Table of Contents
It’s crucial to locate software technical writing samples that meet the requirements of your team. When your production cycle is in full flow, you don’t want to be fumbling about trying to find the appropriate tools. This is especially true if your company distributes content across numerous streams, including help pages, blogs, videos, FAQs, manuals, and guides.
What is technical writing software?
The goal of technical writing software is to simplify the life of technical writers by providing them with digital tools for a wide range of everyday chores, including writing, editing, publishing, screen capture, sketching, picture editing, and more.
What advantages does technical writing software offer?
Over their career, technical writers may encounter several difficulties, particularly if the process hasn’t been well-organized. Making last-minute product modifications, managing numerous versions of the same document, avoiding complicated processes with diverse team members, and avoiding technical issues that may otherwise stall the entire process are all made possible by starting with the correct technical writing tools.
What Features Should You See in Software for Technical Writing?
It’s essential to determine what features your technical writing software needs to have. The following are some crucial components to consider:
Templates: Using a pre-made framework makes the process of writing technical documents easier (believe us).
Synthetic intelligence: In the modern day, there’s no excuse not to make use of machine learning and AI writing tools, since they can save you a tonne of time.
Collaborate permissions: You’ll need something with user management features if you’re working in a group so that you may designate responsibilities and permissions to each other.
Features of reports: Reporting tools that are built in can show you how well your technical material is doing.
Although this isn’t a comprehensive list, you probably already know what other features you’re searching for editing capabilities, screen recording capabilities, spell and grammar checkers, and compatibility with programs like Microsoft Word.
The 9 Best Software Technical Writing Tools to Use in 2023
1. Whatremed
Whatfix is a paradigm change in the online presentation of aid content. The user is not as engaged with static, long-form web help pages as they are with Whatfix’s interactive, visual guides—also known as “balloons.”
Furthermore, in the modern world, online assistance must be accessible on a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Whatfix automatically modifies the support material to fit the device. Additionally, the same support material is available as a video, PDF, or presentation.
Author’s Tip: Whatfix has a special function that allows you to insert your help snippets right into the live product page: a Real-time Interactive tutorial. After reading the excerpt in the Whatfix bubble, the user acts on the page as directed. This is a well-liked technical writing tool for companies who want to move away from conventional approaches.
2. Prezi
An unorthodox approach to creating video presentations for demonstrations. With Prezi, you get one large blank canvas instead of PowerPoint’s fixed slide divisions. You are free to write and draw anything you want on it. A continuous video presentation is created by adjusting the focus from one frame to the next on the same canvas and by zooming in or out of the information that is in focus.
Author’s Tip: In addition to the free version, there is a free student trial edition that offers nearly all of the features of the one that costs money. Choose that one.
3. Adobe RoboHelp
This industry-standard authoring tool helps construct help systems for programs that are either desktop or web-based. RoboHelp knows no strangers among computer users. RoboHelp is mostly always used to produce the help window that displays when you hit F1 in any of your regular software programs. But it may also be used to produce standard technical documents, such as training manuals, and guidelines, for printing.
Technical writers may create complex assistance projects using the advanced RoboHelp IDE, which can display them in many forms (PDF, HTML, DOC, etc.) and on a variety of hardware and operating systems. If money is tight, a cheaper edition of the older RoboHelp version can be obtained. Small businesses, meanwhile, may continue using straightforward, free substitutes like WordPress.Wikis or blogs. Even the trusty Microsoft Word can create simple HTML help files for you.
Author’s Tip: Since technical writers must stay up to date with the history of product changes, managing large software products with frequent update versions may be quite difficult. Help files frequently display user-defined variables that may be customized and are repeated several times in the help text. (A setting called “Sleep time after inactivity,” for instance, was set to 30 seconds in the prior version but was changed to 1 minute in the upgrade.) The updating of the variable value throughout the help files would be handled by the RoboHelp project!
4. Notepad++
An extremely powerful HTML editor for beginners. Most users of this technical writing tool pick up the fundamentals of HTML programming. This application is more than enough for medium-sized help file creation if your software product does not require extensive online help material. Its multilingual support choices, easily editable GUI, and WYSIWYG printing capability make editing simple.
Author’s Tip: Notepad++ has a large plug-in library. Among the most used ones are Auto-Save, Code Compare, and Multi-clipboard. Selecting the appropriate plug-ins is essential for technical writers as they may turn a basic beginner’s editor into a workable solution for editing for online assistance.
5. WordPress
The place to go if you want to have blogs serve as technical documentation for your product. Open-source and cost-free, WordPress is an online content management system. WordPress blogs may be incorporated into your company website or visited directly from the WordPress blog URL.
The WordPress blog is used to host this particular post. If the intention is to routinely post information about your business and related technology online, create a WordPress blog account. In addition, blogs have the ability to record user reactions in the form of likes and comments, which facilitates communication with your target market and helps you gauge their level of interest in your offering.
Author’s Tip: A blog by itself might not attract enough visitors. Thus, prioritize writing your blog, then share it on social media, and assess readership and response before moving on to the next batch of posts!
6. Photoshop Adobe
One that is highly recommended by the majority of technical writers in the field. It is the most widely used image editing program in the world for producing and modifying raster-based artwork and images. Additionally, it may be used to make web pages, banner advertising, video graphics, user interface designs, edit photos for print, manipulate images, combine many images into one, edit photos to remove flaws, adjust lighting, and more. The process of modifying images is progressive and reversible, making it simple to undo modifications.
Author’s Tip: Adobe Photoshop is nearly indestructible for expert designers who are always in need of an image-altering program. If you use GIMP sometimes, though, it’s free and open source. While Photoshop supports CMYK (CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK) color mode, it only supports RGB color schemes. Photoshop requires a significant financial commitment, but GIMP has a lower learning curve and is free.
7. Illustrator for Adobe
A vector drawing tool that may be used to create and modify logos, brand marks, and other design components. A common error made by graphic designers is to create their product logos in Photoshop. However, large billboard advertisements and visiting cards must both bear the same logo. The trick here is to scale images without sacrificing clarity, which is what vector graphics-based imaging technologies do. The top tools for technical writing in this field are Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator.
Author’s Tip: This tool costs a lot each month to rent and is a component of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. With SVG formats, free alternatives to technical writing programs like Inkscape or Affinity Designer work just as well. This product is not necessary unless you need every major technical writing tool included in the solution (Photoshop, InDesign, etc.).
8. Visio for Microsoft
a widely used diagramming tool for designing technical applications. Creating flowcharts, architectural diagrams, electrical circuit diagrams, software product designs, and other designs is a common task for technical writers. Visio is an easy tool to help with this.
It is a technical writing tool that complies with IEEE standards and meets industry standards for software, including BPMN (business process model and notation) and UML (unified modeling language).
Author’s Tip: Unlike Microsoft Project, Visio has always been marketed separately and has not been a part of the standard Microsoft Office package. However, according to a recent Microsoft release, Visio is now available to online Office 365 customers.
9. Snipping Tool for Windows
Snipping Tool is a fantastic solution if you want more advanced screen capture capabilities than what your keyboard can offer with PrntScr.
In addition to capturing the entire screen, you may also capture partial screen area or freehand cropping. Use the delay option to take still photos from movies, allowing you to preserve an exact frame as an image.
Authors’ Tip: Although it is a component of the Windows software package, some Windows versions may not have it activated by default.
Important Technical Writing Software Features
Technical writers have access to a plethora of software documentation tools, which can be daunting and perplexing.
So, how can you filter out the noise and make sense of the tool to choose?
It’s easy. Obtaining the appropriate software is simple if you are aware of the characteristics to search for.
Let us examine some essential qualities that are necessary for technical writing tools:
Already Created Templates
Professionally created documentation templates make the process of creating documents much simpler. With the pre-built structure included in these ready-made templates, you may avoid starting from scratch.
Text Editor Online
Every software tool for technical writing should have an online text editor.It includes all the necessary tools for customization and functions just as smoothly as Microsoft Word.
Roles & Permissions for User Access
The greatest technical writing tools have a user management system that lets you add, modify, and assign roles and rights to users.
Integrated Reports
The majority of Software technical writing tools come with integrated reports that may be utilized to gain a valuable understanding of how well your technical content is functioning and whether it is accomplishing its intended goals.
Just One Source
This is an essential function that lets you find a piece of material and utilize it in several other posts. With a single source, technical writers may update several articles simultaneously.
The Contextual Aid
Tooltips, light boxes, and popups are features of contemporary technical writing tools that enable you to present relevant assistance in particular places within your technical documentation.
Conclusion
Tools for Software technical writing may greatly simplify your life.
They are prepared to take on all the labor-intensive tasks involved in producing manuals, guides, and other paperwork for your clients. With such amazing tools at your disposal, publishing the material takes only minutes to prepare and publish.
It might be difficult to choose the best tool for your needs, though. Software technical writing preferences and problems are taken into consideration while compiling the above list of the most popular tools for technical writing. Select the tool that best suits your needs by comparing them based on features, cost, and usability.
