The Manual is Finally Finished

The Manual Is Finally Finished

The last article talked about finishing your first draft and sending it to your reviewers. Unless you need to write a second draft (see the last article for more about that), you are ready to put the finishing touches on your manual. Please remember that all of my articles relate to any type of manual, procedures, or documentation you may need to write.

Once you incorporate all of your reviewers’ comments, you need to reread the entire manual at least once more. You want to again look for the items I mentioned in the last rticle. Use your word processor’s spell checker to help find typos. Remember, though, that many typos still result in a word—even if it is the wrong word for the context—that your spell checker will not mark as an error. For example, I frequently type form instead of from. No spell checking program that I know of is going to find that error. If possible, ask someone else to read the whole manual. Your client or manager should also read and sign off on the final version.

Once your text is finished, you can create the Table of Contents (TOC). Your word processing software can probably create the TOC for you. Most word processors let you specify which headings to put into the TOC and the system generates it automatically. You can then format the text the way you want it. Even though the system generated it, be sure to proofread the TOC and check the accuracy of the page numbers.

If your manual has an index or a glossary, now is the time to finish those. I say finish because you should have made notes as you drafted the text about the topics for the index and the terms for the glossary. Your word processor may also help you create the index, but once again, you must proofread it carefully. Since indexing is a topic unto itself, I’ll save getting into detail for a future article.

The key to a clean final copy is proofreading. You must be sure that you, and preferably someone else also, read every single page and every single word of the final manual. You should check all page references in the TOC, index, and any cross references you inserted in the text.

As you review the final text, you also want to look at your page layout. You can control (at least to some extent) where the pages break. You don’t want to leave a heading at the bottom of a page and first line of text at the top of the next page. You also don’t want to leave a single line of a paragraph at the top of page or at the bottom. These are called widows (last line of a paragraph at the top of a page) and orphans (first line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page). Some word processors help you control widows and orphans automatically. Even with that help, you will need to closely examine where the pages break.

If you need to squeeze a line of text on a page, you have a couple of strategies available. You can read the page and see if you can eliminate a word or two that will result in eliminating a line of text. I use this technique when I have a line that contains just one word. Sometimes I can rewrite the sentence, or one before it, to eliminate one word. That way I save a whole line by taking out just one word. Another technique is to reduce the space between lines of just that one page. In most word processors you can control the spacing of the text you create. Be careful with this technique, because you don’t want that one page to be very hard to read or to look very different from the rest. I use this technique when I have short lines such as in bullet lists or steps. I can usually shrink the spacing between those short lines (these lines already have extra spacing in them) by a point or two without sacrificing readability. You’ll need to judge for yourself.

Once you have proofread the whole manual a couple of times and fixed how the pages fall, you are ready to create the final disk or printout. If you reproduce from a hard copy, you should print the manual on a 600 dpi (or better) laser printer and use special laser print paper. Several paper manufacturers produce a 24-pound paper with a finish that makes your printout look very crisp and clear.

Now you’re ready to let your printer or reproduction department take over and you can celebrate the completion of your manual. Congratulations!