Great Tool If You Write Your Own User/Installation Manuals
November 8th, 2008
I’m just creating a user manual for a new product, and wanted some way to show the directory structure (folders and files) that should be present once the user unzips the product’s ZIP file.
Could I find some software to do this? No. At least, not free ones, and I don’t want to pay $30 for something that I’m only going to use once or twice.
So I wrote my own. And you can download it free of charge here.
Just unzip it and run the .exe file, and it’ll help you create images like this:
It’s free, so basically unsupported. Just go to the menu and do Directory > Scan. You’ll be asked to pick a directory to scan, and also for the “top-level” folder name (eg, “Root”, “Installation Folder”, “Unzip Location”). That’s the name that will be inserted in the place where I’ve got “Root” in the image above.
Hints:
- You can resize the main window by dragging the corners or sides of the window
- You’ll still need to crop the image in your window editor to remove the unnecessary parts around the outside. Sorry about that. I tried to get the image to only capture the “directory tree” section, but I couldn’t get it working.
That’s it really. Any questions, ask them in the comments below.
