Page 176 - JoFA_Jan_Apr23

TECHNOLOGY Q&A

SCRIBE
Make the documentation process more efficient with Scribe

Q. Documenting A. Documentation is one of those tasks that every- ■ How to create a new client/contact in a CRM.
instructions one wishes that everyone else did more of. Fortunate- ■ How to add new users to a web application.
for my clients ly, there is a great tool that we can use to make that After creating your first Scribe, you will want to
and staff is a process faster and accurate. Time to look at Scribe. edit it for clarity and length. I like to make a few
frustrating Scribe is a combination of screen recorder and passes over it. Scribe provides an image editor, and
process. Using documentation writer. It will build a step-by-step you can also edit any text that Scribe automatically
the Windows guide with actions and zoomed screenshots of what added to the document (see the screenshot below).
Snipping you typed or clicked on. You can document many Editing requires a paid license, but if this is your
Tool, editing simple processes in under a minute. Additionally, first time in Scribe, you can use a seven-day trial of
each image in you can annotate and redact any images that Scribe the paid version to test.
Microsoft Paint, has taken. Your completed document (called a On my first pass through the Scribe, I like to de-
and adding it to a Scribe) can then be shared online or exported in a lete any extra steps that Scribe recorded. It is amaz-
Word document variety of formats, depending on your account type. ing how many extra clicks we make in the process of
is a time sink. Get started by going to scribehow.com. Click using our computer. During this first pass, I keep an
How can I make on the Get Scribe Free link in the top right of eye out for other elements that I want to change.
the process more the page. Follow the prompts to create your ac- On my next pass, I start editing the text and
efficient? count. This will require installing a plug-in on your elaborate on steps. I will also remove confidential
browser. Once that is installed, you are ready to start information such as usernames, passwords, or any-
documenting. thing that I do not want in the instructions. Scribe
Here are a few ideas for tasks you could docu- makes it simple to remove text — just click on it
ment to get started with Scribe: and edit. If the information is part of an image, you
■ How to log in to a client portal. can edit the image and add a redaction over the
■ How to sign a tax return. data. At the same time, you can add any annotations

Submit a
question

Do you have
technology
questions for this
column? Or, after
reading an answer,
do you have a
better solution?
Send them to
jofatech@aicpa.org.
We regret
being unable to
individually answer
all submitted
questions.

38 | Journal of Accountancy April 2023