Tasks
How to record a software tutorial
The difference between a tutorial that helps and one that frustrates is mostly preparation, not production quality.
Tidy the screen first
Close unrelated tabs, silence notifications, and clear anything personal from the screen. Recording a tab rather than a whole screen removes most of this problem at a stroke.
Zoom in
Text that is comfortable on your monitor is often unreadable in a video played in a small window. Increase the zoom level before recording, not after.
Slow the mouse down
Move deliberately and pause on each click. Viewers cannot follow a cursor that jumps.
Use pause instead of stop
Pause while you find the next thing, then resume. The result is one continuous file with the dead air removed, and no editing afterwards.
Read next
- How to record your screen with sound
The two different kinds of audio in a screen recording, and which browsers can capture each.
- How to record your screen and webcam together
Add a camera overlay to a screen recording, and how it is combined into one file.
- How to record a single browser tab
Tab recording, which is the cleanest option and the only one that reliably captures audio.