We are excited to announce an integration with our new partner Parature. Parature is a global leader in web-based customer service software. Now you can use ScreenSteps to quickly create knowledge base articles in Parature.

This means that Parature customers can now create knowledge base articles that do more showing then telling. And with ScreenSteps ability to quickly update articles you’ve created you can make sure those articles stay up-to-date.

You can learn how to configure a Parature web export account in ScreenSteps in our manual.

Instantly Edit Lessons and Manuals From ScreenSteps Live

This update also makes ScreenSteps Live customers more efficient. ScreenSteps Live now provides links that will open the lesson or manual that you are viewing right in ScreenSteps Desktop for editing. This makes it a snap to make a quick change without having to go searching for the content in ScreenSteps Desktop.

Workgroup Templates

Many companies now know that ScreenSteps Workgroup is a great solution for collaborating on ScreenSteps content. One problem that many of our customers face, however, is the ability to share a common PDF, Word or HTML template across the organization. In version 2.9.1 you can now add templates to the Workgroup Resource folder and they will be available in any ScreenSteps Desktop clients that are connected.

To learn how to make templates available to all desktop clients please refer to our manual.

ScreenSteps.me is Now Clarify-it.com

If you haven’t already heard, we have been hard at work on a new product named Clarify. Clarify is based on the same concepts as ScreenSteps but is focused on your daily communications. It aims to make those communications faster to create and easier to understand.

With the introduction of Clarify we are renaming the ScreenSteps.me web service to Clarify-it.com. The service remains free for entry level accounts so ScreenSteps customers can continue to post lessons without any changes aside from the branding.

For more information on Clarify please visit the Clarify website. If you would like to read about the differences between Clarify and ScreenSteps we have prepared an article in the manual.

ScreenSteps 2.9.1 is a free update for version 2 license holders.

Visit the ScreenSteps downloads page to get the update. If you would like to purchase ScreenSteps please visit our online store.

This beta also includes some improvements for working with ScreenSteps Workgroup connection files. You can read the full release notes here:

ScreenSteps 2.9.1 beta release notes

If you would like to download the beta you can download it here:

• ScreenSteps 2.9.1 beta Windows
• ScreenSteps 2.9.1 beta Mac

Let us know what you think of the new integration.

Free eBook: 5 Keys to Successful Documentation

Learn how to get better results out of your software documentation:

Download our free eBook »

Bulleted/Numbered Lists

You can now easily add bulleted and numbered lists to your ScreenSteps lessons. It has been our most requested feature and we are thrilled to be able to finally deliver it to you.

Native Max OS X Key Bindings

Option-arrow now moves the cursor one word at a time and Command-arrow moves to the end of the line on Mac. All of the other standard Mac key bindings are included as well.

Code Block Formatting

If you need to insert some form of code into your lessons (for example if you are explaining how to use some PHP or JavaScript code) you can now apply code formatting to the text.

PDF Improvements

PDF templates can now use a wide variety of fonts and support all of the languages that are supported in the ScreenSteps editor. In addition you can now add borders to your images in PDF templates.

Web Export/ScreenSteps Live Improvements

We have also done a lot of work on web exporting including improvements to Google Docs and Zendesk output. We have also improved the integration with ScreenSteps Live, allowing you to import multiple lessons at a time from ScreenSteps Live.

Auto Updates

You can now have ScreenSteps automatically check for updates.

We hope you like the update. For those who would like all of the details you can read the full release note here or you can just download ScreenSteps 2.9 right now!

Free eBook: 5 Keys to Successful Documentation

Learn how to get better results out of your software documentation:

Download our free eBook »

We have heard from some Zendesk users though who just want to use ScreenSteps Desktop to upload content to the built-in Zendesk forums. We are happy to announce that, as of ScreenSteps 2.8.7 (currently in beta), that is now possible.

But not only can you create forum topics using ScreenSteps Pro, you can also respond to forum topics using ScreenSteps Pro.

Check out the video below for an example. We think that you will agree that it sure beats uploading images in a web based WYSIWYG editor.

If you are a Zendesk user then try it for yourself.

Download the ScreenSteps 2.8.7 Beta

• ScreenSteps Pro + Zendesk Documentation

In the old days (meaning yesterday) if you wanted to publish a ScreenSteps document to MindTouch you had to create a completely new page in your wiki or update a page you had previously created using ScreenSteps.

Not anymore. You can now insert ScreenSteps content into any existing MindTouch page. We think this is a big deal and we think that our MindTouch users are going to love it.

To celebrate this update and the MindTouch 2010 release we are offering a 30% off discount to all MindTouch customers (or anyone who can spell MINDTOUCH). But it’s hot here in Virginia so this sale is going to melt.

Here is how it works. Use the coupon code before Wednesday, July 28th and get 30% off. Use it on Thursday and get 20% off. Use it on Friday and get 10% off. Use it on Saturday and see our online store say, “I have no idea where you got that coupon code from because it isn’t worth anything.”

So, if you want to create some great documentation in MindTouch download the latest version of ScreenSteps. And if you need to add some more licenses to your team, use the coupon code MINDTOUCH to get a great discount.

Purchase ScreenSteps Desktop Pro

Download ScreenSteps Desktop 2.8.5

Read the documentation on updated MindTouch integration

Revamped UI

Our major focus with version 2.8 was revamping the UI. We felt there were a number of areas that needed to be cleaned up in order to make the UI cleaner and more enjoyable to author in. We really like how it turned out. We hope you do too.

Linking To Lessons Is Fun To Do

The URL dialog received a lot of attention in version 2.8. It is now the Link dialog and sports a couple of new options. For starters you can now specify that a link should open in a new browser window when the lesson is exported in HTML format (HTML, Blog/Web or ScreenSteps Live).

The big new feature, however, is that you can now easily link between lessons in the same manual. When editing a lesson that is part of a manual the new Manual Lesson tab allows you to select other lessons in the manual to link to.

Links between lessons are preserved when you export a manual to any format – Word, PDF, HTML or ScreenSteps Live.

Enhancements and Bug Fixes

Version 2.8 contains over 40 enhancements, changes and bug fixes. We always try to make little changes here and there that improve the program but aren’t necessary newsworthy. Getting known bugs fixed so they don’t interfere with your work is always a major focus as well.

You can read all about what is new in this version by reading the release notes.

Download

Version 2.8 is a free upgrade for 2.x customers.

You can download version 2.8 from the downloads section of our website:

http://www.bluemangolearning.com/screensteps/downloads/

• The tag widget for a lesson now expands to show all tags.
• Holding down the Option key (Mac) or Alt key (Windows) when exporting a lesson or manual to PDF or DOCX will open the file in the default application rather than revealing the file.
• You can now customize the “Table of Contents” bookmark label for PDF templates.
• ScreenSteps now looks for a preference file alongside the application when launching. This allows you to store ScreenSteps and your registration/pref info on a USB drive.
• Links are no longer carried over to the next line when adding a carriage return to lesson description/step instructions.
• Updating a lesson on WordPress now overwrites existing images rather than making new ones (you will need to upload your lesson at least once with 2.8 for this to work).

This build of the beta has the final revision of the UI. At this point we are preparing for release and will be focusing on any bug reports we get. Test away!

Download the ScreenSteps 2.8 Beta

Check out the following screencast showing how it works. To configure ScreenSteps, check out the instructions showing how to configure ScreenSteps to post to Squarespace.

Today the ScreenSteps 2.8 Public Beta is available for download. The primary focus of this release will be graphical changes to the user interface. As with any graphical change the aim is to make the software look better. It is more important, however, that the graphical changes improve how we interact with the software. We feel the UI changes in 2.8 do just that. Here is what the new UI looks like:

As you can see we have darkened the colors used in the toolbar, the left column and the footer. This helps focus the eye on the content that is being written. We have also reworked the lesson editing UI to improve object alignment and spacing. We think the writing process is much more enjoyable now.

Download the ScreenSteps 2.8 Beta

During the ScreenSteps 2.8 beta testing period we hope to get feedback from our customers on the new look. The big question is this: Does the new UI improve your experience when working with ScreenSteps?

Let us know.

Our purpose in redesigning the UI is to make it easier for you to focus on the content you are working on. We also wanted to tidy up the arrangement of things to give the application a better visual flow.

This is what we have so far and would love to hear your feedback. The new UI will be available in the 2.8 update which will be free to all 2.x license owners.

Lesson Library

Manuals View

Lesson Editing

On one hand a new platform adds new support issues and while we use Linux on some of our servers we don’t use Linux on the desktop at all.

On the other hand companies that have to train employees that they migrate to Linux definitely had a need for a program like ScreenSteps.

Last week Greg and I decided that we were going to determine whether or not a Linux version of ScreenSteps made sense. Thanks to VMWare Fusion, an Ubuntu image from VM Planet and Revolution (our development environment) we now have a build of ScreenSteps that runs on Linux.

So today we are announcing the “Experimental ScreenSteps for Linux Beta”. What is the “Experimental ScreenSteps for Linux Beta” you ask? It is a version of ScreenSteps that (mostly) works on Linux but with no guarantee that we will ever release a final version. Our goal with this release is to gauge interest in a Linux version, see if ScreenSteps works reasonably well on the different flavors of Linux out there, and get feedback from Linux users.

We invite you to download ScreenSteps, test it out and email us any feedback you have concerning problems you experienced or successes you had. You can download the ScreenSteps executable and accompanying readme file at the following url. Note that you need to have ImageMagick installed for screencapture to work. See the accompanying readme file for additional details and installation instructions.

http://www.bluemangolearning.com/download/screensteps/2_0/beta/screensteps.tar.gz

If you would like to learn more about what ScreenSteps is you can get more information here.

We regularly add to our documentation to help our customers out. But we don’t always do a good job of letting people know about new lessons that are available.

From here on out we are going to post a list of newly created ScreenSteps lessons every couple of weeks just so you are aware what is out there. Maybe one will pop up that could be of use to you.

ScreenSteps Lessons Created in January

• How to Add Whatever Font You Want to Your HTML Template
• How Do I Make The Image Appear To the Left of the Text in an HTML Template?
• Installing/Sharing Templates
• Enabling Remote API (Joomla)
• Hiding Attachments in Google Sites
• Configuring ScreenSteps For Google Sites
• Posting To Google Sites
• Configuring Movable Type Plugin (Joomla)

If you have any lessons you would like us to add please just let us know in the comments below.

Publish to Blogger and Google Sites

Blogger support has been a big request for awhile so we are happy to announce you can now publish your ScreenSteps lessons to your Blogger blog (Standard and Pro versions). You can also now publish to Google Sites (Pro only).

Here are some lessons that will help get you started:

• Configuring ScreenSteps to Upload to Blogger
• Working with ScreenSteps Desktop and Google Sites

New Joomla Integration Manual

In one of our recent webinars we received another request for Joomla integration. After poking around on the internet for a few minutes we found a nice Joomla plugin that adds support for creating content using one of the methods already supported by ScreenSteps. As a result we have some new lessons that will show you how to easily integrate ScreenSteps with Joomla.

• Integrating ScreenSteps with Joomla

We hope that you enjoy the new export options. You can download the latest version of ScreenSteps here.

What a great service. Posterous has removed all of the unnecessary steps from posting to your blog. I’m going to be experimenting with it more over the coming weeks but here is my first post showing how to make my favorite hot chocolate (tutorial made with ScreenSteps).

It turns out that ScreenSteps makes creating screen capture based tutorials in Posterous really easy. Here is a screencast showing how to integrate ScreenSteps and Posterous using the new copy to clipboard feature in ScreenSteps 2.7.