Writing user manuals: Five top tips

Writing user manuals is a common requirement of the technical writer’s role across many different industries. It’s also not uncommon for this task to fall to someone who is not a technical writer by trade — and in this case, writing user manuals can seem like a daunting task. We’ve drawn on our expertise in this field to put together a list of five top tips to keep in mind when you are writing user manuals: Know the end user Make the content easy to scan Maintain consistency Use graphics Present procedural information in ordered lists Know the end user Who is the end user? This is most important question to ask before you begin drafting your user manual. To write a user-friendly user manual, you need to think like your user. To do this, ask yourself the following questions: Is the end user familiar with your product or products like it? If they are familiar with your product, don’t over explain things that they already know, as this will make the content of your user manual seem tedious to them.