Best Help Authoring Tools
Help Authoring Tools (HAT) provide a means to edit and create help documents. These tools may be used to generate manuals for software, online help, or other technical documents and guides. Also known as Technical Documentation Tools, Help Authoring Tools will share some features with word processors and document editors, and general publishing tools. Another approach to help content authoring is found in Component Content Management Systems (CCMS). Rather than organize content on the document...
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ClickLearn automates the process of creating training material and documentation of popular business sy…
Confluence is a collaboration and content sharing platform used primarily by customers who are already using Atlassian's Jira project tracking product. The product appeals particularly to IT users.
ClickHelp is an online documentation tool from the company of the same name headquartered in Yerevan, Armenia, used by software companies to create user manuals, knowledge bases, FAQs, tutorials, etc., and publish them instantly in their portal.
MadCap Software, headquartered in La Jolla, offers MadCap Flare, a help authoring and technical writing tool featuring onboarding and support from MadCap, and a set of modules for designing advanced guides, aids, and web or application help aids.
Author-it offers a series of component authoring solutions, described by the vendor as a suite of integrated solutions that give businesses of all sizes the power to create, maintain, review, reuse and localize content, and publish into a full spectrum of outputs.
MindTouch is a customer experience management platform with content management and help authoring capabilities. Formerly known as MediaWiki, it is optimized for building knowledge bases for customer self-service and agent assistance purposes.
Heretto (formerly Jorsek), headquartered in Rochester, offers their eponymous saas formerly known as easyDITA, a CCMS and technical document authoring and publishing tool.
Adobe FrameMaker is software for authoring and publishing technical content. For authors of complex product manuals or a casual contributor collaborating on content, users can streamline a content workflow with Adobe FrameMaker.
Experience Manager Guides is a component content management solution (CCMS) that enables DITA support in Experience Manager. Authors can create content using an offline DITA authoring tool, such as Adobe FrameMaker or a built-in web editor.
Scribe automatically creates step-by-step guides for any process completed on a computer. It captures mouse clicks and keystrokes and turns them into editable step-by-step instructions and screenshots instantly.
Scribes can be shared to anyone via a link or in-app with team members. They can also be embedded in any other site or platform using HTML. Users can also download a Scribe as a PDF. A Scribe can also be edited in the future if a process changes, and…
ProProfs Knowledge Base is a help authoring tool for creating help documents or web pages, online FAQs, or other knowledge bases.
Oxygen XML Editor is a suite of XML authoring, developing, publishing, and collaboration tools from Syncro Soft headquartered in Craiova, Romania. The solution includes their XML editing suite, the Oxygen Publishing Suite for turning DITA content into WebHelp, PDF, ePub, and plain…
Adobe offers Robohelp, a cloud-based technical content and help authoring solution available via subscription standalone or as part of the Adobe Technical Communication Suite for eLearning and knowledgebase management.
Archbee combines advanced documentation features and a company-wide collaborative workspace to manage product knowledge in a streamlined platform. Archbee enables teams to build product docs, dev guides and API references.
Corel Corporation headquartered in Ottawa offers the CorelDRAW Technical Suite, supplying applications for 2D and 3D visual design and technical documentation.
Anark, headquartered in Boulder, helps firms in industries such as manufacturing, aviation, and DoD, transform, publish, and manage critical engineering, manufacturing and operational data as role-specific technical data packages (TDPs) and connected digital workflows that can be…
Infor User Adoption Platform (UAP) facilitates user adoption by providing “moments of understanding” throughout the software lifecycle. During the implementation phase, Infor UAP provides content authoring and management functionality, allowing authors to create custom learning content…
PTC offers Arbortext, an XML writer and editor designed to support fast publication of technical manuals and aids for evolving products.
The Contenta Publishing Suite from RWS (formerly from SDL, which was acquired by RWS in late 2020) is designed to help users deliver accurate and up-to-date technical content; it is a publishing suite for S1000D technical content, with functionality optimized for each step of the…
Cortona3D, a company of Parallel Graphics headquartered in Ireland, offers the RapidAuthor technical documentation drafting and publishing suite.
WebWorks ePublisher is a publishing and help authoring tool from WebWorks, a Quadralay company, headquartered in Austin.
ONePUBS is a technical document generation and help authoring tool (HAT) from O'Neil & Associates (ONEIL) headquartered in Ohio.
RWS Tridion Sites provides web content management capabilities, connecting people, processes, and information across teams, brands, and markets, to deliver impactful online experiences globally.
RWS Tridion Sites' DPX platform enables the use of either traditional or headless publishing. It includes advanced features s…
Learn More About Help Authoring Tools
What are Help Authoring Tools (HATs)
Help Authoring Tools (HAT) provide a means to edit and create help documents. These tools may be used to generate manuals for software, online help, or other technical documents and guides. Also known as Technical Documentation Tools, Help Authoring Tools will share some features with word processors and document editors, and general publishing tools.
Another approach to help content authoring is found in Component Content Management Systems (CCMS). Rather than organize content on the document level, CCMS maintain a content model that is granular and topic-based, and preserves relationships of topics across documents and versions. Whether described as a CCMS or a HAT, technical documentation generation tools must support topic-based authoring to provide a useful guide to end-users.
Features of Help Authoring Tools (HATs)
Help authoring tools generally provide the following capabilities:
Import HTML, Word docs, HHP, and other formats
Can publish multi-format output, i.e. HTML (or any web help site), Word documents, PDF, eBook, or printed manuals
Can integrate into web applications to create in-app help system, guides
Automated help pop up for apps, guide workflow
Screenshot tool, screenshot hotspots
In-built word processor comparable to popular word processors
Support for multiple views & preview output
Image library and image management, vector graphics
Customizable content library, reuse content across documents
Collaboration tools and multi-user editing, project management (via integration)
Topic template library, layouts & themes to suit variety of needs
Drag-and-drop, XML, or WYSIWYG editor, suite of editing tools
Content or topic search engine or search tool with customizable filter, autocorrect content or topic tagging, search relevance ranking
Mobile display aids (e.g. rollup, thumbnail, etc)
Version control, remote or offline editing
Translation tools and support
Pricing Information
Some Help Authoring Tools or Technical Document tools are available at low cost for a one time cost on a perpetual license. Free versions are available with relatively limited feature sets, or for one user. Licensing may cover a named user, or be issued as a floating license (i.e. one seat, tied to device rather than a person). Higher priced plans may include sophisticated tools for building help systems into apps, or for reusing content from a library. Some vendor offer cloud-based HATs via subscription service. These may also include dedicated support from the vendor.