Start with one step.

Overview: Your first Gradatimo tutorial

Start with a procedure you already know well—a software setup, a design dialog, or a repeatable team workflow. Gradatimo brings capturing, annotating, writing, and publishing into a single three-pane desktop workspace.

1. Create a new tutorial project, open an existing .gradatimo container, or reopen a previous guide from the Recent Projects gallery on the welcome screen (complete with cached preview thumbnails, step counts, and last-modified dates).
2. Select or create a lesson in the left-hand Lessons / Steps sidebar.
3. Start a recording session to capture actions with Shift + Click, take a manual Snapshot, or click + Image to import an existing photograph or screenshot.
4. Select a step on the left and write your explanation in the right-hand Step Instructions panel, using tokens like [Button] or {Option} to highlight interface controls.
5. Adjust the numbered click marker on the center canvas, crop to the relevant area, or apply a Permanent Mask over any sensitive information.
6. Open Preview to inspect your guide, then use Export to generate any of Gradatimo’s five publication formats: structured PDF guides, standalone HTML documents, searchable multi-lesson websites, animated HTML presentations, or instructional MP4 video tutorials.

Tutorials, lessons, and steps

Gradatimo organizes every project as Tutorial → Lesson → Step:

• Tutorial: The complete guide, including its title, author metadata, optional introduction, and lessons.
• Lesson: A focused section within a tutorial. A short walkthrough may need only one lesson, while a larger training manual can divide material across several lessons.
• Step: An individual instruction containing a captured or imported image (with markers, crops, and magnifiers) and written directions—or a text-only step for introductions, checklists, and prerequisites.

Project saving and recovery

Your editable source project is stored locally as a single portable .gradatimo file. Gradatimo includes automatic saving and crash-recovery snapshots while you work, and keeps your editable .gradatimo project separate from exported PDF, HTML, website, presentation, or MP4 video deliverables.

Troubleshooting basics

If an automatic pre-click capture does not record outside the Gradatimo window, verify that your operating system has granted screen-recording and accessibility permissions (covered in Capture → Screen-recording permissions). If you encounter a reproducible issue, use the Feedback & Support composer to format a diagnostic report.