A manual is only useful while it matches the screen. When a program gets updated, a button moves or a page changes, and the manual starts to mislead people. This page shows how to spot that and put it right.
Name an owner and a review date
Manuals › open a manual › Who keeps this up to date?
- Open the manual.
- Under the title, click Who keeps this up to date?
- In Who keeps this manual current, type a name, or pick one of the names people in the library go by. A name nobody uses yet is pointed out, since the reminder only reaches the computer where that is the name in Settings › Name on Records.
- In Check it again on, pick a date.
The link under the title then shows who keeps it and when it is due, for example "Kept by Maria · review on 1 March". When the date comes, Sopycat sends a Windows notification to the manual's owner: the person whose name in Sopycat matches the owner (everyone, if the manual has no owner). It comes once per review date, while Sopycat is open. Its card also shows Due for review, and it appears under Needs attention on the Manuals page.
When you have checked a manual, set a new date. A common habit is every three or six months, or straight after the program has an update.
Version, approval and effective date
Manuals › open a manual › Who keeps this up to date?
The same panel holds the document control an auditor, a lab or a school board asks for: a Version ("1.2"), who Approved it, the date it is Effective from, and one line on What changed in this version. Whatever you fill in prints under the title, the same words everywhere the manual goes: the page, the PDF, the Word file, the web page and the text file, for example "Version 1.2 · Approved by Dr Patel · Effective 14 Oct 2026 · Review by 1 Mar 2027". The link under the title starts with the version. Leave the fields empty and nothing prints.
Earlier versions of the manual itself are kept automatically; see Go back to an earlier version. The version you type here is the office's own numbering, so change it when you decide a change is worth a number.
See which manuals need attention
Home › Needs attention, or Manuals › Needs attention
Home and the top of the Manuals page have a Needs attention section when something needs a look. It lists manuals that are:
- still being written, or failed to be written
- Due for review, because their review date has passed
- showing N steps changed, because the last check against the screen found steps that no longer match
On Home the list also includes any manual you have been asked to confirm you read.
Compare the steps with the screen
Manuals › open a manual › More options (⋯) › Compare the steps with the screen…
Sopycat can take a picture of your screen right now and compare it with each step's box. This shows you which steps may be out of date without going through the whole task.
- Open the program the manual is about, on your main screen, on the page where the manual starts.
- In Sopycat, open the manual and choose More options (⋯) › Compare the steps with the screen….
- Click Compare now. Sopycat gets out of the way for a moment, takes a picture of the screen, and compares it with every step.
- Read the results. See the table below.
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Still matches | The area in the step's box looks the same as on your screen now. |
| Moved on screen | It looks the same but is in a different place. |
| Looks different | The area in the box has changed. |
| No box to check | The step has no box, so it couldn't be compared. |
Use your own judgment. A step on a different page, or behind a dialog box, also shows as changed even when nothing is wrong. When you have looked at a flagged step, click Reviewed next to it, or Mark all reviewed to clear them all.
After a check, the manual shows a banner saying how many steps no longer matched, with Compare again and Mark all reviewed. The manual's card shows N steps changed until you mark them reviewed.
This only works for steps that have a box, and only on your main screen. If no step has a box, Sopycat asks you to add boxes first. See Add or remove the box.
Fix a step that changed
Pick the quickest fix for what changed:
- A button was renamed: rename the step and update its instructions. See Rename a step.
- The screen looks different: take a new screenshot with Windows+Shift+S and paste it as a step. See Take a screenshot and paste it.
- A few steps are different: remove the old steps, then record the new ones in the same place. Open the ⋯ menu of the step before them and choose Add a step after this › Record more steps here….
- A step isn't needed any more: choose Remove step from its ⋯ menu.
If most of the task has changed, it is often quicker to record it again from the start as a new manual.
Rewrite everything from the recording
Manuals › open a manual › More options (⋯) › Rewrite from the recording
This writes every step again from the original recording. It is useful if the manual got into a muddle and you want to start again from what you recorded. See How the words get written.
- Choose More options (⋯) › Rewrite from the recording.
- Read the message and click Rewrite.
Rewriting replaces your edits to the words and pictures. Steps you added by hand are kept, at the end. Earlier versions stay available, so you can undo it.
A rewrite uses the old recording, so it won't pick up changes to the program since then. For that, record the changed steps again.
Go back to an earlier version
Manuals › open a manual › More options (⋯) › Earlier versions
A copy is kept every time a manual changes. You can also open this list with Ctrl+K and Earlier versions.
- Choose More options (⋯) › Earlier versions.
- Find the version you want. Each one shows when it was saved and how many steps it had.
- Click Put back.
Putting a version back can itself be undone from the same list, so it's safe to try.
Sopycat keeps up to 30 versions of each manual. While you edit without stopping, it saves at most one new copy every 3 minutes, so a version from a moment ago may not be there. For a deleted manual, look in Recently deleted (in the sidebar, under More), where it stays for 30 days.
After you update a manual
- Tutorial video: if the manual has one, it shows "the steps changed since it was made". Click Make it again to bring it up to date. See Save the tutorial video.
- Staff who confirmed it: if you asked staff to confirm they read the manual, choose Ask staff to confirm they read this… again and click Publish again. People who confirmed the old version see "This manual changed since you last confirmed it." See When you change a published manual.
- Copies you shared: PDFs, Word files and web pages you saved earlier don't update themselves. Save and share them again. See Save and share a manual.
- Review date: set the next Check it again on date.
Didn't find it? Search every page, or ask us.