StepShot User Guide

StepShot User Guide
StepShot Team
StepShot is an intuitive and powerful utility that lets you create detailed step-by-step procedure guides and
manuals.
Imagine documenting and editing each step of the workflow procedure until it looks and reads perfectly, then
combining it all together and exporting as a document that's available to everyone!
Table of Contents
Overview
Introduction
4
5
It's really that simple. It's StepShot!

Understanding StepShot basics
5
5
Quick info about Articles and Manuals
Tuning up your experience

How to use Hotkeys?
Capturing Settings
Other Settings
Managing your export/publish accounts

Miscellaneous
Changing default Workspace location
Quick Start
Working with Articles
How to use Article?
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How to move/copy Article to a Manual?
14
Understanding Article edit window
16
Changing Article metadata

Saving Article into another location
Article Export & Publish
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17
17
Working with Manuals
18
How to use Manuals?

Understanding Manual
18
19
How to work with Articles in a Manual?

What is a Draft?
19
20
How to share a Manual?
21
Recording in nutshell
22
Quick screen capture

Screen Capture
Recording (1)
Recording Types
Standalone Screenshot (2)
Image Processing
Copying/Saving an image
How to replace an image for the captured step?
Sharing files
How to share step image with someone?
Export & Publish

Exporting
How to export a document?
Export formats
What formats are supported by StepShot?
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How to export images?
Publish to Confluence
Connecting Confluence portal to StepShot
Configuring Confluence account
Adding Confluence account into StepShot
How to publish to Confluence?

Selecting destination page where to publish a document
Navigate to the published document
Publish to easyDITA
Connecting StepShot to easyDITA
How to publish to easyDita?
Selecting file and assets folder destination where to deploy an easyDITA document to
FAQ
How to change the destination to another repository, when file and assets folder have
already been chosen?
How to create custom template?

Overview
What is a template?
Complex templates
Getting started
Where are templates located?
Template configuration file
Creating Word template

Replaceable keywords inside the *.docx
Layout keywords inside the *.docx
Customizing the *.docx
Creating XML-based templates (HTML, DITA etc)

What is an XML template?
Schema for xslt transformation
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Creating Html templates
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What is an HTML template?
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Creating PDF template
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What is a PDF template?
46
Overview
Introduction
StepShot Team
It's really that simple. It's StepShot!
StepShot is an intuitive and powerful utility that lets you create detailed step-by-step procedure guides and
manuals.
Imagine documenting and editing each step of the workflow procedure until it looks and reads perfectly, then
combining it all together and exporting as a document that's available to everyone!
Understanding StepShot basics
Workspace is a virtual space where all your articles and manuals are stored. The idea of such a workspace is to
improve your productivity and let you easily find the recently saved documents with no need of looking for them in
a heap of folders.
Article is a document with text and steps documentation.

Articles menu contains the list of all articles created in StepShot application.
Manual combines Articles grouped by chapters. Manual can be exported and published as one document.
Manuals menu contains the list of all Manuals created in StepShot application.
Multiple Articles can be opened to work on them simultaneously.
Manage all kind of settings to tune up you work experience with StepShot.
How to use Hotkeys?
Add separate screenshots to your workflow using the hotkey combinations.

Note: So as not to confuse you, Hotkeys work when only one Article window is open.
Capturing Settings
Capturing Settings
Use "Highlight cursor" option to show a highlighted ellipse around the cursor in captured screenshot.
"Extend active window size" adds the given range of pixels to a selected region or captured window. This feature is
very useful when used in pair with "Blur extended edges" option. Blurring the edges makes your screenshots look
more solid and proficient.
By default StepShot captures only mousedown events. But in case you want to record actions like drag'n'drop - you
might want to consider an option "Capture mouse up after mouse down". When enabled, it allows mouseup to be
captured as a separate screenshot once the set timeout is reached. Quite often you might need to filter some
particular clicks and to do that you can select one of the filtering options. By default all the screenshots are captured,
however additionally you can capture mouse clicks only if particular keyboard button is pressed or not pressed.
Left and Right click to capture delay initiate a screenshot with a timeout before the actual screenshot is taken.
By default, screenshot capturing is initiated right after the mouse button is clicked.
Other Settings
It is easy to quickly share your documents directly from StepShot - just add external service accounts.
Specify comprehensible names for all your accounts and they will be displayed in StepShot when you are sharing
documents or images.
For adding your Dropbox account just follow steps shown in the dialog below.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Changing default Workspace location
After you installed StepShot, it creates Workspace folder at a default location on your PC. To change it, just press
"Move" and select a new folder for your Workspace. All your current Articles and Manuals will be moved to that
location.
Note: If you are using external drive for workspace location, do not forget to insert that device before opening
StepShot.
Quick Start
Working with Articles

StepShot Team
Article is a single document that can be shared or be a part of a Manual.
Articles menu have Articles that you want to share but which aren't a part of a Manual. You can copy or move an
Article into an existing Manual at any time.
How to use Article?
As you open "Articles" menu (1), you will access all Articles that are in your Workspace. You can also add a new
article (2) or change the existing one (3).
How to move/copy Article to a Manual?

Articles could be copied or moved to a Manual. Just use "Move to Manual..." or "Copy to Manual..." context menu
options.
Press "Move to manual..." in the Article context menu, choose Chapter you want to move the Article into. This
operation will remove this Article from the Articles menu list and add it to the indicated Chapter.
"Copy to Manual..." makes a standalone copy of that Article. The modification of one Article wont change its copy.
Open menu (1) to be able to save this document to another location, share or publish it somewhere on your
computer or remote service.
To create your documentation, use recording buttons (2) (discussed in "Recording" article later). All recorded steps
and single screenshots are displayed in the outline panel (3).
To group steps into sections, right click on empty space inside the outline panel and click on "Add section" option.
Annotate the selected step image (5) with drawings (7). Then update step title and description (6) to tell the user
what he/she needs to do.
Changing Article metadata
To rename an Article, right click on the Articles name and set a new one.
Author and description fields can be also exported into a final document. So leave some useful abstract for the
currently edited Article.
Saving Article into another location
It's possible to save an Article into your Workspace or somewhere on your computer.
To save the Article somewhere inside the Workspace, click on Save to Workspace, set the name for the Article in
the opened dialog and choose the location where to save it.
Article Export & Publish

Export & Publish functionality is described later in the manual.

StepShot Team
Manual groups Articles into one document that can be easily shared.
Manuals menu contains all created manuals.
How to use Manuals?
Manuals menu lists all Manuals in the Workspace. Recent list shows last Articles you have worked on.
"Info" page has all metadata info for a Manual.

To rename the Manual, right click on its name and set a new one.
It is possible to apply authors name to all Articles included in the Manual.
"Articles" page (2) has all articles inside the Manual.
Export (3) and Publish (4) pages will be described in "Export & Publish" chapter later in the manual.
How to work with Articles in a Manual?

Go to "Articles" page in a Manual.
Articles are grouped into Chapters. Use contextual menu for Chapter and Article to either add new ones or change
settings for the existing ones.
What is a Draft?
Marking Article as Draft will prevent it from being included in the exported/published document.
Use contextual menu for Article to mark it as Draft.
How to share a Manual?
Export a package to file via "Export to Package..." button in Info tab, and send the saved file to someone. The
person youve sent it can import the package into ones Workspace clicking at "Import..." button in Manuals menu
(see below).
StepShot Team
Quick screen capture
If you are in hurry, and want to make a quick document to share with someone, use Quick screen capture buttons.
By doing that, you will automatically create an Article inside "Articles" menu and the recording will start.
Screen Capture
Recording (1)
Recording options allow you to take the sequence of screenshots without the interruption. Just press one of the
recording types available. And start doing steps that you want to record. After you are done with recording, press
Stop button in the Recording dialog.
Recording Types
Screen recording takes a screenshot of the whole active screen. The active screen is determined by the mouse
position*.
*This is applicable only for a multi-monitor environment.
Window recording captures the active window, i.e. the one that holds the focus. Usually the process you are
recording does not require capturing the full screen images to explain particular workflow details. You can also use
it when you want to save some space. To start active window recording you need to press "Window" in the Screen
capture section.
Region recording allows you to set the recorded region around the cursor, capturing this way only relevant
information. You can also modify the size of the region in the Recording dialog.
Region screenshot allows you to select manually the region you are going to capture. Select region or just point
mouse on top of the desired window, then click on it or press "Enter" key to take a screenshot.
To change capture Settings or Hotkeys, refer to the Introduction article above.
Image Processing
Use Drawing tools to annotate the selected step image with various shapes and lines. Blur out the information you
don't want others to see or use crop tool to show only relevant information on a screenshot.
Tip: double click on a shape to edit text in it.
Copying/Saving an image
Copy (1) a selected step image into the clipboard or save it (2) into a jpeg file.
Replace menu allows you to change the current image with an image in the clipboard, an image file or a new
screenshot.
You can also remove the image for the captured step.
Sharing files
How to share step image with someone?
Screenshots can be shared from the Current image section.

You can either upload a screenshot directly to online services or create a new email with the image attachment. Link
to the uploaded file will be automatically placed into the clipboard. Refer to the Introduction article for more
details on how to add online services.
Note: if you don't have an email client installed on your computer, you won't be able to share screenshots via email.
Export & Publish
Exporting
StepShot Team
StepShot supports the following formats for export: Word, XML-based (HTML, DITA, etc.) and PDF. Each output file is
customizable via templates.
You can easily export Manuals and Articles with StepShot.
How to export a document?
Manual and Article export flows are similar. Just go to "Export" tab in the Manual or the same tab in the opened
Article window (see image below).
You will be able to choose the necessary export file format there. Choose the template (1) and set export settings
such as quality and image size (2). Then export the document (3) to a specific location.
Export settings are the same for all export formats.
Copy file path (1) or open file/destination folder (2) when export is completed.
Export formats
StepShot supports exporting to Word document, XML-based formats as DITA, HTML, etc. and PDF.
It is that simple!
Each export format has the set of the preconfigured templates which can be selected in a dropdown before
exporting.
You can also create your own templates and add them to StepShot. Adding custom templates will be described later
in the manual.
So, choose the template you want your article to look like, set the image quality and size. By the way, last ones have
a tremendous effect on the final document size.
After preconfiguration is done, hit "Export" button and choose the output file location.
Such multiple files formats, as XML, DITA, HTML will create Assets folder with all images and template assets.
How to export images?
Go to "Export As Images" tab to save the necessary images into a specific location.
Publish to Confluence
StepShot Team
Publishing either Article or Manual to Confluence is now really easy with StepShot!
Connecting Confluence portal to StepShot

Configuring Confluence account
To be able to publish documents to your Confluence portal, you have to configure your Confluence instance first.
Since administrative privileges are required for this, ask your support team for a help, if you don't have ones.
So you need to navigate to General configuration menu on Confluence portal.
Then go to "Further Configuration" menu.
Find "Remote API" option and make sure that checkbox is checked. This will allow StepShot to communicate with
the Confluence portal.
Adding Confluence account into StepShot
Set your credentials (1) and (2) to your Confluence portal. You can get "Server Base URL" (3)at "General
Configuration" page in Confluence Admin as shown below.
Pressing "Add account" button will check your credentials, if successful, it will connect StepShot with Confluence
portal and you will be able to publish documents to this account.
Refer to the first step in this article on how to get to General Configuration page in Confluence portal.
Choose Confluence account (1), then select the destination page for your document (2) (dialog is shown below).
Set the output template (3) and output image quality* (4).
*Lower quality will speed up the deploying time to Confluence.
Then hit Publish button (5) and wait till StepShot deploys your document to Confluence.
(Note: the deploying time depends on your internet connection and the final document size).
Selecting destination page where to publish a document
The browse dialog will provide you with all spaces and pages created for your Confluence account. If there is no
applicable page, just create one by right clicking on parent page and choose "New page" option from context menu.
Now, when you have the page where you want to publish the document to, click Ok button (2) in the browse
dialog.
Navigate to the published document
After publishing is finished, copy link (1) and open it in your browser or just click on "Open link" button (2).
Publish to easyDITA
StepShot Team
Publishing either Article or Manual to easyDITA is that easy as well.
Create an account at http://easydita.com.
After the successful registration add easyDITA account to StepShot.

Host name is the project link you get after you have logged into easydita.com. (copy it from browser address field).
For example, http://{projectname}.t4.easydita.com.
Click on "Add account" and StepShot will check your account credentials. If successfully added, you can use your
easyDITA account to publish your documents to it.
Publishing to easyDITA is as easy as publishing to Confluence.

Choose easyDITA account (1), then select the destination file for your document (2) and assets folder (3).
Assets folder contains all images and template assets that go together with the published document.
If you are publishing a Manual, all Chapters and Articles files are deployed to it. These files are referenced by
Manual .dita file.
Setting an assets folder is optional. Leave autogeneration checked for StepShot to automatically create assets folder
for you. Folder name will have "_Assets" suffix following the file name you have selected previously. Note: file
location and assets folder location should be in the same repository.
Set the output template (4) and output image quality* (5).
*Lower quality will speed up the deploying time to easyDITA.
Then hit Publish button (6) and wait till StepShot deploys your document.
Note: the deploying time depends on your internet connection and the final document size.
Selecting file and assets folder destination where to deploy an easyDITA
Selecting file and assets folder destination where to deploy an easyDITA

document to
The browse dialog will show you all repositories that you have in your easyDITA account. Choose the file or folder
that already exists or right click on any item to create a new page or folder.
After publishing is finished, copy link (1) and open it in your browser or just click on "Open link" button (2).
FAQ
How to change the destination to another repository, when file and assets
folder have already been chosen?
Sometimes you need to change the publishing repository after file and assets folder locations have been already
chosen. To do it, check "Autogenerate assets folder" option, change the file location and then uncheck
autogeneration option back and set a new assets folder location.

StepShot Team
It describes how to create your own template that can be used for exporting and publishing your documents.
Overview
What is a template?
The StepShot template system provides different ways for exporting content into the variety of custom formats.
Customizing existing or creating new templates allows you to share your documents in the format of your
company.
Complex templates
If you want to use complex corporate templates, you can contact StepShot representatives to create a customized
export StepShot template based on your requirements.
Getting started
Where are templates located?
The default templates are located in the directory where StepShot is installed. Usually, it is C:\\Program
Files\StepShot_v3\templates.
Note: Do not change these templates. If you want to make a custom one, just copy the necessary template to the
User templates folder.
User templates are located in your PC Documents folder. Go to Start (1) -> Documents (2) -> StepShot ->
Templates.
This is the place for your customized templates.
Template configuration file
Each template has config.xml file, which has all references to the actual template files and template metadata that is
used to export a document.
It can be opened via any text editor (like Notepad). We recommend using Notepad++ since it highlights the syntax
of the file.
Article node (1) is used to configure a template for the export of Articles that are not the part of a Manual.
Manual node (2) is used to configure a template for manual export.
Different export formats have different parameters in the nodes which will be described later.
Creating Word template
To create a custom Word template, go to User templates folder. Create new "Word" folder unless there are some.
Copy one of the Word system templates to the newly created folder.
Go to that copied folder and open config.xml file. Find "name" attribute and change it to another template name.
That value will show up in the list of templates at Word exporting page.
article.docx file is used for exporting Articles that are not the part of a Manual.
manual.docx file is used to export Manuals.
To configure max image size, find "image" tag and change max_width and max_height to the necessary values (e.g.,
in px).
"template" and "preview" have relative paths to templates and preview images.
Replaceable keywords will be replaced with your document metadata during the export:
{ArticleTitle} - article title
{ArticleAuthor} - author name
{ArticleDescription} - article description
There are the following layout keywords in the export document template:
- StartSectionLayout-StartStepLayout: The content between these two layout keywords will be processed by
StepShot and appended to the document at the start of each section. SectionTitle keyword is a replaceable
placeholder keyword. It will be replaced with the real document section title in the output document.
- StartStepLayout-EndSteplayout: The content between these two layout keywords will be processed by StepShot
and appended to the document for each step in the document. StepTitle/StepDescription/StepImage are selfdescriptive.
- EndStepLayout-EndSectionLayout: will be placed at the end of each section.
Customizing the *.docx

The described replaceable layout keywords enable you to create templates of any complexity. Just set the keywords
in the correct place and edit them as you like.
After you have finished editing the template - just restart StepShot and see how your new template automatically
got into the list of available ones. Enjoy!

What is an XML template?
The primary use of XML templates is to create HTML content. However, templates can be customized to create any
type of content that is text-based. You might use it to create a custom template to export to Dita, Markdown or other
formats.
The same template engine works for easyDITA and Confluence templates.
To make an output file XSLT, transformation is used.
article/article.xslt has xslt transformation that is used to generate an output file for an Article;
manualTemplate node has xslt transformation that is used to generate an output file for a Manual;
chapterTemplate node has xslt tranformation that is used to generate an output file for a Chapter [optional];
articleTemplate node - has xslt transformation that is used to generate an output file for an Article [optional];
Look at xml templates provided by StepShot to see how to use this schema in a template.

What is an HTML template?
HTML templates use the same XSLT transformations as XML use.

With an HTML template you can also include assets that will be copied together with the exporting document. Use
"assets" node for that.
Creating PDF template

What is a PDF template?
A PDF template is similar to an HTML template. PDF engine uses xslt files to create html representation of a
document, with further conversion into a PDF file.
Use "cover" attribute to specify xslt template file for the first page of a .pdf document. "toc" is used to generate
Table of Content page that follows the cover page.
"cover" and "toc" attributes are optional.

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StepShot User Guide

It's really that simple. It's StepShot!

Quick info about Articles and Manuals

Tuning up your experience

Managing your export/publish accounts

How to move/copy Article to a Manual?

Understanding Article edit window

Changing Article metadata

Working with Manuals

How to use Manuals?

How to work with Articles in a Manual?

How to share a Manual?

Quick screen capture

Export & Publish

What formats are supported by StepShot?

How to publish to Confluence?

How to create custom template?

Creating Word template

Creating XML-based templates (HTML, DITA etc)

Creating Html templates

What is an HTML template?

Creating PDF template

What is a PDF template?

It's really that simple. It's StepShot!

Understanding StepShot basics

Quick info about Articles and Manuals

Quick info about Articles and Manuals

Article is a document with text and steps documentation.

Multiple Articles can be opened to work on them simultaneously.

Tuning up your experience

Tuning up your experience

How to use Hotkeys?

Add separate screenshots to your workflow using the hotkey combinations.

Managing your export/publish accounts

Managing your export/publish accounts

Working with Articles

How to use Article?

How to move/copy Article to a Manual?

Understanding Article edit window

Understanding Article edit window

Changing Article metadata

currently edited Article.

Saving Article into another location

Article Export & Publish

Working with Manuals

Working with Manuals

How to use Manuals?

"Info" page has all metadata info for a Manual.

How to work with Articles in a Manual?

How to share a Manual?

Quick screen capture

Tip: double click on a shape to edit text in it.

How to replace an image for the captured step?

How to replace an image for the captured step?

Screenshots can be shared from the Current image section.

Export & Publish

How to export a document?

How to export images?

Connecting Confluence portal to StepShot

Then go to "Further Configuration" menu.

Adding Confluence account into StepShot

How to publish to Confluence?

How to publish to Confluence?