Scribe Tutorial
Last updated: April 2026
What you'll achieve
After this tutorial, you will be able to confidently create your first professional, step-by-step process guide using Scribe. You'll learn how to start a recording, perform a task in your browser or application, and let Scribe automatically generate a polished, shareable guide complete with annotated screenshots and clear text instructions. I'll show you how to edit the generated content, redact sensitive information, and share your guide via a link. By the end, you'll have a tangible, useful piece of documentation you can immediately use for training, onboarding, or customer support, eliminating hours of manual screenshot and writing work.
Prerequisites
- •A free Scribe account (sign-up takes 30 seconds)
- •The Scribe browser extension for Chrome, Edge, or Firefox
- •A simple, repetitive task you want to document (e.g., 'How to submit an expense report in our system')
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Sign Up and Install the Extension
First, head to scribe.how and click 'Sign up free.' Use your Google account or work email—it's instant. Once logged into the web dashboard, your first task is installing the browser extension. This is the engine of Scribe; the desktop app is optional. Click the 'Install Extension' button prominently displayed, which will take you to the Chrome Web Store (or equivalent). Click 'Add to Chrome' and confirm. What surprised me was how lightweight it is; it sits quietly in your toolbar until you need it. After installation, you should see the Scribe 'S' icon in your browser's extension toolbar. Click it once to ensure it's active—you'll see a small pop-up confirming you're ready to record.
Always install the extension. The web app alone can't record your screen.
Step 2: Understand the Dashboard & Your Workspace
After installing the extension, return to scribe.how. You'll land on your 'My Scribes' dashboard. This is your library. It will be empty now, but every guide you create lives here. On the left, you'll see a simple navigation: 'My Scribes,' 'Shared with me,' and 'Spaces' (a team folder feature on paid plans). The main area has a big, friendly 'Create Scribe' button. That's your launchpad. I tested this interface for weeks, and its simplicity is its strength—there's no clutter. Clicking your profile icon in the top right lets you access settings, but for now, you don't need to touch anything. The dashboard is designed for finding and managing guides, not creating them. Creation happens live, in your browser, on the actual page you're documenting.
Use 'Spaces' (even on free plan) to organize Scribes by project or department.
Step 3: Record Your First Process
This is the magic. Navigate in your browser to the exact page where your process begins (e.g., your company's login page or an internal software dashboard). Now, click the Scribe 'S' icon in your toolbar and hit 'Start Capture.' A countdown will begin—use this moment to get your cursor in position. Then, simply perform the task you want to document. Click buttons, type in fields, navigate menus. Scribe works in the background, silently capturing every click and keystroke. When you're finished, click the Scribe icon again and hit 'Stop Capture.' Instantly, Scribe will process the recording and open a new tab with your fully generated step-by-step guide. In my experience, the speed is breathtaking—what used to take me an hour is done in 60 seconds.
Perform the task slowly and deliberately for the clearest captions.
Step 4: Edit, Redact, and Perfect Your Guide
Your generated Scribe will open in a powerful editor. Here, you can change everything. Review the automatically generated text for each step—it's usually spot-on, but you can click any text to refine it for clarity or add specific warnings. You can delete unnecessary steps by hovering and clicking the trash icon. The most critical feature, in my opinion, is the redaction tool. If your recording captured an email, name, or password, click on that step, then click the 'Blur sensitive info' button (eye icon with a slash). Draw a box over the data, and it's permanently blurred. You can also rearrange steps by dragging them. Don't overthink it; the AI draft is 90% there. Just polish for your audience.
Use redaction proactively. It builds trust when sharing guides with sensitive workflows.
Step 5: Share Your Scribe with the World
Once edited, hit 'Publish' in the top right. Your Scribe is now live at a unique, secure URL. You don't need to save separately; publishing auto-saves. To share, click the 'Share' button. You have brilliant options: copy the direct link, generate an embed code for a wiki like Notion or Confluence, or download it as a PDF. I use the PDF download constantly for presentations or attaching to emails. The link is my go-to for Slack or Teams—recipients get a beautiful, scrollable guide without needing any account. What surprised me was how professional the shared view looks; it's branded with your workspace name and feels like a premium product, even on the free plan.
Test the share link in an incognito window to see exactly what your audience sees.
Step 6: Explore Next-Level Features
After mastering the basics, dive deeper. Try the Scribe desktop app for recording processes outside your browser, like in Excel or Photoshop. Explore 'Pages'—a feature that lets you combine multiple Scribes into one master manual, perfect for full training modules. If you're on a Team plan, experiment with 'Spaces' for centralized team knowledge and approval workflows. I also recommend connecting Scribe to your tech stack; its integrations with Guru, Zendesk, and Notion are seamless. The most powerful advanced tactic? Use Scribe's recording as a basis, then export and add video narration using a tool like Loom for the ultimate hybrid guide. Scribe is the foundation for scalable documentation.
The free plan is powerful, but Team plans unlock collaboration, which is where Scribe truly shines.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Recording too fast. Scribe captures every click, so a frantic pace creates a cluttered, confusing guide. Move deliberately.
Forgetting to redact. Sharing a guide with visible emails or internal IDs is a major security oversight. Always blur sensitive data.
Not editing the AI text. The auto-generated text is good, but often generic. Tailor it to your company's specific terminology.
Ignoring the browser extension. Trying to use Scribe only from the web dashboard is impossible. The extension is the core tool.