Authoring Tools

generally speaking, an authoring tool is a software application or platform that enables technical writers to create, edit, structure and manage content for documentation an authoring tool typically supports depending on the tool, you could author in pure wysiwyg ("what you see is what you get") tools like microsoft word or google docs provide a visual interface for formatting text, inserting images and creating tables, without needing technical skills with pure wysiwyg tools, users don't have access to the underlying structure of the documents wiki style wiki platforms such as confluence allow collaborative, web based documentation creation with real time updates and internal linking most wikis give users access to edit the underlying code (html, markdown), but not always out of the box html based tools like madcap flare or adobe robohelp support complex layouts and multi format publishing users have access to a wysiwyg editor, but can also edit the html source files directly plain text markdown, asciidoc and restructuredtext have lightweight syntax, ideal for developers (asciidoc and restructuredtext offer more complex features compared to markdown ) to publish documentation written in a plain text format, you need a static site generator like docusaurus or hugo choosing an authoring tool the choice between docs as code and traditional documentation equally depends on two things people (who is writing and maintaining the documentation) and features (what functionality is mandatory for your use case) the "best documentation tool" doesn't exist all that exists is the best tool for a specific scenario, within specific constraints use the tables below, add your own questions, then review the list of popular authoring tools for ideas when it comes to the people, focus on these aspects consideration comments technical vs non technical contributors the contributors' comfort level with technical things is important someone who only uses word will not want to learn git and markdown just to add a sentence in your docs level of involvement make sure your coworkers actually want to write documentation some genuinely prefer to just explain things and have a professional handle the writing management stance if management doesn't support their employees in contributing to documentation, it's not going to happen for the technology part, focus on these features feature comments collaboration if multiple non technical people have to contribute, choose tools like confluence or google docs if multiple technical people are involved, consider a docs as code workflow advanced features (versioning, variables, conditions) some tools are simple to set up, but lack advanced features tools that do have these features vary in their ease of use scalability for large volumes of documentation, build times matter offline documentation offline documentation is mandatory in some industries, so if you choose a cloud based tool, make sure it has a way to export the documentation for offline consumption automation support if you want to set up a delivery pipeline for the documentation, choose a tool that supports this (e g , command line only tools or those with batch versions) customization you may need to adapt the look and feel to your company brand some tools offer visual customization, while others require web development knowledge text editor the choice of editor (wysiwyg vs plain text) depends on who is contributing to the documentation access control if the documentation needs to be password protected, choose a tool that supports it or budget time and resources to implement it output type do you need to generate a website or a standalone document? not all documentation tools generate pdfs natively, and word support is ever rarer the support for customizing pdf output varies from tool to tool migration if you already have documentation in a different tool, consider the migration cost integration with external platforms if you need to publish to platforms like salesforce or zendesk, choose a tool that offers native export support analyze the support offerings before choosing a tool—this could range from official vendor support to stackoverflow and github issues costs most free tools still have a cost—generally a bigger time investment for setup and maintenance an more in depth analysis of the decisions to make when choosing a tool is available from brian dominick here authoring tools reference this section describes some of the most popular authoring tools on the market (as of 2025) they are loosely grouped by category, but a definitive grouping is difficult to define, since most tools can be used for different purposes adobe robohelp attribute description website adobe robohelp https //www adobe com/products/robohelp html description a help authoring tool used mostly for html help systems it supports conditional content, variables and output customization \&##xa;it has a high learning curve for complete newbies, but requires no programming knowledge deployment desktop authoring format html, using a wysiwyg editor output format html5, pdf, word, chm, etc madcap flare attribute description website madcap flare https //www madcapsoftware com/flare/ description a help authoring tool used mostly for html help systems it supports conditional content, variables and output customization it has a high learning curve for complete newbies, but requires no programming knowledge flare can integrate with madcap central, a cloud based content management platform which offers version control and hosting/publishing for flare projects deployment desktop (windows only) authoring format xhtml, using a wysiwyg editor output format html5, pdf, word, chm, epub, etc adobe framemaker attribute description website adobe framemaker https //www adobe com/products/framemaker html description a desktop publishing and structured authoring tool, best suited for complex documents published in pdf newer versions can also generate online help \&##xa;it supports conditional content and variables it has two modes of authoring structured (for example, dita) and unstructured \&##xa;it has a high learning curve for complete newbies, but requires no programming knowledge deployment desktop authoring format proprietary format, using a wysiwyg editor output format pdf, html5, epub, rtf, word oxygen xml editor attribute description website oxygen xml editor https //www oxygenxml com/ description an xml authoring tool for creating structured content in dita, docbook and other standards \&##xa;offers validation, transformation scenarios and integration with content management systems \&##xa;it has a high learning curve for complete newbies, but requires little programming knowledge however, users must understand the basics of xml and customization for pdf output is done with xslt deployment desktop authoring format xml, using a wysiwyg editor output format html, pdf, epub, word, xml, dita rws tridion docs attribute description website tridion docs https //www rws com/tridion docs/ description enterprise level documentation management system for creating, managing and delivering dita structured content deployment cloud authoring format xml, using a wysiwyg editor output format html, pdf, word, xml microsoft word attribute description website microsoft word https //www microsoft com/en us/microsoft 365/word description the most used word processor it supports basic styles, templates and review features like track changes and comments \&##xa;not ideal for complex documents due to lack of support for topic based authoring and conditions, but available on almost every computer \&##xa;it is easy to learn how to do basic tasks deployment desktop authoring format office open xml, using a wysiwyg editor output format docx, pdf, rtf, html (single page) google docs attribute description google docs website google docs https //docs google com/ description word processing tool available online, with limited features such as basic styles, templates and review \&##xa;not ideal for complex documents, but is easy to learn and is free deployment cloud authoring format wysiwyg editor output format docx, pdf, html, rtf static site generators (mkdocs, sphinx, jekyll, hugo, etc) attribute description website mkdocs https //mkdocs org/ / sphinx https //www sphinx doc org/ / https //jekyllrb com/ https //jekyllrb com/ https //jekyllrb com/ https //jekyllrb com/ jekyll / https //gohugo io https //gohugo io https //gohugo io https //gohugo io hugo \&##xa;an extensive list of static site generators is https //jamstack org/generators/ https //jamstack org/generators/ https //jamstack org/generators/ https //jamstack org/generators/ available on jamstack description lightweight tools that convert plain text files into static websites \&##xa;popular in developer communities due to support for authoring in any text editor and lack of upfront costs \&##xa;support various features out of the box (depending on the generator) and are extensible, but require programming/devops knowledge to extend and maintain deployment desktop authoring format markdown, asciidoc, restructuredtext, using a plain text editor (vscode, notepad++, sublime, etc)\&##xa;(depending on the generator) output format html, pdf (with additional plugins) gitbook attribute description website gitbook https //www gitbook com/ description a lightweight platform for writing and publishing documentation, popular with development teams deployment cloud authoring format markdown, using a wysiwyg editor output format html, pdf paligo attribute description website paligo https //www paligo net/ description structured authoring tool based on docbook xml supports multi channel publishing and content reuse deployment cloud authoring format xml, using a wysiwyg editor output format html, pdf, epub, word, etc confluence attribute description website confluence https //www atlassian com/software/confluence description a wiki platform by atlassian \&##xa;it is popular for its collaboration features, for ease of authoring for non technical people and integration with jira and other atlassian tools \&##xa;supports advanced features like conditional content and variables only through plugins, such as those offered by https //www k15t com/ https //www k15t com/ https //www k15t com/ https //www k15t com/ k15t deployment cloud authoring format html, using a wysiwyg editor output format pdf, html archbee attribute description website archbee https //archbee io/ description a cloud based knowledge management and documentation platform supports conditional content, variables, versioning and collaboration deployment cloud authoring format markdown, using a wysiwyg editor output format html, pdf document360 attribute description website document360 https //document360 com/ description a cloud based knowledge management system for creating internal documentation and knowledge bases \&##xa;supports conditional content, variables and collaboration deployment cloud authoring format markdown or wysiwyg editor output format html, pdf readme attribute description website readme https //readme com/ description platform designed for creating api documentation deployment cloud authoring format markdown, using a wysiwyg editor output format html, pdf redocly attribute description website redocly https //redoc ly/ / reunite description reunite, part of the redocly offering, is an api documentation platform for managing and versioning api content deployment cloud authoring format openapi, markdown output format html