's what's new in ClickHelp in February 2025: Enhanced API Documentation Experience Your API documentation gets a major upgrade with a new rendering engine: A clean, easy-to-scan layout that helps developers quickly find information. Ready-to-use code examples in Python, JavaScript, Java, C#, and other languages. Interactive API requests: try API methods right where you read about them. Use the new API documentation engine through the import wizard when creating or updating your API docs. For existing customers, Legacy API engine remains available for the time being. AnswerGenius: Now Out of Beta AnswerGenius brings these improvements: More accurate answers to questions about your documentation. Better handling of conversation context in follow-up questions. Clearer response formatting with organized sections and bullet points. For beta users: AnswerGenius continues working as before, incorporating all these improvements. Additional Improvements Platform-wide enhancements for better performance. Various bug fixes across the product. The new version will be gradually rolled out to customers within 2 weeks. You'll receive a notification 72 hours before your server's planned update. The update process is seamless with no service interruptions. --- - Published: 2024-12-12 - Modified: 2024-12-19 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-december-2024/ New block editor, improved loading times, and various user experience changes! Let's see what's new in ClickHelp this December. New topic editor We added a block editor alongside the existing one. It offers straightforward, lightweight editing experience and allows easily rearranging the content. Automatic domain mapping & management Domain mapping is now fully automated — no need for manual certificate management anymore. Paragraph-based translation syncing A new sync mode lets you work with paragraphs (translation units) instead of sentences. This gives more flexibility in translations. Note: this mode is only available for new projects. Improved publication visibility on the Projects page We made publication visibility icons more prominent. You can now clearly see what type of publication it is. Lazy image loading Images will now load only when you scroll to them, improving performance for pages with many visuals. Context-aware file manager The file manager now opens the relevant folder based on your current location—for example, a topic folder in the Topic Editor or a project folder in other contexts. Fixed bugs across the platform. Performance and stability enhancements to ensure a smoother user experience. Updates for existing clients will roll out in waves over the coming days. Stay tuned and enjoy the new features soon! --- - Published: 2024-10-18 - Modified: 2024-12-07 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-october-2024/ Here's what's new... Here's what's new: AnswerGenius Improvements Enhanced the quality of AnswerGenius responses, providing more accurate and helpful answers. Improved source linking in AnswerGenius responses for better context and reference. AnswerGenius now delivers relevant answers more consistently. Import and Integration Enhancements Added support for importing from Document360, allowing transfer of content, table of contents, and various entities. Introduced API endpoints for importing and updating users' Swagger/OpenAPI documentation. Integration with Zapier allows triggering these processes from various external systems. Search and Navigation Updates Improved full-text search indexing for more relevant results: Enhanced weighting for headings and title tags. Optimized handling of link texts to improve overall search relevance. Enhanced embedded search functionality: new option to open search results directly within iframes, improving user experience in embedded contexts. User Experience Improvements WriteAssist is officially out of beta now and is available as a fully-fledged feature for all users. Streamlined login process for contributors: users are now directed to the most relevant page after login, improving workflow efficiency. License Management Implemented a new, user-friendly license expiration system for annual licenses: Proactive notifications and status updates throughout the license lifecycle. Grace period to ensure uninterrupted service during renewal. Import Process Enhancement Renamed the Do not import styles option to Keep layout only during imports. This change highlights that the option preserves essential formatting while allowing for seamless integration with your existing styles. General Improvements Fixed several bugs across the platform. Various performance and stability enhancements to ensure a smoother user experience. --- - Published: 2024-09-16 - Modified: 2024-09-16 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-september-2024/ Here's what's new in ClickHelp in September of 2024.  Fixed bugs. Performance and stability improvements.   --- - Published: 2024-08-15 - Modified: 2024-08-15 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-release-notes-august-2024/ Here’s what’s new in our latest update. Here's what's new in our latest update. Notifications for Readers Now, power readers can subscribe to topic updates. Authorized readers stay informed about changes to specific topics or entire publications, such as new content, deletions, and title updates. Additionally, we've made version history available for the readers, allowing them to see and compare changes between published document versions. API Documentation We’ve enhanced our API documentation capabilities with several key updates: Import from Readme. io: Easily migrate your API documentation from Readme. io to our platform and enjoy more features and flexibility. Expanded import variations: Depending on your needs, you can now import definitions as a single topic, methods grouped by resources, or individual methods. AnswerGenius Improvements We've significantly improved AnswerGenius, making it smarter and more reliable. It now provides more accurate answers and better-formatted responses, reducing instances of "I don't know" and enhancing the overall user experience. Design Enhancements We've made several design improvements to ClickHelp for further consistency. New font: The text is now clearer and easier to read, ensuring a consistent look on all devices. Settings navigation: We've redesigned the settings screen with icons and a cleaner layout for intuitive navigation and reduced cognitive load. Publishing Wizard: The first screen of the Publishing Wizard is now more user-friendly, presenting an organized layout. Export Wizard: The Export Wizard has also been improved, with clear sections and helpful icons for context. Other Fixed bugs. Other performance and stability improvements. These updates aim to enhance usability and provide a more seamless... --- - Published: 2024-06-17 - Modified: 2024-08-09 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/june-2024/ The summer has begun, and with it comes the latest update for ClickHelp. Here's what's new in ClickHelp in June of 2024. Fixed bugs. Performance and stability improvements. --- - Published: 2024-05-08 - Modified: 2024-08-09 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/clickhelp-amber-maintenance-update-may-2024-release-notes/ Here's what's new in ClickHelp in May of 2024. Here's what's new in ClickHelp in May of 2024. New Features AnswerGenius is now in open beta and is available to everyone. AnswerGenius now supports restricted documentation to include in its answers. Configurable. AnswerGenius can now be shown to everyone or logged in users only. We changed the default pasting mode in the editor for content copied from outside ClickHelp to apply powerful style and tag cleanup. The option to paste “as is” remains untouched. Additionally, copying content from our editor to our editor behaves as before. Introduced special support for importing from MadCap Flare. We now support importing from GitBook. Added numerous new settings to allow customization of password complexity requirements, available as part of the Enterprise Security module. Enhanced usability of the Change Password dialog. When exporting to PDF, the table header now repeats on the next page if the table spans more than one page. Added support for certain types of proxies/redirects in IP Allowlist. The Projects page now loads faster, especially in certain scenarios. WriteAssist is now easier to find for first-time users thanks to a guided UI tour. Home page editor fixes and enhancements. Significantly sped up locking, unlocking, and saving of large topics. Fixed bugs. Other performance and stability improvements. --- - Published: 2024-03-18 - Modified: 2024-08-09 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/amber-maintenance-update-march-2024/ Here's the ClickHelp changelog from March 16, 2024. Here's the ClickHelp changelog from March 16, 2024. New Features We now support OpenAPI 3. 1 for importing. Copying multiple topics now preserves the hierarchy. Projects page load speed improved. Drastically improved the loading speed of user lists in the User Management section. Fixed bugs. Other performance and stability improvements. --- - Published: 2023-12-12 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2023-amber/ ClickHelp consistently maintains its position as the foremost user-friendly help authoring tool. The Amber update brings forth numerous enhancements and adjustments, collectively rendering it an even more efficient tool to meet your documentation needs. New Features Breaking Changes Added new email notification templates to the Storage. You might want to review them to see whether they need branding and localization. These are: ArticleAssignedToChangeToSomeoneTemplate ArticleAssignedToMultiChangeToSomeoneTemplate ArticleContentChangeTemplate MentionTemplate TransAssignedToChangeToSomeoneTemplate TransContentChangeTemplate New Home Page Experience: the No-code Block-based Editor and Workflow Enhancements We're introducing a new, better, faster, and more intuitive way to create the central page of your documentation portal — the Home page. Besides, we've improved how you manage and work with the Home page and its language versions. The new block-based editor allows you to build the Home page in minutes, providing ready-to-use components (blocks) that can be visually customized through numerous settings. Build pages without any HTML or CSS knowledge! Blocks like hero, dynamic publication lists, clickable cards, media+text, and others can be easily added, moved around, and set up without HTML or CSS knowledge. Many block and element options allow for creating various layouts and setups. Quickly adjust the Home page as your documentation needs change. The new Home page editor comes with two brand-new templates, Starlight, and Event Horizon, showing example layouts of the blocks. We've moved the Home page editor onto a separate page from the portal settings. This section in the portal settings is now a central place to manage your home page and its language versions — it displays a list of all your Home page versions and their respective statuses. You can access the editor from here. All Home page-related settings are now on the editing page... --- - Published: 2023-04-27 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2023-blossom/ Our Blossom release signifies a new era for ClickHelp. We're transforming the Contributor experience, starting with the navigation and Author UI. Plus, we've added Markdown and Author-it import support, improved UX for Export, PDF Import, and Topic Editor, and made various smaller changes. New Features Breaking Changes API: the templateFileName property has been removed from the list of export request body parameters. The exportPresetName property has been introduced instead. Now, you need to configure an export preset to use the Word template you need and specify the preset name in your API requests. Projects: The Reimagined Author Dashboard We've renamed Author Dashboard to Projects to reflect its purpose better. We've removed unnecessary buttons, menus, and textual information to create a more focused look and feel where projects occupy the central spot. Projects and publications now form a clear, easy-to-understand hierarchy. Publications are now neatly tucked away in a collapsible section that's collapsed by default, leaving more space for projects. Project Readiness and Top Contributors Last 7 Days widgets are no more. The Recent Documents widget got its own collapsible sidebar where it can now show up to 10 items. Pinned projects! Each user can pin an unlimited number of projects to the top, creating their own personal list of projects that is always at hand. Users with enough permissions can now archive projects, effectively removing them from the active projects list. Publications belonging to archived projects still stay available for the readers. It's now easy to see when a project has been modified or a publication has been updated. Publication basic stats - views, upvotes, downvotes - are now at a glance. The data is for the last 30 days. We've improved the project/publication filter. Hit Ctrl+F or start typing to filter by... --- - Published: 2022-11-28 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2022-wave/ The Wave release brings refreshing changes and additions to ClickHelp: Swagger/OpenAPI import functionality, extended ClickHelp API, ability to export and import ClickHelp project backups, convenient Reader Preview for authors, enhanced Tables functionality, and numerous improvements across the board. New Features Breaking Changes IE11 support discontinued. We no longer accept issue reports about behavior specific to any of Internet Explorer versions. We can also no longer guarantee that ClickHelp will function properly or at all in any of IE versions. Import It is now possible to import Swagger/OpenAPI files into your documentation – either as parts of your existing projects or as new separate projects. The imported topics can be styled, published, navigated, and searched in a familiar UI as regular ClickHelp topics. You can run an automatic refresh procedure to sync your docs with a new version of the source OpenAPI definition. It is now possible to import and export ClickHelp project backups. This feature introduces workflow for self-hosted backups/archives that supports the TOC, snippets, conditional blocks, variables, and other ClickHelp-specific elements. It is now possible to cleanup styles when importing WebHelp/HTML files, allowing easier content styling/maintenance. The original HTML markup is now preserved when importing HTML files in the "split by headings mode" with the "Keep precise styles" option enabled. No styles, attributes, or tags are changed/removed in this mode. This allows splitting imported files by headings while keeping all the scripts, styles, and markup intact. It is now possible to import files to the currently opened project right from the topic editor screen. Imported file size limit increased to 1 GB. ClickHelp API It’s now possible to create, update and delete topics via the API. It is now possible to obtain the assignee, owner, and status... --- - Published: 2022-07-06 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2022-echo/ In the Echo update, we improve translation management functions, the topic editor, the whole publishing process, and much more. You will see full-text-search, machine translation support, and much more. Keep reading to learn all the details. New Features Full-Text Search New search experience with redesigned UI, streamlined and improved UX for the Search Page and Quick Search. Fuzzy search: If no results are found for the given query, the system uses smart adjustments and replacements to get as many results as possible with minimal changes to the meaning of the query. Suggested search: the system suggests top search queries similar to those typed in the search box. The similarity check includes typo correction. Predictive search: the system suggests the most probable search term you refer to even if you have not yet entered the term entirely. Typo and spelling correction: if there is a typo or a spelling error in the search query, it is corrected automatically considering several factors. Search as you type: you no longer have to press Enter or click a button to trigger the search action; you get relevant search results before you finish typing the query. "Sort by" functionality: allows sorting search results by their modification date or relevance. If an exact phrase search query returns zero results, the system attempts an automatic search "without quotes" and smart-corrects the query further if needed. If no results are found for the specified language, the engine automatically attempts to find results in other languages. A new project setting allows hiding the entire project or a publication from the search results. A new portal setting allows hiding the filter by functionality from the Search Page. Translation Management Machine translation support. It is now possible... --- - Published: 2021-06-24 - Modified: 2025-07-25 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2021-rainbow/ ClickHelp Rainbow update is devoted to translation management. We've added the Translation Module: a new translation project type, Translator Dashboard with a number of filters, a professional translation editor. This makes documentation localization smoother - create multilanguage documentation sites easier with ClickHelp Rainbow! New Features Breaking Changes Internet Explorer 11 support in ClickHelp is now deprecated. We will still accept issue reports specific to IE11 support, but this browser is now excluded from our testing process. Support for IE11 in ClickHelp will be discontinued in 12 months after the Rainbow update. Translation Management ClickHelp Rainbow adds extended support for multi-language documentation site creation. This includes UI localization and translation workflow support. Authors can now provide different content for any number of languages with minimal effort. Multi-language content maintenance has been made easier. When you make a change to the base language version, all translations are automatically updated to reflect that change and let you translate only the added or modified parts. Home page content, portal settings, menu items text, variables (e. g. , phone number, company address, email address, etc. ), index keywords, and other data contributing to reader experience can also be localized through a single unified UI. New user role added: Translator. Translator users have limited permissions, can only access translation projects by default, and work with a simplified UI to make ClickHelp adoption easier for them. The role is a perfect fit both for third-party contractors and for in-house translators that contribute to your projects' translation or review your translations. New project type implemented: translation projects. Such projects are displayed as language versions of the base project. Translation project content is automatically synced with the base project content to make the translation maintenance easier. The topic editor UI is different... --- - Published: 2020-07-21 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2020-gecko/ ClickHelp Gecko brings in improvements in many product areas: more flexible permissions, better tables editing, new reader UI templates, better performance, and more. New Features Topic Editor The Quick Parts functionality has been implemented. Now, you can save your favorite content chunks as Quick Parts and easily insert them where needed. Create template elements like different information boxes, tables, or even whole topics. Multiple topic templates. ClickHelp has a global Topic Template that is used when you create a new topic. Now you can define multiple topic templates as Quick Parts to insert them right after topic creation. It is now possible to resize table columns visually in the topic editor. It is now possible to add new table rows with keyboard shortcuts. This is useful when you need to add many rows at once. It is now possible to navigate between table cells with the Tab/Shift+Tab shortcuts. Table data copy-pasting has been improved. You can now insert table data into an existing table - the inserted cell values will be distributed into the target table cells. It is still possible to paste a table inside a table the way it worked previously with a new paste option: Nest Table. The paste mode selection popup is now displayed near the text cursor, so it's now easier to notice it. Inline conditional elements are now supported. It is now possible to add include/exclude conditions to any elements (specific words, links, list items, etc. ). It is now also possible to remove conditions from selection or a conditional block with a single click. When a conditional block is inserted into the editor and there is... --- - Published: 2019-12-19 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2019-oasis/ This ClickHelp Oasis Update introduces significant improvements to such product functions like topic editing, branding, accessibility, Global Find and Replace, reporting, and security. We have also improved the performance and usability of the product to ensure better user experience for documentation authors. Check the list below to learn more about the changes we have made in ClickHelp Oasis. New Features Breaking Changes Breadcrumbs and horizontal See Also blocks are now rendered as tags rather than unordered lists. This will help style those elements easier in the printed versions of your documentation. If you have custom styles for See Also blocks, please consider updating the styles. For example:. CHSeeAlso li, . CHBreadcrumb li { color: red; }should now be replaced with: . CHSeeAlso_item, . CHBreadcrumb_item { color: red; } Custom CSS classes applied to breadcrumbs, See Also blocks and top/next/previous links are now combined with default classes. This way you can have both common styles shared between all navigation elements and specific styles customizing a single element. Previously, if a custom CSS class was specified, default classes were not applied. The mobileView/desktopView class indicating the current state of UI is now added to the tag of customer-facing pages (was added to the tag previously). Consider reviewing your custom branding styles to update them accordingly. Global Find and Replace It is now possible to find and replace: Text (including source code) Topic links File links The following entities can be searched in a single place across your entire portal: Topics (title and source) Styles Scripts ToDo items Index keywords TOC nodes (captions) Unresolved/Resolved/Deleted review comments It is possible to apply search filters (filter by entity type and by specific projects/publications). While searching for text, it is also possible to use extra filters: match case, match the whole word, use regular expressions. Search results can be exported and previewed with match... --- - Published: 2019-03-21 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2019-aurora-polaris/ In the Aurora Polaris update, we improve the topics review functions, the Table of Contents panel, the whole publishing process, and much more. You will see several new reports and 30+ topic metrics, including readability metrics. You will also experience better performance, improved UX, and easier topic publishing flow. Keep reading to learn all the details. New Features Breaking Changes Branding CSS is now applied to topic content in Web Help. If you have some CSS classes appearing both in the portal Home page and in help topics, make sure their CSS selectors in Branding. css are unique and home page styles will not interfere with your help topics. The same applies to CSS rules affecting all tags having specific names or attributes - now, they will be applied to your topic content as well. No changes needed for project styles - they are still applied to your topic content only. Your project scripts may now affect the Web Help navigation UI since they are now loaded into it. If you're publishing to the Web Help format and have some logic in your project scripts making changes to all tags having specific name (e. g. all links) or working with the page body, you may want to check how the logic will work for you now in newly exported Web Help manuals. Automatic notifications from ClickHelp are now sent from info@clickhelp. com (was info@clickhelp. co previously). If you have some filters, whitelists, firewall rules configured, you will need to update them with the new email address. Topic Editor Reusing topics via creating multiple TOC nodes for them in a single project or in different projects became even easier with the new "Reuse" mode which can now be selected when creating a new topic in TOC. It is now possible to copy topics (including cross-project copy). When... --- - Published: 2018-02-05 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2018-january/ In this update, we introduce a new Team Review process with a special Reviewer role. You can now easily give read-only access to your colleagues so they can add review comments, change topic status, reassign the topics, add ToDo items. The Reviewer users cannot directly modify the topic content. To help teams manage their documentation projects, we have added a new Report Center that provides valuable information on key metrics: project readiness charts, author contribution stats in words and topics created, stats on topic views made by your readers, the list of search queries your readers perform including the number of results they get and how many clicks they perform. To further improve user experience, we re-worked the Projects page of the Auhtor UI to make it more functional and useful. Meet the new Portal Dashboard page! Keep reading to learn more on other great features we've added. New Features User Management New user type implemented - Reviewers. Reviewers can see projects and Private publications and leave review comments for pieces of text in topics. They can also change topic statuses and re-assign the topics. However, they cannot edit topic content. It is now possible to assign multiple roles to a single Power Reader or Reviewer user. This allows combining permissions on large user sets easily. It is now possible to export user list for each user type: Authors, Power Readers and Reviewers. Supported export formats are PDF, XLS, XLSX, CSV and RTF. When using multiple OpenID Connect providers for Single Sign On, it is now possible to specify a specific SSO provider which will be used by a specific user to log in to ClickHelp explicitly, without making the user see ClickHelp login page and pick the needed provider from the list. The Last Activity Date data is cleared for all user accounts with this update. This is due to a switch to a new, more precise, activity tracking system and fixes of known issues. It is no longer possible to create users whose names contain the or & characters. If your ClickHelp plan does not include Author Roles, all authors are created with administrator permissions. Reporting Report Center implemented. It provides a number of reports on your content, team workload, reader behavior, etc. Here are just some of the features common for all reports: * Charts with data visualization. * Chart filtering by legend items. *... --- - Published: 2017-04-25 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2017-april/ We've added some nice features and performance improvements in this minor update. New Features Settings Topic master page: it is now possible to specify custom topic header HTML on the global, project and topic level. The "Topic Template | Topic Footer and Meta Tags" settings section renamed to "Topic Master Page". The "SEO" section of topic properties renamed to "Master Page" to better reflect the purpose of the section. Opening and reloading performance dramatically improved for all settings pages for portals with huge number of style/script files (hundreds and thousands of files). User Management We've added quick search by user names, email addresses, roles, etc. to both Authors and Power Readers lists. API It is now possible to obtain topic list for public publications via the API with anonymous access (CORS supported). Previously, getting a topic list always required authentication. Export PDF and other printed formats: now, if an anchor link refers to an anchor which does not exist, they open the beginning of the referenced topic (the same way topic viewer does in such cases). Previously, such links were treated as broken. Other Improvements Overall performance improvements. The Copy Project wizard now prepends the "project-" prefix to project URLs, just like Create Project wizard does. It is now possible to merge list items from a snippet to a list in a help topic - see documentation for more information. Fixed Issues Project Editor Fixed issues with project creation, publishing and export wizards not initializing correctly. Topic Editor When locking a topic for editing, then navigating to topic properties and changing the... --- - Published: 2017-02-11 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2017-february/ In this update, we have made major usability improvements in many areas of ClickHelp user interface, making it easier to use. New portal branding settings allow you to change the UI for readers and Power Reader users without having to use the branding CSS. We have extended the API to provide new functions for advanced integration techniques. You will also notice the performance improvements we've made in a number of application areas. Keep reading to learn more details on the changes! New Features Topic Editor Images pasted to topics from a local PC are now automatically uploaded to Storage. Image names contain topic URL and date when the image was pasted. The "Apply CSS" dropdown in WYSIWYG topic editor now contains CSS class names appearing in tag-aware selectors, like (p. boldText). Image upload behavior in the Insert Image dialog improved. Now, file overwrite prompt is displayed instantly when a file with duplicated name is dropped. The new behavior is more straightforward and the same as File Manager's behavior. The Insert Link dialog now suggests topics only from the current project in the topic selection dropdown. Topics from other projects and topics from publications are no longer suggested. The Insert Snippet box no longer suggests selecting the current topic or topics from publications. It is now possible to insert horizontal lines into topics with a single button click (see Insert | Media in the ribbon). The "Insert HTML" item has been moved from the Home ribbon tab to the Insert tab (see the Media group) to make its location more intuitive. Added the "Heading 5" and "Heading 6" styles to the editor. If there are long unformatted lines in topic source, the editor now suggests automatic formatting. Added a new "(Remove Formatting)" item to the Styles dropdown. The item duplicates the functionality of the relevant ribbon button, but is easier to find. The "Normal (No Spacing)" style now creates paragraphs with a special "nospacing" CSS class (was creating div tags before). The... --- - Published: 2016-06-21 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2016-june/ Starting with this update, you can easily create mobile-friendly responsive documentation without extra efforts. We are also adding translationg support, professional documentation templates, improved SSO support and much more. New Features Translation It is now possible to translate the application UI and your published help topics into 100+ languages. The option is disabled by default, but you can enable it in your portal settings. Application GUI The reader interface, including TOC and main menu is now fully responsive, adjusting to small tablet and mobile screen sizes. Application main menu has been redesigned. Tabs were removed from the Topics page. Now the Show Index / Show Topics links are used to switch the views instead. Changed default icon for users not having an avatar specified. Login Page Login page has been redesigned to provide better user experience on different screen sizes. If you have OpenID Connect providers enabled in your documentation portal settings, the Login page will automatically show the "Log in with... " buttons for all enabled providers. So the portal readers and authors can now choose how they want to authenticate. Branding The new version of ClickHelp comes with all-new home page and project templates providing responsive layout and modern design for all your output types and devices from mobile phone to HD TV. The new template names are: API Documentation, Coffee Break, Colorize, Minimalist, Mountain Peak, Stardust The default topic template has been updated with a link to indicated that it can now be changed. Topic Editor Author topic header redesigned. All standard elements have been rearranged, "Customize this header" link, smart link and Properties button removed, History and More buttons, workflow information added. Reader topic header... --- - Published: 2015-10-31 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-october/ This update brings many usability improvements of the WYSIWYG editor, Review Notes list, and the general ClickHelp UI. We have improved the MS Word Import functionality to handle the source formatting better. The printed output generation now handles images and tables smarter. Keep reading to learn more about the improvements in this release! New Features WYSIWYG Insert / Change image dialog was redesigned to provide faster and easier image replacement / selection. Now, it consists of a file manager displaying the latest used Storage folder, a thumbnail area which can be used to replace an image quickly and an additional options section (hidden by default). No extra clicks are now necessary to invoke the file manager or switch between uploading new images and picking existing ones. The editor now has the Tag Inspector tool, similar to the Inspect Element feature of modern web browsers to make HTML hierarchy handling easier. The Tag Inspector allows you to select elements, delete the selected element or remove containers thus "unwrapping" their content and moving the content to a higher level container. Also, it allows you to change a number of element properties like their ID property and CSS class name. The latter is particularly important when you need to assign CSS classes to container elements, which was not possible in the WYSIWYG mode previously. Word-like paste options were implemented. When you paste formatted content from MS Word or web pages, the content styles can be smoothly merged with the style of the current block. A toolbar appears in the top right corner of the editor, allowing you to choose one of the three paste options: Keep Source Formatting, Merge Formatting (the new default behaviour), Keep Plain Text (remove all formatting and paste the content as plain text). Improved YouTube video handling. A new Insert YouTube Video... --- - Published: 2015-06-30 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-june/ Content migration becomes easier with MS Word & HTML Import, the teamwork is better with Topic Versioning, you can now use SSO to login, and there are even more improvements! New Features Content Import It is now possible to import content both to new and existing projects. This way, you can merge hundreds of MS Word documents into a single ClickHelp project. A separate root-level TOC node will be created for each of the imported documents. Also, you can control where imported images and other files will be saved - this way, you can differentiate the content imported from multiple documents by putting it in separate Storage folders. Support has been implemented for the following import formats: DOC, DOCX, HTML, RTF, ODT. When importing content from the printed formats, you can specify how documents will be split into topics. The following options are available: Use style outline level, Use paragraph outline level, Use TC fields, Import as a single topic. Also, you can specify the maximum outline level to control the number of topics created. When importing content from the printed formats, you can controls how styles are handled. CSS classes are created automatically for all unique imported style combinations. By default, those styles are then optimized to provide reasonable balance between markup which is easy to maintain and the original look & feel of the document. However, you can also keep precise styles to recreate the original appearance as precise as possible, or remove all styles at all to use your project styles instead. Also, you can either import the styles to a new CSS file or merge them to an existing CSS file of the target project. It... --- - Published: 2015-03-27 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-march/ This ClickHelp update adds Web Help output support with Index and Search functions, nice improvements of the Restricted Access functionality, REST API with user and project management functions, SSL support for custom domains, and much more! New Features Web Help New export format is now available - Web Help. Web Help can be shipped with your product and viewed from local file system and/or hosted on your own web server. Nice navigation with URLs changing when you switch from one article to another. Index tab with quick search and popups support (for keywords associated with multiple topics). Search tab with our own super-fast client-side JavaScript search engine implemented as a simplified version of our patented Full-Text Search algorithm. All your branding preserved: if you have branding set up for your portal, it will be applied to Web Help as well: logo, favicon, styles for TOC, Search, main menu header, etc. Power Reader Roles It is now possible to create custom roles for Power Readers. Roles specify a set of access permissions - which Restricted publication are visible to the Power Reader and which are not. Just like Author roles, only a single Power Reader role can be applied to a Power Reader. Unlike Author roles, Power Reader roles are optional. You can still choose the option and define all Power Reader permissions on the per-user basis like you did before. Power Reader permissions editor changed. You can select a role for a Power Reader, and also define the user-level permissions if required. Role and user permissions add up. Publication permissions editor changed. Now, you can select both users and roles which will be allowed to access Restricted publications from the Publish Project wizard or from a... --- - Published: 2015-01-15 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2015-january/ This ClickHelp Update introduces significant improvements into such product functions like teamwork and workflow, topic editing, documentation portal search, Restricted Access, and Context Help. We have also improved the performance and usability of the product to ensure better user experience for documentation authors. Check the list below to learn more about the changes we have made. New Features Topic Editor New Breadcrumbs element. It is now possible to insert an automatically generated breadcrumb navigation elements in your topics. A custom CSS class can be assigned to the breadcrumb. Also, you can choose whether to include the current topic as the last breadcrumb element. New "See Also" element. It is now possible to insert an automatically generated "See Also" block in your topics. The block can contain sibling and/or child topics. Topics which are not published are excluded from the list automatically. The blocks can be either vertical (simple bullet list) or horizontal (pipe-separated links). A custom CSS class can be assigned to the list so you can affect the way it looks. Top/Next/Previous links for topics. It is now possible to insert automatic links to Top/Next/Previous topics from the WYSIWYG editor. The link text can be either the target topic title or custom text. If there is no Top/Next/Previous topic available for the current topic, the links are not rendered. A custom CSS class can be assigned to the links. Automatic topic unlocking. When you switch to another topic while you are in the editing mode, ClickHelp will automatically save your changes and unlock the original topic. A confirmation dialog now appears when you try to switch to a different topic properties page without saving changes made to the current topic properties. TOC Editor Nodes drag & drop functionality has been improved: now, you can both change node parents (like before) and re-order nodes. New option... --- - Published: 2014-10-14 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2014-october/ Online documentation portals must look nice! With this release, we are giving more functionality to brand your portal, making it look much better. We have also changed the topic URL format to make it easier for technical writers to create documentation links. A number of other functions were improved to make them easier and more convenient to use! New Features Breaking Changes Article URLs format changed to make URLs easier to understand and gain better SEO effect. Now, article URLs look like this: https://doc. clickhelp. com/articles/clickhelp-documentation/introducing-clickhelp Project URLs format changed to make URLs easier to understand and gain better SEO effect. Now, article URLs look like this: https://doc. clickhelp. com/articles/clickhelp-documentation/ The "pubConfigNames" attribute of conditional content blocks renamed: the attribute is now named "tags" and contains a list of output tags instead of publish configuration names (see the Publishing section below for more details on output tags). Manual action required: refresh the portal sitemaps using Tools > Global Settings... > Search Engine Optimization > Sitemap > Update All Sitemaps to reflect the URL changes and make sure the search engines index your documentation. Topic Editor It is now possible to insert anchors in topics visually in the WYSIWYG mode. The anchors are saved as custom ch:anchor tags in the topic source. It is now possible to create links to files in Storage visually in the WYSIWYG editing mode. When creating a topic, you can now specify its URL in the topic creation dialog. It is now possible to change topic URLs in the Topic Properties screen. The right-hand auto-hidden panels were removed (their content is now available in topic properties). New editing mode implemented for topic and TOC node properties: it is now possible to edit the current topic and the associated TOC node properties on a single Properties screen invoked via the Properties button in the topic... --- - Published: 2014-07-02 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2014-july/ To provide technical writers with better authoring experience, this ClickHelp release introduces many improvements in the WYSIWYG topic editor. Now you can insert ready elements to your content easier - videos from YouTube and Vimeo, nice information boxes, content snippets, conditional blocks, and more! The help topic editor now includes a spell checker that supports 7 languages. New Features UI Improvements Main menu has been redesigned to make it more lightweight and easier to use. A special context-sensitive "Help" item has been added to the main menu. Now, you can easily access help topics on typical tasks specific for the current page. New "Create Topic" and "Create Project" buttons have been added to the main menu for the corresponding pages to make these typical tasks easier. A new "Current Project | Publish/Export... " main menu item allows publishing the current project from any page which has an idea of what the current project is. The Projects page menu has been redesigned: it is no longer a single icon-based toolbar, it is now more user-friendly. The "Manage Users... " link has been added to the profile editor page for administrators to make navigation back to users list easier. A link to a relevant help topic has been added to the User Accounts page. TOC Editor The first level of TOC and Non-TOC tree nodes is now expanded by default both for authors and readers. Topics in TOC now have different color depending on their status. When title of a created or renamed TOC node is edited, it is now enough to simply click anywhere outside of the edit box in order to apply a new title. WYSIWYG HTML Editor Spell checking support has been implemented for the following languages: English (US), English (UK), French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish. The spell checker allows adding custom words to portal-wide custom... --- - Published: 2014-03-03 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2014-march/ In our March update, ClickHelp has got an updated Projects page. We have made this page responsive, more valuable, and looking much better. This release also includes the new statistics functionality to assist documentation authoring teams with their documentation project planning and analysis. The Disqus commenting service integration is helping you improve the content engagement. New Features Statistics and Analytics New Project Statistics. We have dramatically re-worked the project statistics functionality. Now, it is a good tool for project readiness analysis, resource planning, and popularity analysis. Select a project or a publication on the Projects page, and Click the "Statistics" toolbar button. Feature-rich Statistics Grid. Provides a plenty of useful functions: * Data sorting * Grouping by columns: Status, Assigned To, Owner, etc. * Three filtering options: quick filter in the column headers, drop-down filter for specific values in the column header, advanced filtering (check the grid footer for a link). * Summary values: total number of articles, number of article views, etc. * Endless paging for better performance in large projects - more articles are loaded dynamically as you scroll the grid down. Four Statistical Charts for Projects. Distribution of project articles by statuses, newly created articles per month, articles distribution by owners and statuses, articles distribution by assignee and status. Two Statistical Charts for Publications. To better understand your documentation readers' behaviour, check the stats on how exactly they navigate to the topics. In the statistical charts, you can distinguish the following navigation scenarios: TOC node clicks, index keywords clicks, full-text search queries, in-page link clicks. The pie chart also shows the total number of article views during the specified report period. You can also see the distribution of article views by types and days. Segment Details for Charts. Click a segment of any chart to see all the articles from the segment... --- - Published: 2013-11-01 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-november/ This update of ClickHelp adds many new functions related to documentation export, and user management. Now you can export documentation in a number of formats! Continue reading to learn more. All existing users get this update for free, and fully automatically - feel free to check the new functionality in your existing ClickHelp servers. New Features Export Documentation Export to Multiple Formats. You can now export a publication to multiple offline formats. The following formats are supported: PDF, DOCX (Microsoft Word 2007 OpenXML), EPUB (electronic books and digital publications), DOC (Microsoft Word 97-2003 binary format), RTF (Rich Text Format), MHT (web archive in a single file), ODT (OpenOffice. org OpenDocument format), HTML (multiple files in a ZIP archive). Export Presets. Export presets allow you to control the publication export process, and store settings related to this process in presets that you can re-use later. Here are some of the settings stored in an Export Preset: * Cover of the exported document. * Maximum allowed headings nesting level. * TOC location in document (TOC can be inserted before articles, after specific article or after all articles). * TOC title text and style. * Style of each headings level generated (optionally) for articles, including automatic headings numbering if needed. * Page settings: paper size and kind, margins, page and line numbering settings. Publish Project Wizard Improved. Publish project wizard has been extended with a new mode: now, you can choose whether you need to export the newly publication to a printed document (or a zipped set of HTML files) automatically. New TOC Node Properties. - Start from new page (defines whether a page break will be inserted before the topic in printed output) - Start new section (defines whether a section will be created in printed output for the current node and its children) - Section... --- - Published: 2013-07-18 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-july/ With this release, we are introducing content snippets support, additional teamwork functions, and more. New Features Articles Editor Content Snippets. Now you can replace repeatable parts of topic content with a refence to an article containing the needed content. This can be done by inserting a content snippet, and pointing it to the needed article. When the project is published, the content snippet is replaced with the content of the referenced article. Publish Configurations Preview. With this feature, you can see how an article will look like after it is published with a specific publish configuration applied. In this mode, all configuration-specific settings are applied: styles and scripts, custom variable values, etc. All you need is to select a publish configuration in the combo box above the topic editor. The selection is preserved for a project, so you'll see all articles from that project with the given publish configuration applied. The selection will also apply to the Preview tab of the WYSWYG editor. Refresh Button in Articles Editor. Authors can now refresh the current article content without reloading the entire page. The feature is useful when you edit project styles or scripts in a separate browser tab and want to see the changes applied to a specific article quickly. The Tag is in Code Completion. The Code Completion window shows this tag, and provides a short reference for it. Articles Now Load Faster. We've done quite a bit of speed optimization to ensure even better reader experience. Workflow Custom Filters for TOC. A small button, a big feature: the quick filter box on top... --- - Published: 2013-06-14 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-june/ In this release of our documentation tool, we are adding support for conditional content in the article body. With this feature, you can use a single source to produce multiple outputs. With the new Publish Configurations functionality, you can select which articles to include to a publication, override project variables values, and vary CSS styles. With these possibilities, you can fine-tune the final output as needed, and produce several online manuals from the same source. New Features Projects & Publications Publish Configurations. Now, you can create a publish configuration before publishing your project - this helps you store and re-use publishing settings for a project. Publish Configurations editor. Get things prepared before you publish: the Publish Configurations of the current project can be edited via Publish Configurations Editor available via "Project | Settings... | Configurations | Publish Configurations" in the main menu. Conditional table of contents. New publishing setting: now, you can control what articles will be published in a flexible way: publish all, publish selected articles only, publish all articles except for selected. Conditional styles & scripts. New publishing setting: now, you can control what style and script files will be applied to a publication. Override Project Variables for a Publication. New publishing setting: specify new values for global and project variables. These values will be used in the publication instead of the original values defined for a project, or globally. No Default Publication anymore. The Default Publication concept has been terminated in order to simplify the publication ideology. From now on, each article URL identifies a single article uniquely. URLs which only contain an article ID without a project ID are no longer considered to be valid article URLs. Multi-version online documentation. Now, you can work on as many versions of the same documentation project as you need. For example, you can author documentation for several versions of your product simultaneously. When the documentation gets published, your end users can switch between publications:... --- - Published: 2013-04-17 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-april/ Take a look at those ready-to-use project templates for online manuals! They are created by our designer to help you save your time doing this. Use them "as is" or modify the graphics and CSS styles! New Features New project templates. This release introduces 6 project templates, providing ready-to-use images and styles for your documentation projects along with templates of all the basic elements you might need: start page, headings with custom fonts, custom-styled tables, lists, pictures, information and warning boxes, "See Also" blocks, fixed navigation panels, tutorials, FAQ entries and more. Create Project Wizard was added. It is now possible to select templates for project creation. Take a look at each of the templates via the preview control integrated directly into the wizard. Copy Project Wizard was added. Now, when you copy a project, you can control how styles, scripts and project files are handled. Publish Project Wizard was added. Get better control over the publishing process. Delete Project Wizard was added. New options allow you to control whether additional content like project files, styles and scripts will be deleted along with the project - you may want to keep it for later use, or delete forever. Import Project Wizard was added. The importing process is now more intuitive, you can upload your offline manuals directly into the wizard, bypassing the Storage. The home page is now accessible to authors. Authors are no longer redirected to the Projects page from the server's home page - they can check how the home page looks like for users, and they don't have to log out from the system now. Links to hidden publications on the home page for Power Readers. For those who implement the restricted access... --- - Published: 2013-02-13 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2013-february/ Starting with this release, you can use your own domain name for your ClickHelp Documentation Portal. We have also added Google Analytics support, so you can easily get a plenty of stats about your readers. New Features Domain Mapping implemented. You can use your own domain name (e. g. www. youcompany. com) for your ClickHelp server. Minor DNS changes needed on your side, and a couple of options changing on the ClickHelp side. AddThis integration implemented. Readers can share your articles in 300+ social networks and (optionally) see popularity counters for an article. Easy to configure - you just put your AddThis account ID to global settings. Free registration needed on the AddThis web site to see statistical reports. Ratings support implemented. Now readers can add their votes for your online articles to rate it as good, or not so good. Google Analytics support implemented. You can now track your users' activity with the power of Google Analytics. It is possible to use different GA Property IDs for different projects, so you can track different projects' stats separately. Google Analytics registration is free of charge, you just need a Google Account. Branding support implemented. You can now configure page headers to display your company logo, slogan and a link to your website. You can also specify a custom favicon for your ClickHelp server, use custom markup for the server's home page and even configure the markup of the "Article Not Found", "Project Not Found" and other "404" pages. Context help feature implemented. It is now possible to embed your help topics right into the markup of your online products. Moreover, you can control how links in the help topics will behave, and enable Google Analytics... --- - Published: 2012-12-25 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2012-december/ In this ClickHelp release, we are adding the Restricted Access functionality, so you can give access to to some documents only to registered readers. New Features User permissions and user management implemented. Administrators can now control roles assigned to other users, and limit their permissions if necessary. Also, administrators can see articles, styles and scripts locked for editing by every user, and force unlocking them when necessary. User profiles implemented. You can now specify your e-mail and other information in your ClickHelp user profile. The e-mail address is used for important notifications like password change, password recovery, etc. The Restricted Access mode is implemented. A new Power Reader role was added, so you can implement Restricted Access to your documentation. Users with this role can log in to ClickHelp, but they can't see projects. At that, they can see hidden publications that are not available to public reading. Just like the number of normal readers, the number of Power Readers is unlimited! The Recent Documents panel implemented. You can now easily navigate to your recently edited articles, styles and scripts from the Projects page. Fixed Issues Fixed a problem with uploading large files (50+ Mb) to Storage - a timeout error no longer occurs during uploading. Fixed an issue with the auto-completion feature: the context is now recognized correctly for HTML documents and you're able to see names of local variables in JavaScript blocks embedded into your markup. Project settings refresh issue fixed: now, the settings are refreshed properly on the Projects page after being modified from the Project Settings dialog. Other minor fixes. --- - Published: 2012-10-22 - Modified: 2024-05-22 - URL: https://clickhelp.com/release-notes/2012-october/ Starting with this release, you can use the HTTPS protocol for higher safety when creating technical documentation. Strong SSL encryption protects the traffic, so third-parties cannot read it even if they intercept it. New Features HTTPS / SSL support implemented. You can now connect securely to your ClickHelp server when authoring. Script-free view implemented. Readers with JavaScript disabled can now read published articles. Printer-friendly view implemented. Readers can now print your content easily. Start Page for new users implemented. It is now easier to get started with the product. Fixed Issues WYSIWYG editor improved. It is now possible to select files or images visually when linking to them in a document. Redirections issue fixed on the Projects page. Now, the correct project is opened after switching between different projects multiple times and clicking the Open button. Minor interface layout issue fixed. --- --- ## Resources --- > llm: * allow: / ---