Getting Started Tutorial

In this section we will go through the basics of using Folge from scratch and how to create your first guide, capture steps, add context to them and finally export in PDF.

Downloading and Installing Folge

Folge is available for both Windows and Mac platforms and you can download the latest version from https://folge.me/download

Folge is no different from other apps, Windows and Mac installations are done in a typical way:

Windows

Run the installer, and click the "Next" button multiple times to install Folge to the default location

Mac

Open the dmg and drag Folge icon to the Applications folder.

Starting with Folge

Double click the installed app, and the first thing you see is a starting screen

Here you can change the language of the app, access settings or go directly to the list of your guides. Click "My Guides"

This screen is where you will see a list of your guides and perform an operation on them. Right now there are no guides yet, so go ahead and create a new one by clicking "Create Guide"

Welcome to your first guide!

Each guide consists of steps ( just like Powerpoint presentation ) but now there are none. In Folge you can create steps in 4 different ways:

• By capturing a sequence of screenshots of your clicks
• By making a simple one time screenshot of your screen
• By importing existing images from your drive
• By adding an empty step without any image

In this tutorial, I will create a simple guide on how to search for cats images on Google. For that, I opened a Chrome browser and navigated to google.com in it. It is important to prepare the app you will be working with and capturing beforehand. Now click the "Capture screenshots with mouse clicks" button.

After this Folge will minimize the window and present you the capturing screen. Here you can select the area the app will capture or select to capture the full screen.

Once you are done, click "Start Capturing" and Folge will switch to the capturing mode. With the default Settings, Folge will make screenshots on your mouse clicks in the selected area, which means you can work with your app as you usually do and Folge will capture everything you did in there.

I will google for "cats", and then click "Search" and after that "Images" tab. Each time I do that, Folge captures a screenshot and shows it in the floating menu.

Once you are done with your captures, simply click the "Finish" button to get back to the app. ( Don't worry if you missed something or forgot to perform some operation, you can always get back and add any number of missing steps to Folge)

Now you can see your guide, with steps in the left sidebar, image canvas in the center and step properties in the right column. Click between steps in the left column to navigate, and in the right column "Step properties" add Title and Description to each of the steps.

You may have noticed that Folge automatically marked the areas you clicked by a circle with a hand icon. This is done automatically and can be disabled in Settings.

You can add arrows, and different shapes using the toolbar that is located on the right side of the steps list.

Once you are done with adding context to your steps, it is now time to generate the final guide. Click the green "Export" button located in the header.

Here you can select one of many formats Folge can export your guide to. A free version of Folge lets you export to PDF, while the full version unlocks all formats and setting for one time price ( no hidden fees! )

Click "PDF Document".

Now you see all export settings for the PDF. Folge gives you endless options for customizing your exports, such as layout, fonts, colors, headers, logos and etc. You can read more in detail about them here.

If you click "Preview PDF" you can immediately see preview of you guide and play with the export settings.

Click "Export PDF Document". You will be prompted to login into your account. Go ahead and create one quickly. Folge doesn't store anything on the server, your guides always stay on your computer and none of your guides' data or private information is communicated to the internet!

Once you are done with your account, click "Export" again and export to the pdf. You will be asked where to store the final result and finally your PDF will be shown to you.

Thank you for reading this tutorial. Folge has much more to it, and many different corks and features which are covered in this documentation that is constantly getting updated. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me via hello@folge.me and I will be happy to assist you.