Why tutorials go stale, and how to stop it
Software changes every few weeks. A button moves, a menu is renamed, a step disappears, and a narrated tutorial recorded last quarter now describes a product that no longer exists. Re-recording narration for every release is rarely anyone's priority, so help videos quietly go out of date. With line-by-line AI narration, updating the voiceover for a renamed menu is a one-line edit and one new take, in the same voice as the rest.
How to set it up
- A project for the product, or per product area, with a script per video.
- Choose the product's narrator: a team member who agrees to have their voice cloned, or a licensed narrator. One voice across every video makes the help center feel like one product.
- One line per step, matching the screen recording: "Open Settings, then choose Billing."
- Balanced or Calm for clear instruction.
- Generate, then cut the recording to the voice, or place each line against its step. See syncing to video.
- Captions: start from the script text in the download.
Writing tutorial narration
- Say what to do, then why: "Click Export. This saves a copy you can share."
- Name interface elements exactly as they appear on screen, so viewers can find them.
- Product names and acronyms spelled the way your team says them:
sequelorS-Q-L. - Keep steps short: one action per line is easier to re-time when the UI changes.
More in numbers and abbreviations.
Updating after a release
- Re-record the screen for the steps that changed.
- Edit those lines' text in abcVoiceover and generate them again. Everything else stays exactly as it was.
- Download, replace the changed files in your edit, and re-export.
Other languages
Translate the script, keep one line per step, and voice it in any of 23 languages. Screen recordings of a localized interface pair best with a native-language voice. See localizing video.
Sales demos and launch videos
For marketing videos, a more energetic read helps: record the narrator's sample with more energy, or use the Expressive style. Keep claims accurate and avoid presenting the voice as a customer or a public figure. See ads and promos.