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I'm not entirely sure why you'd need to document old procedures, full stop.
In general, when you update a user guide, you're updating procedures because
new buttons, menus, functionality, etc. have been added. Does the user need
to know how a procedure used to be done? Is it relevant to how the
procedure is done now?
It seems like something like this would be found in marketing literature -
"Here's the new and improved functionality. Previously, you had to do a
whole lot of stuff to do the same thing". If you're writing a task-based
procedures document, I think that mentioning old functionality would add a
lot of clutter. Steps should be short, simple, and to the point. If this
is for a changes document, I would put "old" and "new" procedures in a table
if necessary.
Cheers,
Lisa
Subject: Old Functionality
From: Paul Hanson <PHanson -at- Quintrex -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 08:40:49 -0500
X-Message-Number: 20
What I've found is the opposite type of wording in our older documentation.
There's a lot of "Now you can do ZZZ, previously you had to do XXX and YYY
to accomplish the same task." I'd appreciate any thoughts on that type of
wording. I know it would depend on the type of document, whether it was an
Explanation of Changes document or a task-based procedures document. Let's
assume that it is in a task-based procedures document. You are reading text
like this (and assume that the end-user wants to know what files are being
updated):
<In a software called Interface Maintenance>
Adding a Code
1. Click Add.
2. Enter the code and a description. The code and description are added to
the GNPXXFS file as well as the XXFSGNP file. Previously, you would have had
to enter the code in System Codes Maintenace to add the code to the XXFSGNP
file.
<snip>
The sentence that begins "Previously . . ." is what I'm talking about.
Needed explanation? Marketing material?
Paul
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