Published: .
- Step 1. Create a new project
- Step 2. Create a new topic
- Step 3. Add text and a table
- Step 4. Check the result
- The result
- Export and keyboard shortcuts
- Frequently asked questions
You open the help system for the industrial software your company uses, find the topic you need, and are greeted by three screens' worth of wall-to-wall text — so you close it. You end up asking a colleague instead, because that's faster than trying to make sense of convoluted descriptions on your own. Sound familiar?
Here's an example of help content that's hard to take in:
Presenting the same text in tables makes the instructions far easier to follow:
When you need to write instructions for employees on complex software, it's not enough to organize the topics clearly — you also need to break up the text with visual material: images, diagrams, and tables. The goal is to build a knowledge base that lets employees learn the program without constantly asking more experienced colleagues for help.
Dr.Explain helps you fill your help system with text, tables, and screenshots. You open a project, create topics, and add links, videos, screenshots, and tables to them. The document structure is visible right away — like a table of contents for the instructions you're building — and you can show a draft to colleagues within an hour. Below, we'll cover how to add a table to a topic and fill it with text.
Step 1. Create a new documentation project
Create a new project. To do this, click "Create a local project" on the start screen. Or, once the program is running, go to File → Create a local project. You can also press Ctrl+N. For the full list, see Dr.Explain keyboard shortcuts.
To import documentation you already have, click "Open an existing project" on the start screen. Or, once the program is running, go to File → Open an existing project. You can also press Ctrl+O.
You can also start from one of the built-in templates. Using templates is covered in the documentation topic Creating a new project.
Let's create a new documentation project: the topic tree and properties panel are on the left, the content editor is in the center, and the AI assistant is on the right:
Step 2. Create a new topic
Topics in Dr.Explain are the building blocks of your instructions. They can be nested to any depth.
To add a topic, right-click an existing topic in the tree and select Add → Add topic... (Ctrl+T).
Or click the Add topic page button on the main toolbar:
The program will prompt you to enter a topic name. This name will appear in the table of contents of the finished instructions. Type the name and press Enter.
If you need to create a subtopic within the current one, use Ctrl+T. For a topic at the same level, use Ctrl+D.
Step 3. Add text and a table
Select the topic you created and switch to content editor mode.
Type your text just as you would in any word processor. Use the toolbar to format it: font, size, color, lists, alignment.
To add a table, click the Insert table button on the editor toolbar. In the drop-down list, choose the number of rows and columns. For example, 5 rows and 5 columns:
The table will appear in the topic. Fill in the cells. If you need to change the size of a row or column, hover over its border and drag it:
You can add or remove rows and columns from the table's context menu under Table. You can also edit cell properties here: right-click a cell and choose Cell properties from the context menu:
The cell properties window:
If you need to insert text from another topic, just copy it and paste it into the topic. Dr.Explain supports pasting fragments of another table, text blocks, and other objects.
If the text was pasted from an external source, it may come in with its own styles:
To bring it in line with the style used in your documentation, select a fragment with the formatting you want (the sample), then click the Format painter button on the toolbar:
Then select the target fragment:
The project's text style will be applied to the pasted text automatically:
Step 4. Check the result
Before exporting your instructions, take a look at how they'll appear. Dr.Explain has three preview modes: HTML, PDF, and CHM. Switch to the HTML preview tab — you'll see how the topic with the table and text will look in the online help.
If something doesn't look right, go back to Content editor mode and make your changes. For example, if the table is too wide, resize it or change its position.
For a CHM preview, click CHM preview. Here's how a topic with text and a table looks in this format:
Instructions with a table and text in PDF:
Before exporting, run the Check tool: Tools → Validation tool. It will find duplicate file names, broken links, unassociated keywords, and errors in Help Context IDs.
The result
You now have a topic with text and a table. Without ever leaving the program for a word processor, we created a table and added text. Before and after:
If you want to add screenshots, see our article "How to Create Annotated Screenshots for Internal Enterprise Automation System Documentation".
Export and keyboard shortcuts
Once the structure and content are ready, the logical next steps are to:
- export the document to the format you need (HTML, CHM, DOCX, PDF);
- set up conditional output for topics if you need to create multiple versions of the instructions for different roles;
- use topic locking and a heat map (color-coded statuses) to collaborate on the project.
If you're adding topics one after another, Ctrl+T and Ctrl+D will save you the most time. The difference is whether the new topic ends up under the current one or next to it.
| Shortcut | Action | When it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+T | Add a child topic | When you need to create a subtopic within the current one |
| Ctrl+D | Add a topic at the same level | When you need to add another topic alongside |
| Insert | Add a subtopic | When you prefer working from the keyboard |
| Enter | Add a topic at the same level after the current one | When you need to quickly continue the list of topics |
Frequently asked questions
Can I change the structure after exporting?
Yes. You can go back to the project, change the structure, and export again. The exported files will be updated.
What if I need to hide a topic from the final document?
Press Delete in the topic tree, or set up conditional export rules in the topic properties. The topic will stay in the project but won't appear in the selected format.
How do I undo an accidental topic move?
Use Ctrl+Z to undo the last action. Or drag the topic back in the tree.
Can several authors work on the same project?
Yes. Dr.Explain supports collaboration through the Tiwri.com cloud service or a local collaboration server. The topic you're editing is locked for other documentation team members.
What happens if I delete a topic that other topics link to?
The check tool will find the broken links and warn you. On export, links to the deleted topic will turn into plain text.