ScreenSteps

Crazy old fashioned app with a crazy pricing.

A MONTH? So Clarify still must be the preferred version for lighter / intermittent users?

Warning for all previous users of ScreenSteps 2.9: I just got a mail from the developers of ScreenSteps and Clarify. They say, Clarify 2 was the upgrade path for both Clarify 1 customers as well as ScreenSteps 2 users. As good Clarify 2 may be, its features are far behind from the features offered by ScreenSteps 2.9. So actually, Clarify 2 is a downgrade path for all loyal users of ScreenSteps 2.9. Furthermore, I found no possibility to import lessions of ScreenSteps 2 – so all lessions I made before are lost. Unfortunately, ScreenSteps 3 is a cloud based service with monthly costs of at least 29 $. If I had known that I would never have bought ScreenSteps 2! Now I'm stuck with ScreenSteps 2. As neither Clarify 2 nor ScreenSteps 3 are acceptable upgrade paths for me, I will have to look for a replacement of ScreenSteps 2. Perhaps anybody has any suggestions?

So sad good apps migrate to cloud based only services. I don't want my data to be stored on any additional 3rd party server especially if it may contain private or customer data. I won't give an application even a try if it can only be used in the cloud - or you have to sign up for a service. This happened to the great "Billings" app so I had to look for a replacement. The same is true for the beloved Screensteps. For me it was the best documentation tool available on the mac. But cloud based means it is dead for me. I have to look for a replacement but as far as I can see there isn't a real competitor on the market so far.

ScreenSteps has certain great advantages that make it worthy of consideration. I can output manuals to a variety of well designed outputs including pdf and html. It integrates with Zendesk which is very important to me. Also, it is cross platform which is very important if your are documenting a product runs on both Mac and Windows. It is very effective and easy to use when it comes to snapping screen shots which are automatically added as steps to an open lesson. This is a very quick and easy process that is seamlessly integrated into the process of using an application while you document it. At the end of a documentation session you are left with a lesson full of screen steps that can be nicely annotated and described with minimal text to produce a clear tutorial that teaches the end user well. Unfortunately, this is where things fall apart. It is extremely time consuming and tedious to reorganize steps into multiple small hyperlinked lessons All the time you save by creating steps easily is completely lost in the editing process. The editing interface is anti-productive. The standard system clipboard is not supported so there is no way to collect steps and improve efficiency using scrapbooks or multi-clipboards. There is no way to handle multiple steps so each step must be individually moved from lesson to lesson in a tedious multi-step process that wastes time and energy. In the end, the process of producing documentation becomes as frustrating and time consuming as it would be without the program. Because this program integrates with Zendesk I will continue to use it but only as a publishing tool. I will develop and organize all the content of my manual with other screen snap tools such as Little Snapper, Skitch and Voila and then move them into ScreenSteps as a final step. If you don't need multi platform or zendesk integration you are much better off with MacSnapper. If the time comes that the developer gets a productive editing interface in place, ScreenSteps could become the best product in the category of documentation development, but until then it is punishing experience to use this product.

Thanks for 10.4 Tiger support.

There are times when I have struck my forehead and said to myself "Why on earth didn't I try this before". Using ScreenSteps for the first time, I nearly knocked myself out! This program is easy to use, clean and uncluttered, does what it says on the box and produces excellent results.There is also a very excellent and easy to navigate Online Manual accessible from the application.(The screen casts are also useful.) No doubt as my experience with the program grows, there may be times when I will need to ask the developer questions, but I've got this feeling that this one developer who is going to respond quickly - He has got to have pride in producing such an elegant program. My money will be in the post soon but for now, Five Stars.

got to be 1 of neatest mac tools some one made in recent times!! still using demo now but plan to buy soon to use for school. great job screensteps developer. I love it & very useful like I said I didn't buy yet,still in demo mode so can't say how stable er any thing yet but so far its caused no crashes or problems. also like developers' frequent upgrades that I've seen on MACUPDATE lots because they do add new additions to it so its not just for advertising like some programs look to do on here so their programs show on main MACUPDATE web site page. over-all I like it very much & does what it says it does. can't wait until I use it for next semester class. 5 big stars from me

How about some heads up the the new version (2) won't work with 1.1x licenses - particularly the ones bought here on MacUpdate in late July 07? If one copies the download here onto his/her hard drive, it will overwrite the version 1 copy. There doesn't seem to be any link on the BlueMango web to get the version 1 app. Furthermore - three versions for 2? Yuck! This app has been very useful to me in the past, but with upgrade practices like this, I have to question whether I will support this developer any further. I would have been more than willing to PAY for the upgrade had the developer been forthcoming about upgrade fees. And I have to agree that the new interface is worse than the old one.

Please return the GUI to the way it was in version 1. It was sooo elegant!

Be sure to check out the developer's instructional video. It gives you a great feeling for the utility and ease of use of this program.

As someone who develops instructional material, this seems like an interesting app. I am wondering how much time it would save me over just taking regular screen caps in OSX.

This looks interesting. Is anyone here using it on a regular basis?

let's get creative! besides lessons...what else could we use this for? ?

Definately want to pick it up at this price.

Jerry Keller writes: This should really make instruction manuals simple to organize. Looking forward to using it!

As the designated "Help Desk" for all my friends and family this should be a big help. Like that it's cross-platform.

On OS X, I can't seem to find a way to directly capture an entry in an application menu. This would be frequently used for creating training materials. Am I missing something?

This is just what I've been looking for. I've been doing the cut-n-paste routine for too long!

Curious to know from experienced users how it compares with SnapZ Pro, Camtasia, or SnagIt?