Create a Quick Reference Guide
A Quick Reference Guide turns a Skyllful Lesson into a step by step guide Learners can read on their own, and this article shows Content Developers and Instructional Designers how to choose which steps appear, control what each step shows, and export the guide to a Word document.
What is a Quick Reference Guide?
A Quick Reference Guide, or QRG, is a step by step guide built from a Lesson's steps. Learners read it rather than work through it, so it suits a job aid someone keeps beside them while they do the task for real.
The guide reuses the Lesson you have already built. You choose which steps appear, word each one for a reader, and decide whether each step shows its screen. The finished guide exports as a Word document, so you can keep editing it afterwards.
Is Quick Reference Guide a Lesson mode?
No. It appears in the View Steps row and as a tab on every step, alongside the five Lesson modes, but it is an output format rather than a learning mode.
The settings tell you as much. A Lesson mode carries an estimated time for Skyllful IQ, the skills it builds, and a background image Learners see in Skyllful Simulator. Quick Reference Guide has none of those, because nobody completes it. It has a title, a description, an introduction and a conclusion, which are the parts of a document.
Note: The View Steps row calls it Quick Reference Guide and the tab on each step calls it Quick Ref Guide. They are the same thing.
What is built on the General tab, and what is built on the Quick Ref Guide tab?
The foundation is built on the step's General tab. That is where the step's name, description, and the control the Learner acts on are set.
The guide is then written on the step's Quick Ref Guide tab. That is where you decide whether a step belongs in the guide at all, how it reads on the page, and how much of the screen a reader sees.
Most of the guide comes from what is already built. The reader sees each step's screen with its control outlined, alongside the step's own wording, so what works in the Lesson usually works in the guide. Use the overrides on this tab only where the guide needs something different.
How do you build a Quick Reference Guide?
Step |
Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open the Lesson in Lesson Builder. |
| 2 | In the View Steps row, choose Quick Reference Guide. The Quick Reference Guide Lesson Mode Settings panel opens, and every step switches to its Quick Ref Guide tab. |
| 3 | Complete the Quick Reference Guide Lesson Mode Settings, including the introduction and conclusion the reader sees. |
| 4 | On each step, select Show step in QRG for the steps that belong in the guide. |
| 5 | Adjust any step that needs different wording in the guide, and hide the screen image or the control outlines where they do not help. |
| 6 | Select Update to save your changes. |
| 7 | Select Preview to check the guide and export it. |
Note: Update stays unavailable until you change something, and your work is saved only when you select it. Leaving Lesson Builder without selecting Update discards your changes.
What is in Quick Reference Guide Lesson Mode Settings?
These settings apply to the whole guide.
Setting |
What it does |
|---|---|
| Title Override | Replaces the title at the top of the guide. |
| Description Override | Replaces the description that introduces the guide. |
| Intro/Disclaimer | Text that appears before the first step. Use it for a safety notice, a scope note, or anything a reader should see before they start. |
| Conclusion | Text that appears after the last step. |
What can you set on a step?
Setting |
What it does |
|---|---|
| Show step in QRG | Whether this step appears in the guide. |
| Step Name Override | Replaces the step's name as it appears in the guide. |
| Screen Description | Describes the screen for the reader. |
| Step Description Override | Replaces the step's description for the guide only. |
| Hide Screen Image | Leaves the screen image out of this step. |
| Hide Control Outlines | Shows the screen without the outlines drawn around its controls. |
Note: The step checkbox reads Show step in QRG, not Include in lesson mode as it does on the five Lesson modes. Nothing is being included in a mode, because a guide is not a mode.
How do you choose which steps appear?
Select Show step in QRG on each step you want in the guide, and leave it clear on the rest.
A guide does not have to mirror the Lesson step for step. Steps that exist to set up a screen, or that a reader would find obvious, can be left out to keep the guide short.
How do you control what a reader sees of the screen?
Two settings decide how much of the screen appears with a step.
Setting |
Use it when |
|---|---|
| Hide Screen Image | The words alone are clear, or the screen would add nothing to a printed page. |
| Hide Control Outlines | The screen helps but the outlines around its controls are distracting in a document. |
How do you preview and export the guide?
Step |
Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | With Quick Reference Guide chosen in View Steps, select Preview in the bottom bar. The guide opens as a reader will see it. |
| 2 | In Export Include Options on the right, select the sections you want in the guide. |
| 3 | Select Hide Unspecified Sections to leave out anything you have not filled in. |
| 4 | Choose the language at the top right, if the Learning Program has more than one. |
| 5 | Select Export. The guide is exported as a Word document. |
| 6 | Select Close to return to Lesson Builder. |
Note: The guide exports as a Word document, so you can keep editing it after it leaves Skyllful.
Note: Use the zoom control at the bottom of the preview to read the guide at a comfortable size. It changes the preview only, not the export.
What can you include in the guide?
Export Include Options decides which sections appear. Clear a section to leave it out of every step at once.
Section |
What it is |
|---|---|
| Lesson Title | The title at the top of the guide. |
| Intro/Disclaimer | Your opening text, before the first step. |
| Lesson Description | The description that introduces the guide. |
| Screen Image | The screen picture on each step. |
| Screen Description | Your description of each screen. |
| Step Name | The name of each step. |
| Step Description | The instruction for each step. |
| Conclusion | Your closing text, after the last step. |
Note: A section you have not filled in shows as *[Unspecified]* in the preview. Select Hide Unspecified Sections to keep those out rather than clearing each one.
Note: Screen images can be controlled at two levels. Hide Screen Image on a step leaves that one screen out. Clearing Screen Image in Export Include Options leaves every screen out of the guide.
What if the guide does not look right?
Symptom |
What to do |
|---|---|
| A step is missing from the guide | Open that step's Quick Ref Guide tab and select Show step in QRG. |
| A step needs different wording in the guide | Enter it in Step Description Override. That changes the guide only, and leaves the Lesson untouched. |
| A step's name does not suit the guide | Use Step Name Override. |
| Screens make the guide long | Select Hide Screen Image on the steps where the words are enough. |
| Outlines on the screens look wrong in a document | Select Hide Control Outlines. |
| The guide shows sections marked [Unspecified] | Those sections have no content yet. Select Hide Unspecified Sections in the preview, or clear them in Export Include Options. |
| A section appears on every step and you do not want it | Clear it in Export Include Options in the preview. |
| A mode tab is red | Something on that tab is missing or needs fixing before the Lesson can be updated or published. Open the tab and complete what is flagged. |
| Your changes disappear | Changes are saved only when you select Update. |
Where can you get help?
If you need help, start with your manager, then your Local Administrator. If additional assistance is needed, your Local Administrator can submit a support ticket to Skyllful.
Skyllful Knowledge Base | Content Developers, Instructional Designers