How to Make a Software Tutorial Video (Screen Recording)

Prepare the screen

• Use a demo account with realistic but fake data. Never record real customer data.
• Turn off notifications, close other apps and tabs, and hide bookmarks bars.
• Set a sensible window size. A smaller browser window with larger zoom is easier to read on a phone than a huge monitor recorded at full size.
• Make the cursor visible: a slightly larger pointer or a click highlight helps viewers follow.

Record one task at a time

Script the clicks first: write each action as a line ("Click Settings, then Team"). Move the mouse slowly and deliberately, pause on each button before clicking, and do not wander around the screen while you talk. If you make a mistake, pause, go back to the start of the step and continue; you will cut it later.

Narrate separately

Talking and clicking at the same time produces "umm, where is it, there it is". Record the screen first, edit it, then record the voice over the finished picture using your script. It is quicker overall and sounds far more confident.

Edit for readability

• Zoom in on the area of each click; most viewers watch software tutorials in a small window or on a phone.
• Cut loading times and typing of long text.
• Add a label for each step, matching the words in the software's interface exactly.
• Blur anything personal you missed.

Keep it current

Software changes faster than any other product. Note the version and date in the description, keep tutorials short so a changed screen only breaks one video, and review them after every major release. When a button is renamed, a two-minute video is cheap to redo; a twenty-minute one is not.

Screen recordings are the right tool for software. For a short film that explains what your software is for, rather than which buttons to press, a brand film such as those nine.film makes from your website can sit on the home page, with the tutorials in your help centre.