Most manuals start as a recording. You press record, do the job the way you always do it, and press stop. Sopycat watches what you click and type, then turns it into numbered steps with a picture for each one.
Before you start
- Sopycat records the whole screen. Close or hide anything you don't want in the pictures, such as email, chat or other customers' records.
- Open the program you are about to use, and get it to the place where the task begins.
- If you want to talk while you work, check your microphone is plugged in. See Record your voice.
- Think about passwords. Anything you type is written into the manual. See What if I type a password? below.
Start a recording
Sidebar › Record a task
You can also press Record a task at the top of the Library, or press Ctrl+K and choose Record a task.
- Click the purple Record a task button at the top of the sidebar.
- Under What are you about to do?, type a short title, for example "Issue a refund in QuickBooks". This is optional. If you leave it empty, the manual starts as "New recording" and Sopycat names it for you when it writes the steps.
- If you have more than one screen, choose one under Which screen will you use? Your main screen is marked.
- Tick Record my voice too if you want to talk through the task.
- Click Start recording.
- Sopycat's window gets out of the way and a small black bar appears at the top of the screen. A 3, 2, 1 countdown plays first. Click the number if you want to start straight away.
- Do the task.
- Click Stop on the bar, or press Ctrl+F9.
Clicks during the countdown are not recorded. You can turn the countdown off in Settings › Buttons while recording › Count down 3, 2, 1 before the recording starts.
While you record
- Pause for a moment after each click. This gives Sopycat a clear picture of what happened. Rushing is the most common reason for a wrong or unclear picture.
- Otherwise, work normally. You don't need to explain anything or go slowly.
- Type the way you normally would. Typing becomes one step when you stop typing for about a second and a half.
- Keys count too. Enter, Tab, Esc and shortcuts like Ctrl+S are noted.
Sopycat keeps a video of the screen and a note of every click (left, right and double), what you type, the keys above, and scrolling. For each click it asks Windows what you clicked, and reads the screen when a program doesn't say. That is how steps get names like "Click Save". See How steps get their names.
The recording bar
The black bar is never in the recording, and clicks on it are not recorded. From left to right it has:
| Part of the bar | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dots on the left | Drag here to move the bar. |
| Red dot and timer | Shows you are recording and for how long. The dot is amber during the countdown. |
| Marks counter | How many spots you have marked, for example "no marks" or "1 mark". |
| Live caption | The name the manual will give the last thing you did. Handy for spotting a wrong name early. |
| Microphone | Shows whether your voice is being recorded, if you turned that on. |
| Mark this spot | Makes a step at this moment, even without a click. It flashes green. Shortcut Ctrl+F8. |
| Arrow | Moves the bar to the bottom of the screen, or back to the top. |
| Start over | Throws away what you have so far and starts again. |
| × | Throws the recording away. |
| Stop | Ends the recording and saves it. Shortcut Ctrl+F9. |
Mark a spot without clicking
Sometimes the important moment isn't a click, for example a screen you want people to look at. Press Ctrl+F8 or click Mark this spot on the bar. Sopycat makes a step there called "Note this step" with a picture of the screen. Rename it and add your own words afterwards.
Start over or throw it away
Both buttons ask twice, so you can't lose a recording with one stray click.
- Start over: click it once and it asks "Start over?". Click again within a few seconds to restart from nothing.
- Throw it away: click × once and it asks "Throw away?". Click again to delete the recording. If this was a new manual, its empty entry in the Library is removed too.
Stop a recording
Click Stop on the bar or press Ctrl+F9. The stop key works from any program. The bar shows "Saving…" and Sopycat's window comes back.
Always finish with the Stop button or the stop key. If the bar is closed some other way, the recording ends without being saved and Sopycat says "Recording window closed".
What happens after you stop
The manual opens and shows Writing your manual with a progress bar. Sopycat finds the steps, names what you clicked, writes a sentence for each step and makes the pictures with a highlight box and a step number. This usually takes a minute or two. You can leave the page and keep working while it finishes. If you chose smarter writing on this computer, it takes longer. See Choose how the words get written.
When it's done, the manual gets a label with the name of the program you recorded in. If you are in another program, Windows shows a "Manual ready" notice. If you recorded your voice, Sopycat then makes a tutorial video and tells you when it is ready.
If something goes wrong, the manual shows Something went wrong with Try again and Delete, and it appears under Needs attention in the Library. If you see "No steps were found in this recording", record again and pause a moment after each click.
Next, check the steps and tidy them up. See Edit a manual.
Add more steps to a manual you already have
Library › open a manual › More options (⋯) › Record more steps…
- Open the manual and choose More options (⋯) › Record more steps…. You can also use the Record more steps button at the end of the steps.
- Under Where should the new steps go?, choose a place, for example Before step 1 or after a particular step.
- Click Start recording more steps, do that part of the task and stop as usual.
To add steps at one exact place, open that step's ⋯ menu and choose Add a step after this › Record more steps here…. You can't record into a manual while it is still being written.
Change the stop and mark keys
Settings › Buttons while recording
The stop key is Ctrl+F9 and the mark key is Ctrl+F8. To change them, type a new key in Stop recording or Mark this spot, written like Ctrl+F9 or Alt+F10. If a key isn't valid, you get no shortcut for it, so check it before you record. The same section has Tell me when a manual or its video is ready, which turns the Windows notices on or off. For every shortcut in the app, see Keyboard shortcuts.
Common questions
Can I pause a recording?
No. There is no pause button. If you need a break, stop the recording. When you are ready, add the rest with Record more steps. If you only need a few seconds, you can simply wait, but the screen keeps recording the whole time.
Can I record just one window or part of the screen?
No. Sopycat records whole screens only. If you have two screens, you choose which one. Hide anything private before you start, and blur anything that slips in afterwards. See Blur something private.
What if I type a password?
Password boxes are hidden automatically. The step says "Enter the Password" and never shows what you typed. Other typing is written into the manual, so if you type something private in an ordinary box, it will show up. To stop Sopycat writing down anything you type, turn off Settings › Buttons while recording › Write down what I type. The same section has Blur personal details in the pictures automatically. See Blur personal details automatically.
Can I record two tasks at once?
No. You can make one recording at a time.
The bar is covering something I need to click
Drag it by the dots on its left, or click the arrow to send it to the bottom of the screen. The bar never appears in the pictures.
Does it work on a Mac?
No. Sopycat is a Windows app.
Still stuck? See Fixing problems.
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