User Guide Template
![ClickHelp Team](https://clickhelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ClickHelp-Logo-Logo-only-Full-color-no-space@2x.png)
When you are starting a new documentation project, you might be looking for guidance. So, in this post, you will find a user manual template that works best for software documentation. The provided guidelines can be applied to other types of user manuals, as well. Without further ado, a software user manual template you can follow through to produce a high-quality technical document from scratch.
This is where you provide readers with basic info about the product and also let them know what they can expect from this user manual. Here are some ideas of what can be added here:
User manuals can be a great adoption tool. So, make sure to include tutorials to your documentation. It can be organized as one long tutorial divided into logical parts. Try using as many visuals for this section as possible – new users need a visual reference since they are working with a completely new interface. What you might consider obvious can be totally unknown for them. Tutorials with text and images work great, but if you have the resources, consider adding training videos to provide additional training options.
The main section is going to contain a lot of help topics. This is your bread and butter. It should describe all major features of the tool in question. Approach creation of this section with due care – you can’t pile it up with help topics, you need to build a solid backbone structure first. So, you should sort product features and unite them into bigger groups. Don’t go too crazy about it though – when the TOC hierarchy gets too deep (deeper than 4 levels), it becomes very confusing to navigate. Check out some tips on how to organize your TOC. Here’s how a feature help topic can look:
An FAQ section is a great case-deflection tool. It can’t replace a thoroughly-written help topic, but it can help you cover a lot of simple questions that come up in support tickets or on product demos. You can add it to the main section, or turn into a standalone parent node. If you would like to learn more about creating great FAQ sections, check out this post – How to Create FAQ and Knowledge Base in ClickHelp.
You won’t find two identical user manuals. If different teams of tech writers were to create documentation for the same product, it would be different. However, the guidelines listed above should help you develop a robust mock-up for the project you are working on that you can further develop into a great user manual.
Good luck with your technical writing!
ClickHelp Team
Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices
Get monthly digest on technical writing, UX and web design, overviews of useful free resources and much more.
"*" indicates required fields