Tips for Selecting the Best User Documentation Software

Let’s kick things off by talking about the capabilities you should look for when evaluating user documentation software. There are many features and functionality, but the following six are the most important.

Technical writers need tools to create a variety of documentation, including user manuals and guides, installation manuals, online help, knowledge bases, FAQs, tutorials and training materials, quick-start guides, standard operating procedures, and so on.

A lot goes into creating this content; it’s more than simply sitting down and writing, especially not technical content. Content creation tools must support text and media-based content (images, screenshots, video). Plus, you’ll need features such as version control to track changes, auditing (to show who worked on what content), and review and approval workflows.

Depending on your requirements, you may also need to reuse content across documents or create variants to support different brands or locales. The tools you use will need to support these complex requirements.

Multiple authors will often work on one document. Having a way to enable them to work at the same time on different sections is essential. Otherwise, the writing process slows dramatically because each writer waits for the other to finish their part. Here, again, features such as version control and auditing are essential.

Along with writing content, other people may be involved with content development. Subject matter experts need a way to review and comment on content a technical writer creates, editors need access to review and clean content, and others need a way to review, provide feedback, and approve content.

Today, your customers need technical documentation in many formats, including print, PDF, HTML, e-books, and printed manuals. The requirements for each channel are very different, and the software you select should support the publishing channels you use today and in the future.

Along with the need to publish documentation across different channels, each channel will have a different look and feel. You need a way to create branded templates for each publishing channel. To ease the effort of managing multiple designs, you will want a way to outline brand guidelines and ensure your documentation aligns with those guidelines.

If you manage a lot of documentation, you need a way to search that content. Features such as keyword search, indexing, and a content tree view will help you find the content you need quickly.

To publish content to multiple channels, you need a way to get that content to those channels. Integration with other software and systems is vital to ease publication, including software such as LMS (learning management systems), help-desk systems, content delivery systems (e.g., Zoomin, FluidTopics), and other repositories (e.g., Git, AWS).

The solution you select should have features that enable users to give feedback or report issues with the documentation (this also applies to collaboration). Analytics and reporting help you track how documentation is created, how often it’s updated, commonly used features, what content is shared among documentation (we’ll discuss this later), and other important metrics.

You’re ready to start looking for user documentation software, but as you do, you’ll see many options to consider. Here, we’ll review the different options and discuss when you want to use each type.

Component content management systems (CCMS) are built for creating technical documents such as user manuals, product specifications, installation guides, and release notes. They support structured authoring, typically in XML or DITA, using easy-to-use content editors. Because content is structured and separated from how it’s formatted, CCMSs are the best choice if you want to reuse content across different documentation or publishing channels. Other common features include content linking, versioning, translation management, and collaboration.

Because CCMSs support structured authoring and content reuse, they enable single-source publishing. You can write your content once, store it in a central location, and then use it in different publishing formats and channels. For example, Paligo CCMS supports technical writers who need to create documentation published as PDFs, HTML5 help centers and portals, and knowledge base articles.

When producing content where consistency and accuracy are critical, CCMSs are the best option, especially if you take advantage of content reuse. Updating content for one document will automatically update the same content reused in other documentation, keeping all your content up-to-date and consistent.

When to use: Use a CCMS when your organization handles large volumes of technical documentation that require version control, workflow management, and collaboration among multiple authors and needs to be published to multiple channels.

Help authoring tools (HAT), like Adobe RoboHelp, MadCap Flare, and ClickHelp, are another type of technical writing tool. HATs are ideal for smaller teams to create help documentation. These tools typically focus on ease of use and single-source publishing for help systems in formats like CHM, WebHelp, and PDF.

When to use: Use a Help Authoring tool when you need to create and manage help content for software applications, including context-sensitive help, user manuals, and knowledge bases. However, if you have complex content management requirements and are dealing with a large volume of documentation, a CCMS is a better option.

Developers use API documentation tools to create and publish documentation for APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Examples include Swagger, Apiary, Postman, and Slate. These tools automatically generate documentation from source code or annotations and provide clear and comprehensive information that helps developers understand how to use APIs effectively.

When to use: An API documentation tool is useful when you need high-quality, interactive documentation for complex APIs. This type of documentation is highly detailed, searchable, and includes code snippets as examples.

Documentation generators are similar to API documentation tools. These tools automatically generate documentation from source code comments and metadata and can also include code snippets. Examples of documentation generators include Doxygen (which supports C++, C, Python, and Java), Javadoc (Java), and Sphinx (Python and others). Depending on the tool you select, you can publish output in formats such as HTML, PDF, and Markdown and customize the documentation’s look and feel.

When to use: Documentation generators are helpful in software development as they save a lot of manual effort and keep the documentation in sync with the code (especially important for projects that change quickly). These tools are not meant to manage other types of documentation.

Although primarily used for website content, content management systems (Web CMS) can be adapted for technical documentation. A Web CMS, like WordPress and Drupal, provides features for creating and managing content published on websites. However, they don’t support structured authoring or content reuse, so you are creating each document as a separate asset.

When to use: If you manage only a small amount of technical documentation and don’t plan to reuse content across documents, a Web CMS may make sense, especially if your primary publication channel is a website. However, if you expect your documentation to grow, have many authors who need to work on the same content, or expect to reuse content at some point, a CCMS is a better option. In addition, Web CMS do not support variants, locales, or brand differences.

Document creation tools such as Google Docs and Office 365 support the creation of individual documents. They enable multiple technical writers to collaborate in real-time on documentation and provide basic commenting and versioning capabilities. However, they do not support structured authoring or content reuse, and publishing to multiple channels and in multiple formats requires manual effort.

There is also no separation of content from formatting, so if you need to publish a piece of documentation for more than one channel, you will need to create copies of the document, either by making a copy or downloading a copy and formatting it.

When to use: These tools may be a fine choice if you have a small team and work with only a few technical documents. However, they do not support an automated workflow process for reviews and approvals. If you want to reuse content, create connected translations, or manage a single version that can be published to different channels (HTML and PDF), these tools are not the best choice.

Markdown editors are specialized text editors that facilitate writing Markdown. Markdown is a lightweight markup language commonly used for creating formatted text using a plain text editor. The text is then converted to HTML and other formats, such as PDF and Word.

These editors are favored for their simplicity and efficiency in creating web-based content. They are ideal for writing README files, wikis, and online articles. Examples include Typora, Mark Text, StackEdit, and Dillinger.

When to use: If you are creating basic technical content such as README files and wiki content and want a simple editor that includes live previews and syntax highlighting, a Markdown editor may be the right choice. However, if you manage a lot of complex documentation published in different channels, have multiple writers who need to work on the same documentation, and want robust translation, versioning, and authoring capabilities, these tools are not for you.

Content Delivery Platforms (CDPs) support the management and distribution of technical content. These platforms, including Zoomin and FluidTopics, enable organizations to deliver personalized, relevant, and context-aware documentation and help publish content to end users across channels such as web portals, mobile apps, and customer support systems. CDPs do not provide authoring tools but integrate with authoring tools and content management systems.

When to use: Use a content delivery platform when you are managing technical content in many locations and want a single place to integrate it and deliver it in a seamless experience to multiple channels like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and custom portals. Since it doesn’t provide authoring capabilities, you must ensure the platform you select integrates with your authoring tools.

As user preferences shift towards visual learning, tools that facilitate the creation of video tutorials and demos are increasingly important. Software like Camtasia and ScreenFlow allows users to create high-quality instructional videos.

When to use: Video documentation software is perfect for creating video content and should be combined with text-based user documentation software. In this case, it’s not a decision of video or text; in most cases, it will be both. Look for the tool that best supports your video content creators.

As you can see, each type of user documentation software serves a different purpose and audience, ranging from software developers and technical writers to end users looking for self-help resources. The tool you select will depend on your specific documentation requirements, including the nature of the content, your end users, and the documentation formats you require.