15 Best Internal Documentation Tools

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1. Splainy

Splainy is one of the best software documentation tools. It allows users to record a process and generate a step-by-step manual that can be easily shared with others. You can use the tool as a desktop application or as a web extension.

Using Splainy, you can generate a comprehensive how-to guide that also includes visuals. All of this can be done through a few clicks thanks to the easy-to-use and user-friendly interface. It is the right tool for software documentation and offers interactive guidance to its software developers.

Splainy is known to set a new way to show how things are done. It automatically captures what a user does on their screen and helps you generate a step-by-step guide, complete with screenshots and instructions.

This knowledge base software offers much more than just software documentation. Splainy emphasizes knowledge sharing and also offers integrated email and SMS solutions to simplify things for you.

Splainy offers personalized chat support for knowledge sharing. It can help you increase product sales and customer engagement and generate qualified leads.

Splainy also provides immediate support for personalized conversations in social media messengers.

2. Document360

Document360 is a knowledge base solution that is ideal for creating user manuals. It provides content creators with an editor and a category manager. Other portal features for software documentation are also provided. Document360 offers a solution that can combine documentation for internal and external use.

Drag-and-drop makes it easy to rearrange the categories and subcategories of your content. This simple and versatile tool offers extensive customization options. Software developers are aided as much as possible during this software development process.

While a WYSIWYG editor is available for those who prefer it, the Markdown editor allows you to focus on writing documentation. Using either editor, external users can insert links to web pages, images, internal docs, callouts, code blocks, and other elements.

Document360's version history and rollback capabilities ensure that you'll never lose your work.

Despite its extensive feature set, it is a tool that is relatively easy to use with straightforward instructions. However, Document360 might be expensive. But it has all the tools and features needed to make appropriate documentation and perform tasks.

3. Nuclino

Nuclino functions like a single brain and allows teams to organize all of their knowledge, documents, and projects. It's an excellent choice for technical documentation.

Nuclino aids in creating software documentation for your staff or customers. Text, images, videos, files, tasks, embed, and code blocks, along with another software tool, are in use to enhance the engagement of your content. To write your content faster, use a WYSIWYG editor or Markdown.

Nuclino’s document structure and visualization options include a nested list, a Kanban board, a table, and a mind map-style graph. It allows you to collaborate on projects, organize sprints, and communicate more. This feature-rich app is one of the best online documentation tools.

This entire process can be turned into a single tool, eliminating the need for unnecessary context-switching. Because you can collaborate in real time and see the changes your other team members are making as they type, there is no risk of version conflicts.

Enter keywords into Nuclino's powerful search bar to find relevant content. Software users can work visually by organizing their development team into boards and graphs.

Nuclino integrates with numerous apps, including Slack, Google Drive, and Dropbox.

4. GitHub

GitHub is a popular software documentation tool among developers. It is also an excellent choice for hosting your web-based documentation. GitHub is free to use if your software repositories are open to the public.

You can use GitHub pages, which provide you with one free page, hosting, and a custom domain. Alternatively, you can also use the GitHub platform's main wiki section.

Jekyll and GitHub Pages can be used in tandem to create visually appealing and up-to-date software documentation sites. This is one of the best features that a software documentation tool can have.

If you already use GitHub for software development, you will find the documentation process quite appealing too. In addition, It is a free platform for hosting your repositories if you choose the basic plan.

5. MarkdownPad

MarkdownPad allows users to write stunning software documentation. MarkdownPad is a popular Markdown editor for Windows that provides fast HTML previews so you can see your documentation as you write it.

To use the program, you don't even need to know Markdown because it is as simple and user-friendly as Microsoft Word and includes a WYSIWYG editor.

Layouts, fonts, and sizes are just a few of the numerous customization options. You can also add your customized CSS style sheets. Because it includes a CSS editor, you can style your written code to your heart's content.

MarkdownPad also offers a free version of the tool that includes most of the features. If you're interested in using MarkdownPad Pro, you can buy it for $14.95 only.

6. ProProfs

With ProProfs, you can easily create online documentation for your software applications. Using ProProfs, you can create public and private knowledge bases. They range from user-facing documentation to internal employee software docs.

ProProfs knowledge base software also offers draggable content and categories. Additionally, you can manage the article status to keep your team up to date on the status of your content.

ProProfs allows you to easily change the theme of your knowledge base and add a favicon. You can also update the logo and change other settings from the settings menu.

ProProfs' allows you to integrate the knowledge base with the live chat and help desk software for a support experience.

ProProfs' simple writing and publishing procedures make it easy for beginners to get started. Moreover, the software documentation tool helps you assign roles in the content publishing process. Writers, editors, and system administrators are assigned respective roles.

You can integrate ProProfs with Google Analytics, Zendesk, and Freshdesk. Through this, you can connect your existing support stack with your knowledge base.

7. Apiary

Apiary is a versatile tool for developing API software documentation. Its interface makes it easy for anyone to begin documenting their APIs. It also promotes effective team collaboration to ensure projects run smoothly.

It provides role-based software documents access control. Additionally, an API blueprint management dashboard and a dedicated web team are also available. With Apiary's admin, editor, and viewer roles, you can control who has access to your content.

Apiary provides pre-built API Blueprint templates to help you launch new projects quickly. It is simple to transfer access between teams throughout the API design life cycle. Ensure that the right people are always working on the right designs.

8. Confluence

Atlassian Confluence was one of the first software documentation tools to hit the market. Confluence has over 60,000 clients thanks to its strong capabilities and many configuration options.

Its main advantage is the ease with which it integrates with other Atlassian products. If you already use Atlassian tools like Jira or Bitbucket, Confluence will most likely fit into your workflow seamlessly.

If you need a software documentation tool with smart customization options and high-level features, Confluence is a viable option.

9. Doxygen

Doxygen is a powerful tool for software development documentation. It also supports other well-known programming languages such as C, Objective-C, C#, PHP, Java, Python, and IDL. It has become the industry standard for producing documentation from annotated C++ sources.

Doxygen can generate an offline reference manual in LaTeX or an online documentation browser in HTML. This can be done from a collection of source files that include documentation.

With Doxygen, you can also generate output in RTF (MS Word), PostScript, hyperlinked PDF, compressed HTML, and Unix man pages. As the documentation is from the sources, it is much easier to maintain consistency between the documentation and the source code.

Doxygen also works when creating regular documentation that is unrelated to code source files. In addition to all these amazing features, Doxygen is also free to use!

10. ClickHelp

ClickHelp allows you to publish your software documentation to a variety of outputs. ClickHelp supports straightforward imports from Confluence, MS Word, RoboHelp, and Madcap Flare.

ClickHelp is a cloud-based service that hosts your content and documenting environment. It is a structured software documentation tool that allows you to reuse the content. You can reuse it in the form of variables, conditional content, and snippets.

It is possible to publish multiple versions and projects from one portal. There is online software documentation, PDFs, Web Help, and other output formats. Additionally, you can publish password-protected or public documents from the same portal.

Users can find the content they seek thanks to ClickHelps' patented full-text search engine. It's designed specifically for documentation searches.

ClickHelp also offers detailed analytics and reporting. Additionally, author contribution and reader behavior reports are also provided. These 30+ content metrics include user-voted topic ratings as well as readability, time to read, word count, and so on.

11. iA writer

iA Writer is one of the top software documentation tools and a popular Markdown editor. You'll be astounded by iA Writer's unique writing experience. It allows you to fine-tune and clarify your message in your software product documentation.

When writing in the editor, iA Writer employs syntax highlighting. It highlights only the sentence or paragraph you're working on. It assists you in identifying redundant adjectives, flimsy verbs, and repetitions.

Markdown files can be exported in HTML, PDF, and Microsoft Word formats using personalized templates. IA writer allows you to focus entirely on the text as there are no unnecessary distractions on the interface. This feature makes it one of the best software documentation tools.

iA writers' interface is completely distraction-free, ensuring focused work for your technical documentation. Additionally, the tool functions equally well on both iOS and windows.

12. Tettra

Tettra is an amazing tool for internal software documentation, thanks to its intuitive interface. It acts as an internal knowledge base that consolidates your dispersed company information.

Tettra's interface allows you to respond to repetitive questions from your team in MS Teams or Slack in a timely and accurate manner. Additionally, you can ask questions and receive responses in Tettra using their software's Q&A design.

You can respond to inquiries directly in Slack and Microsoft Teams by linking to pre-existing content. Tettra's user interface allows you to specify experts on the topic so that the appropriate people can respond to inquiries.

You can ask their Subject Matter Experts to review your content regularly to keep it up to date. Furthermore, team members can request page updates or new pages to help you fill in any gaps in your content.

13. Whatfix

Whatfix is a software documentation tool that you can use to keep a step-by-step note of your software product. You can use the Whatfix Digital Adoption Platform to create descriptions that show your employees how to use your software.

To prevent users from leaving the platform, Whatfix allows you to display your knowledge base in a self-help widget if you already have one. Whatfix works with businesses to create interactive walkthroughs for web applications. The product increases user adoption and reduces training costs. It also provides software application users with self-service support.

Contextual walkthroughs, self-help FAQs, and interactive instructions are available in this document. The platform provides detailed analytics to determine how users interact with your content.

14. Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper is a software documentation tool that you can use to create a wiki that your employees can access at any time. You can also safely distribute your documents to anyone outside of the organization through Dropbox paper.

It is easy to link documents, insert code blocks, and add images, audio, and video from within the interface. Dropbox Paper facilitates teamwork by allowing you to share a document or folder with others. They can provide feedback on your documents, and you can set deadlines and other goals.

Dropbox Paper is free to use if you already have a Dropbox account. Dropbox software is a joy to use thanks to its lovely user interface and stylish design. Furthermore, Dropbox's web and mobile apps work well together due to its very well-integrated interface.

15. Bit.ai

Bit.ai is a powerful software documentation tool that you can use for your software projects. It is a knowledge management tool that allows businesses to keep track of changes and manage all of their documentation in one place.

Bit documents are more interactive than standard Word documents. This allows developers to insert code directly into the interface. Bit.ai supports multiple collaborators on documents in real time. Thus there will never be version conflicts. Its wiki-like design allows users to easily link documents together and properly share knowledge.

Bit.ai supports Markdown allowing developers to document their code without being distracted by the editor. Your work on Bit.ai can be easily exported as PDF and Word files or shared with other platforms such as GitHub.

Conclusion

There are several types of software documentation. These include documents explaining how the software works, its development, and its intended use. A variety of tools are available for generating software documentation. For example, Splainy, Document360, Nuclino, GitHub, and Dropbox.

A good documentation tool should include a user-friendly interface and the ability to export the work to others. Splainy has it all, along with reliability and proficiency. It's worth trying Splainy first before you look elsewhere if you're looking for a documentation tool.

If you're interested in taking a look, Splainy is offering a free demo.

Head over to Splainy

and start your documentation journey today!