Recording a Process

This page walks through a complete recording, from starting the recorder to receiving your finished process.

Before you start

• Connect your microphone and make sure it is not muted or in use by another application.
• Have your authorization code ready. Your ProcessPlan administrator provides it.
• Close any windows that show confidential or unrelated information. Everything on screen is captured.
• Plan for a recording of 30 minutes or less. Longer content should be recorded in multiple parts.

Start a recording

1. Right-click the ProcessPlan logo in the system tray and choose Start Recording.

2. Choose what the recording becomes:

   • New Process - enter a Process Name. This becomes the process name within ProcessPlan.
   • Merge with Existing Process - search for the process by name and select it from the results. The recording is added to that process. (Enter your authorization code before searching.)

3. Enter your Email Address. This must belong to a valid ProcessPlan user account, and it is where you will be notified when the process is ready.

4. Enter your Authorization Code. Click the eye button to show or hide the code as you type.

5. Select your Microphone from the list and test it: speak normally and watch the level meter. Your level should consistently reach past the dark vertical line, and the bar should be green rather than red. The line is the same standard the recorder holds you to while recording, so if you clear it here you will not be reminded to speak up later.

6. Click Start Recording. Your authorization code is checked, and a notification confirms the recording is active.

The recorder remembers your email address, authorization code, microphone choice, and last process name, so future recordings start faster.

Narrate everything you do

Speak clearly and describe each action as you perform it: what you are clicking, what you are entering, and why. The more detailed the narration, the better the resulting process. Quiet or missing narration cannot be processed, so keep talking throughout.

If the recorder hears nothing at all during the first 30 seconds, it stops the recording automatically - that almost always means the microphone is muted or the wrong one is selected. After that, nothing about your narration stops the recording; the recorder reminds you instead:

• Narration Needed - you have been silent for 30 seconds.
• Microphone Too Quiet - the recorder can hear you, but not clearly enough to process.

Either reminder repeats every 30 seconds until you fix it, and stops as soon as you do.

While you are recording

Work at your normal pace in your normal applications. The recorder follows whichever window you are working in, including across multiple monitors.

These keyboard shortcuts work no matter which application you are in:

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+R	Start a recording
Ctrl+Shift+S	Stop the recording
Ctrl+Shift+P	Pause or resume the recording
Ctrl+Shift+N	Restart the recording

• Pause when you need to step away or handle something that should not be recorded. Right-click the tray icon and choose Pause Recording, or press Ctrl+Shift+P. Choose Resume Recording (or press the same shortcut) to continue. Paused time does not count toward your recording.
• Restart if something went wrong and you want a clean take. Right-click the tray icon and choose Restart Recording, or press Ctrl+Shift+N. The current recording is discarded and a new one begins immediately with the same details.
• Check your status at any time by hovering over the tray icon or opening the tray menu. The status line shows the elapsed time.

Recordings are limited to 30 minutes

A notification warns you about two minutes before the limit. At 30 minutes the recording stops automatically, and everything captured up to that point is saved and uploaded. To document longer content, record it in multiple parts.

Stop the recording

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+S, or right-click the tray icon and choose Stop Recording.
2. The recorder prepares and uploads your recording automatically. Notifications show the progress, and a final message confirms the upload succeeded.
3. ProcessPlan builds the process from your recording. You receive an email at the address you entered when it is ready.

A few things to know:

• Recordings shorter than 45 seconds are discarded. Very short recordings do not contain enough to build a process from.
• Recordings where the recorder never heard you at all are discarded. If it could not hear you, it tells you why the recording stopped.
• If the upload cannot complete (for example, your internet connection dropped), the recording is kept safely on your computer. It is retried automatically the next time the recorder starts, or you can right-click the tray icon and choose Retry Recording Upload.

If something did not go as expected, see Recorder Troubleshooting.