techsmith-core-workflow-a

TechSmith Core Workflow A

Overview

Automated documentation pipeline: capture screenshots, annotate, and organize into guides.

Instructions

Step 1: Step Capture for Documentation

# Capture a series of screenshots for a step-by-step guide
function Invoke-StepCapture {
    param([string]$GuideDir, [int]$StepCount = 10)

    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $GuideDir | Out-Null
    $capture = New-Object -ComObject Snagit.ImageCapture
    $capture.Input = 2  # Region
    $capture.Output = 2
    $capture.OutputImageFile.FileType = 3  # PNG
    $capture.OutputImageFile.Directory = $GuideDir

    for ($i = 1; $i -le $StepCount; $i++) {
        $capture.OutputImageFile.Filename = "step_$($i.ToString('00'))"
        Write-Host "Capture step $i -- select region..."
        $capture.Capture()
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
    }
}

Invoke-StepCapture -GuideDir "C:\Guides\setup-tutorial"

Step 2: Batch Annotate with Snagit

# Open captures in Snagit Editor for annotation
$editor = New-Object -ComObject Snagit.ImageCapture
$editor.Input = 5  # siiFile
$editor.Output = 2
$editor.EnablePreview = $true  # Opens in Snagit Editor for annotation

$files = Get-ChildItem "C:\Guides\setup-tutorial\*.png"
foreach ($file in $files) {
    $editor.InputRegionOptions.UseFile = $file.FullName
    $editor.Capture()
}

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Capture area wrong	Region not selected	Use Window capture for consistency
Files overwritten	Same filename	Timestamped naming pattern

Resources

• Snagit Step Capture

Next Steps

For video workflows, see techsmith-core-workflow-b.