Dr.Explain Review — Features, Pros, and When to Use It

Dr.Explain: The Easiest Tool for Creating Software DocumentationCreating clear, user-friendly software documentation is often as challenging as building the software itself. Developers and product teams face tight deadlines, shifting features, and the constant need to make documentation both accurate and accessible. Dr.Explain positions itself as a tool designed to simplify that process by automating routine tasks, capturing UI details, and producing multiple output formats from a single source. This article examines what makes Dr.Explain easy to use, its core features, common workflows, strengths and limitations, and practical tips for getting the best results.

What is Dr.Explain?

Dr.Explain is a documentation authoring tool focused on producing software help files, user manuals, and online documentation. Its standout capability is automatic interface capture: the tool can take screenshots of application windows and automatically detect, label, and annotate controls (buttons, fields, menus) to build step-by-step guides and reference materials quickly. It supports exporting documentation in formats such as HTML Help (CHM), Web Help, PDF, Word, and more.

Why “easiest” — core reasons

• Automatic UI recognition: Dr.Explain analyzes screenshots and recognizes UI elements, creating hotspots and annotations automatically. This significantly reduces manual screenshot editing and markup time.
• Single-source, multi-format output: Write once and publish to several formats (HTML, CHM, PDF, Word, Web Help), removing repetitive conversion work.
• WYSIWYG editor with structured output: The editor offers visual editing while enforcing structured output suitable for help systems and manuals.
• Templates and styles: Pre-built templates and style controls help create consistent documentation quickly without deep design skills.
• Integrated screenshot tools: Built-in capture features let you grab windows, regions, menus, and dialogs without switching apps.

Key features and how they speed up documentation

• Automatic control recognition and hotspots: When you capture a window or dialog, Dr.Explain identifies UI controls and generates annotations. Instead of manually cropping and drawing callouts, you get a labeled mockup ready for text.
• Topic-based authoring: Documentation is organized into topics/chapters, which makes it easy to reuse content and maintain logical navigation.
• Image editor and callouts: Edit screenshots, add arrows, numbers, and highlight areas directly in Dr.Explain.
• Multi-format publishing: Export a single project to CHM, WebHelp, PDF, Word, and plain HTML.
• Styles and templates: Use built-in themes or customize templates to match your product branding.
• Search and index generation: Produces searchable help with indexes and full-text search where supported.
• Conditional content and variables: Include or exclude content for different product editions or languages, and use variables for repeated text (version numbers, product names).
• Localization support: Export/import translation packages and work with translators efficiently.

Typical workflow

1. Plan documentation structure: define major topics and user journeys (installation, getting started, tasks, reference).
2. Capture UI screens: use Dr.Explain’s capture tool to grab windows and dialogs.
3. Auto-recognition and annotation: accept or tweak detected hotspots, add labels and short descriptions.
4. Add step-by-step procedures: write task-oriented instructions, link screenshots where relevant.
5. Review and polish: adjust images, format text with styles, and run built-in checks.
6. Publish: export to desired formats; create a WebHelp package for online hosting or CHM/PDF for offline distribution.

Practical examples

• Onboarding guide: Capture the primary app window and create a “Getting Started” topic that walks users through the first-run setup with annotated screenshots.
• Feature tutorials: For a multi-step process (e.g., report creation), add sequential screenshots with numbered callouts and concise step instructions.
• Reference manual: Use automatic recognition on preference dialogs and list each control’s function in a clean, indexed topic.

Pros and cons

Tips to get the most out of Dr.Explain

• Use consistent naming and structure for topics early—this saves time when the project grows.
• Create and reuse templates for repetitive sections (installation steps, error messages).
• Check auto-detected hotspots carefully—custom controls or canvas-based UIs sometimes need manual labeling.
• Leverage variables for version numbers and product names to avoid repeated edits.
• Export intermediate builds (HTML or WebHelp) to share drafts with stakeholders for feedback without full publishing.
• For teams, establish a folder structure and naming conventions to manage images and source files cleanly.

Limitations and when to consider alternatives

Dr.Explain is optimized for application-centric documentation with many UI screenshots. If your documentation needs are primarily long-form narrative content, complex printed layouts (magazine-style design), or extensive collaborative editing workflows, you might prefer alternatives like MadCap Flare, Adobe FrameMaker, Confluence (with plugins), or even traditional desktop publishing tools combined with source-control-friendly authoring (Markdown systems). Also, if your application uses highly dynamic or canvas-rendered controls, auto-recognition may struggle, increasing manual work.

Licensing and platform notes

Dr.Explain is a commercial product with paid licensing; pricing and licensing models may change over time. It runs on Windows and is focused on documenting Windows applications, web pages, and mobile app screenshots captured from emulators or device screenshots. Check the vendor’s site for the latest platform compatibility and licensing options.

Conclusion

Dr.Explain stands out for turning the repetitive, detail-heavy parts of software documentation into a faster, more automated workflow. Its automatic UI capture and annotation, combined with multi-format publishing and templating, make it a compelling choice for teams that need clear, screenshot-rich manuals and help systems quickly. For projects that require heavy collaborative authoring, very complex print layouts, or documentation that’s mostly long-form text without UI screenshots, evaluate alternatives; otherwise, Dr.Explain is often the easiest route from UI to finished documentation.