Hat help authoring tools

You can also merge projects for working on translations or bringing in technical writers. Best for : Dr. Explain is useful for software development companies that need an affordable solution, whether freelancers, studios, or larger companies. For those who need to explain and create help documentation for their software, Dr. Explain could be a good fit. Do you have a multinational team or customer base? Then this help authoring software might be of interest.

It also supports various font faces, including Unicode, which makes it possible to create help documentation in, for example, Arabic or Chinese languages. Best for : ClickHelp is for teams who need a robust help authoring software but want to skip the complexities. This cloud-hosted solution boasts support for rich topic content, such as quizzes, videos, and survey forms. Apart from single-source authoring, you can also reuse content across different projects.

One handy feature is the conditional content ability to tag content for different users, meaning that you can save the more advanced help content for developers.

The tool also features convenient tools for external content creation and content review. The version control system makes it possible to work offline or edit remotely. The system checks out the topics as they are added and then adds them back in and compares them with the previous version when you finish editing.

Best for: Confluence is built for sharing your public and internal technical documentation. You also have the option of purchasing third-party apps and custom themes for extra features. Confluence is particularly attractive for teams who want a solution that integrates well with other tools. Depending on your needs, you can choose to host the software yourself or go for a cloud-based solution. While Confluence is a reliable option, it may be too advanced for smaller teams looking for a simple help authoring tool.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:. Many of the dedicated help authoring solutions focus on one thing: customer support. However, Helpjuice offers a powerful knowledge base that can do much more — it is a complete knowledge management solution. Try us out for free for 14 days. Return To Blog. Written by: David Oragui Published: June 16 In this post, we'll discuss: What a help authoring tool is Why you should consider using help authoring tools The best help authoring solutions Some simple tips to get you started with creating useful help documents What Is Help Authoring Software?

Some of the basic features you can expect from any help authoring tool include: Adding a source text that you can compile into different formats, called single-source authoring Import and export help documentation Editing text, code, or data Managing indexes, tables of contents, or images Adding multiple authors to collaborate on the same text Customizing the interface, so it fits your brand A few tools offer more advanced features, such as customization, increased security functions, and analytics tools.

Why Use Help Authoring Software? There are several advantages to using help authoring tools. You can: Save time with single-source and topic-based authoring. Write a text once, then compile it into different formats from the same source. Easy to write, easy to edit, easy to update. Collaborate on documents. Let the team write, comment, and edit together in one document to get the best customer support material possible. No more wasting time searching for the latest document version or trying to gather scattered comments into one document.

Go multi-language. Serving customers in multiple languages can quickly turn into a headache. The right help authoring tool makes it easy to switch to the correct language — both for your team and for your customers. Skip excessive coding. No need to build and maintain a platform from scratch — instead, use a tool that already has all the features you need. Improve your SEO. Your customers might turn to Google before they go to your website. We all know how Google loves well-structured, interlinked, keyword-rich content, so your help documentation will rank highly.

A help authoring software helps you establish a content hierarchy with indexes or tables of contents, link related content, and expand on popular topics. Highlights : Google-like search help customers find the right answer, quickly Interactive questions guide customers to a tailored solution — for example, based on the product model or software version.

Source The interface is minimalistic and allows you to switch views between author, code, and preview. Source A library of templates speeds up content creation. Highlights : Project-wide media libraries Advanced table of contents editor Automation of repetitive tasks with the script editor HTML5-based websites or online help documents Automatic check for broken or misspelled links in the documentation Paligo Best for : The cloud-based Paligo brands itself as a heavy RoboHelp and Madcap competitor.

Highlights : XML- and topic-based authoring Authoring, versioning, and content management functions Topic-based reuse of content Workflow tools for reviewing drafts, translations, and comments Single-sourcing of content into Salesforce HelpSmith Best for : HelpSmith is excellent for those who want an easy-to-use tool that produces simple help web pages and documents.

Source The single media repository for media, such as images and videos, makes it easy to use files in several different projects. Explain Best for : Dr. Source Do you have a multinational team or customer base? Source One handy feature is the conditional content ability to tag content for different users, meaning that you can save the more advanced help content for developers.

Source The version control system makes it possible to work offline or edit remotely. You save money on customer support costs and can scale your business more effectively. In order to host the best documentation possible, you need to choose the right Help Authoring Tool.

A Help Authoring Tool is a content management system that enables you to create, manage, and distribute help documentation. Usually, the features available include:. Document is more than a help authoring tool that allows you to quickly and easily create help documentation, product documentation, instruction manuals, user manuals , and FAQs.

As soon as you sign up for an account the user-friendly interface lets you get started straight away. What really sets Document apart are its multilingual opportunities for you to create a knowledge base content to support your customers with AI machine translation. Offer your help documentation in multiple languages for your global customer base.

Document is more than just a knowledge base tool. It integrates seamlessly with your other favourite apps, including help desks like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and chatbots like Intercom, LiveChat, and more.

You can check them out here. An intuitive knowledge base software to easily add your content and integrate it with any application. Give Document a try! ClickHelp is a fully functioning Help Authoring Tool that runs in the browser with no installation required. You can author help content from a single portal and collaborate easily with teammates. This software is a central place to manage all your technical content and create internal and external guides, multi-version software user manuals, FAQs, Knowledge Bases, Tutorials, API Docs, and more.

ClickHelp offers dynamic content support for single-sourcing — snippets, variables, and conditional blocks allow you to reuse your content across the documentation, saving untold amounts of time and effort.

Flare is aimed at content reuse and multi-channel publishing to make sure you get the most out of your documentation. The power of MadCap Flare lies in its ability to publish content to a range of mediums including web, print, desktop and mobile. What marks RoboHelp out as a serious HAT is the ability to export documentation easily and have different versions of your user manuals.

Again, RoboHelp is not an easy tool to learn. Its wide variety of features mean RoboHelp requires a good deal of time getting familiar with the software before you can produce your documentation. RoboHelp offers intelligent content reuse so you can use global snippets to make changes once and have them reused in multiple places.

Blend content from different sources and create snippets within existing snippets for even more versatility. Paligo is a Component Content Management System CCMS that enables you to author technical documentation, policies and procedures, knowledge management, and more. What sets Paligo apart is having every tool you might need for the authoring process all in one tool. This Help Authoring Tool uses an XML source format to ensure proper structure, consistency and flexibility when authoring your content.

Paligo is another topic-based authoring tool with smart content reuse that allows you to release your documentation in a fraction of the usual time.