What is a step-by-step guide maker?
A step-by-step guide maker is a tool that builds a how-to guide for you while you do the task. Instead of taking screenshots, pasting them into a document and typing a caption under each one, you do the work and the tool writes the steps down.
The result is a numbered list. Each step shows the screen at that moment, marks the button or field you used and says in one sentence what to do. Anyone can follow it without asking you. People search for the same thing under other names: how-to guide creator, screenshot guide maker, free step by step guide generator. They all describe this idea.
Why not paste screenshots into a document by hand?
You can, and for a guide of three steps it is fine. The trouble starts with longer tasks and with the day the screen changes. Every screenshot has to be taken, cropped, pasted, circled and captioned, and when a button moves you repeat it for each affected picture.
| Approach | Making it | Following it | Keeping it current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual screenshots in a document | You capture, crop, paste and caption every step yourself | Easy to scan, but pictures can get out of order | Replace each affected picture by hand |
| Screen video | Record once, talk through the task | Viewers must watch in real time and scrub back to find a step | Re-record the whole video for one changed button |
| Recorded step-by-step guide | Do the task once; steps and pictures are created for you | Numbered steps, each one readable at a glance | Re-record or edit only the steps that changed |
A video is good for showing a feeling or a long explanation. A numbered guide is better when someone needs to find step six, do it and come back. Many teams keep both, but use the guide for anything that gets repeated.
What makes a how-to guide easy to follow?
A good guide covers one task and one outcome. Four habits make most of the difference.
- One task per guide. “Submit an expense” and “Approve an expense” are two guides, not one.
- Start each step with a verb. “Click Save” is clearer than “The Save button should now be clicked”.
- Show the screen as it really looks. A picture of the real page beats a description of it.
- Try it on someone new. Ask a colleague who has never done the task to follow the guide without your help. Every place they hesitate needs a better sentence.
For the longer version, see how to write a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Can you build a training manual from step-by-step guides?
Yes, a training manual is usually a set of single-task guides put in a sensible order. Most readers do not read a manual from cover to cover. They look for the one task they are stuck on, so short guides that can be opened one at a time work better than one long file.
Izly is not a book-layout tool. It does not build a table of contents or chapter pages for you. You keep your guides in a library, share a link to each one, and on Pro and Studio you can export a guide as Word, HTML or Markdown if you want to place it inside a larger document. The Word file has real heading styles and one numbered list for the steps. See a step-by-step guide in Word, and what a user manual is for how the pieces fit together.
What happens to passwords and private data on screen?
Password, one-time-code and card fields are never read by Izly. Text you type into other fields can be recorded, limited to a short length or switched off completely, so a customer name typed during the recording does not have to end up in the guide.
If something private is still visible in a screenshot, cover it with a redaction box in the editor. Redaction replaces the pixels for good, which a shape drawn on top of a picture does not. Read more about hiding sensitive data in screenshots.
Can the same recording become a video or an automation?
Yes. Press Create video on a guide and Izly makes a narrated video of it in a few minutes: English or Turkish voice, captions, and translation between the two. The voice is synthetic and the translation is automatic, so have a speaker of the language watch the video before you publish it. A step you rewrote is shown and spoken as written. See turn a guide into a narrated video.
A guide of a task done on web pages can also be replayed in Chrome as an automation, once per row of a table if you like. That part is for repeated work and has its own page: record and replay browser actions.
How do you make a step-by-step guide with Izly?
- Add the extension. Install the Izly extension from the Chrome Web Store (Chrome 120 or newer) and sign in to your Izly account.
- Press Start and do the task. Work as you normally would. Each click becomes a numbered step with its own screenshot and a plain instruction.
- Press Finish. The guide opens in the editor.
- Tidy it up. Reword any sentence, reorder or delete steps, and cover private details with a redaction box.
- Share it. Send a read-only link, share it with your workspace, or export a PDF. Word, HTML and Markdown are available on Pro and Studio.
- Voice it, if you want a video. Press Create video, choose the language and find the MP4 in My videos.
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. It records tasks on web pages in Chrome. It does not record desktop programs. The Free plan includes 10 active guides, share links, PDF export (with a small footer) and videos of 3 guides as a trial. Pro adds unlimited guides, Word, HTML and Markdown, and videos of 15 guides a month, with a 14 day trial that needs no card. See pricing or start free.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free step by step guide generator?
Izly has a free plan with 10 active guides, share links and PDF export. The Chrome extension is free as well. If you need unlimited guides or Word, HTML and Markdown export, Pro costs 10 USD per creator per month, and you can try it for 14 days without a card.
Do I have to write the steps myself?
No. Each click is turned into a numbered step with a plain sentence such as “Click Save”. You read through the draft and fix any wording you do not like, but you do not start from a blank page.
Does it work for programs outside the browser?
No. Izly records tasks on web pages in Chrome. A desktop program such as a spreadsheet application installed on your computer cannot be recorded. For those, you would need to capture screenshots another way.
Can the guide become a video with a voice?
Yes. Press Create video, choose English or Turkish and the video is ready in a few minutes in My videos, where you can download it as MP4. The voice is synthetic. Free includes videos of 3 guides in total, Pro 15 guides a month, Studio unlimited.
Can I change a guide after recording it?
Yes. In the editor you can reword any step, change the order, delete steps you do not need and add redaction boxes. When a screen changes later, you edit the affected steps instead of making the whole guide again.
How can I share the finished guide?
Send a read-only link, share it with your workspace, or export it. PDF export is on every plan. Word, HTML and Markdown are part of Pro and Studio. Viewers are always free, so people who only read a guide never need a paid plan.
Related pages
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.