Turn a Step-by-Step Guide into a Narrated Video

How do I turn a guide into a narrated video with captions?

The video is made from the guide, not from a separate screen recording. That is why the order of work matters: get the guide right first, then make the video.

Record the task once. Start the Izly extension in Chrome, do the task at a normal pace and finish. Every click and typed text becomes a step with a screenshot. Passwords are never recorded.
Tidy the steps. Edit the step texts, delete a wrong click, merge two small steps, reorder, add a tip or a warning, crop an image and move the marker.
Cover private data. Draw boxes over anything that should not be seen. Covered pixels are removed on the server, not just hidden.
Press Create video on the guide and choose the video language, English or Turkish. If the guide is in the other language, see the translation section below.
Wait a few minutes, then open My videos. The finished video has a voice-over and captions. Watch it to the end, or download it as an MP4 file.
Share it next to the guide. Many people read the steps, others prefer to listen, so keep both from the same recording.

What does a finished example look like?

Take the public practice form, a customer request form with Full name, E-mail, Phone, City (a dropdown), Request type (three radio buttons: Quote, Support, Other), a newsletter checkbox and a Note. Recording it once gives a guide with a step for each field, one for Submit and one for the confirmation page. Nothing typed on that page is stored.

Three steps of the practice form guide, as recorded and as rewritten for the video
Step	As recorded	Rewritten
3	Click Phone	Click the Phone field and type your number with the country code
5	Click Request type	Choose the request type that fits and tell us what you need
9	Click Submit	Click Submit. A confirmation page lists what was sent, with a reference number

The rewritten text is what the video shows and speaks. The recorded wording stays out of the video, so a new colleague hears a full instruction instead of a bare click.

Which language will the voice speak?

You pick it when you create the video. The voice speaks English or Turkish, and the captions come in the same language as the voice.

You can write the step texts in any language, but the voice and the captions are only English or Turkish. If your team works in German or Spanish, the video is not the right tool, and a PDF or a link to the written guide is the better hand-out. The voice is synthetic, not a recording of a person.

How do I translate a tutorial video into another language?

Izly translates between Turkish and English, so an English guide can become a Turkish video, and a Turkish guide can become an English video. The translation is automatic. It covers the step texts; interface labels and typed values stay as they are.

Open the finished guide, written in English or Turkish.
Press Create video and pick the other language as the video language.
Create the video. The voice and the captions are in the language you picked.
Before you publish it, have a speaker of that language watch it. The voice is synthetic and the translation is automatic, so a wrong word is possible.

A typical case is an English support team that has to train a Turkish branch, or the other way round. One recording gives the English hand-out and the Turkish video. For a second video of the same guide in the first language, create it again and pick that language. The allowance counts guides, not files, so a second language of the same guide does not use another one. A video in a third language is not possible.

How do I write a step so it is shown and spoken as written?

If you rewrite a step in the editor, the video shows and speaks your version as you wrote it. If you leave a step as recorded, the video uses the recorded wording. Rewrite the steps you care about and the rest can stay. When the video is in the other language, the step texts are translated.

Say one thing per step. A voice that reads three actions in a row loses the listener.
Spell out what is on the screen. "Click Save" is better than "Click here".
Say where to find a number, not the number. If a reference number matters, tell the listener where to look instead of reading it out.
Put warnings in a warning block. The reader sees it highlighted, and the listener hears it at the right moment.
Keep each step short. A step that fits in one breath sounds natural.

Is a narrated guide video better than a screen recording?

They solve different problems. A narrated guide video is built from steps, so it stays short and matches the written guide. A screen recording shows everything that happened, including the pauses, and it carries your own voice.

Narrated guide video and screen recording compared
Question	Narrated guide video	Screen recording you edit yourself
What do you do?	Record once, tidy the steps, create the video	Record, then cut, add captions and a voice
Whose voice?	A voice-over in English or Turkish	Your own
What is shown?	The recorded steps with their screenshots	The live screen, as it happened
A button changes	Edit that step and create the video again	Re-record or re-edit the video
Second language	Translate between Turkish and English	Record again with another voice

What can a narrated guide video not do?

It is not a live screen recording with your own voice. It shows the recorded steps and plays a synthetic voice-over.
It has two voice languages, English and Turkish. The translation between them is automatic.
It follows the guide. A pause, a mouse movement or a thought out loud that was not a step will not appear.
It comes from a recording made in desktop Chrome. There is no mobile capture.

What do the plans include?

The Free plan lets you make videos of 3 guides in total, as a trial, and needs no card. Pro costs 10 USD per creator per month and includes videos of 15 guides a month. Studio costs 30 USD per creator per month and has unlimited videos. The allowance counts guides, not video files. Viewers are always free. Tax is added at checkout. See pricing.

How do I make the video with Izly?

Izly (izly.io) is a Chrome extension that turns a task you do once in your browser into a step-by-step guide, a narrated video and a no-code automation that repeats the task. For the video you need only the guide: open it, press Create video, choose the language and find the result in My videos.

To see the whole path, read record a task once: guide and automation, or follow the training video maker page. You can start free.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to get the video?

It is ready in a few minutes after you ask for it, and appears in My videos, where you can watch it or download it as an MP4 file. The time that matters is the editing before it: clear step texts give a better voice-over than a raw recording.

Can I record my own voice instead?

No. The video uses a synthetic voice in English or Turkish. It is not a screen recording with your own voice. If you want your own voice, record the screen yourself and use the written guide next to it.

Can I turn a Turkish guide into an English video?

Yes. Izly translates between Turkish and English in both directions. Pick the language you want when you create the video, and the captions follow it. The translation is automatic, so have a Turkish or English speaker watch the video before you publish it.

What if I change a step later?

Edit the step in the guide and press Create again. My videos marks a video that shows an older version of the guide. A step you rewrote is shown and spoken as written, so the new video carries your new wording.

Does the Free plan include videos?

Yes, as a trial: videos of 3 guides in total. Pro includes videos of 15 guides a month, and Studio has unlimited videos. The allowance counts guides, so a second language of the same guide does not use another one.

Record it once and let the guide write itself

With Izly you do the task once in the browser. Clicks and screenshots become a step-by-step guide that you edit, share, turn into a narrated video or run again for every row of a table.

Add to Chrome, it’s free See pricing