How to record a software walkthrough for clients

Updated 10 October 2026

This is for anyone who sets up or supports software for other people: an agency handing over a Shopify, HubSpot or Odoo build, a consultant or accountant explaining Xero or QuickBooks, a support team answering the same question for the third time. A walkthrough replaces the call where you share your screen, and unlike the call, the client can watch it again next month.

What your client sees

Clients often watch on a laptop, or on a phone between meetings, where a full-screen recording of business software is small and busy. Here is the same recording twice. Before is a plain screen capture. After is what ScreenCursor made from it, with a zoom on each click, untouched by hand.

The client sees the button you clicked and the field that changed, without hunting for your cursor.

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1. Pick one task, in the client’s words

A walkthrough works when the client can do something right after watching it. So each video teaches one task, and its title is the task as the client would say it: “Approve a supplier bill”, not “Purchasing module overview”.

• Start where the client starts. Usually that is the screen they see after logging in, not the settings page you would begin from.
• Write the clicks down, one per line, with the sentence you will say during each. It takes a few minutes and stops you wandering halfway through the recording.
• Note where people get stuck. If a step trips clients up in real life, slow down there and say what to do when it goes wrong.
• Keep it short. We aim for one to four minutes per task. If yours runs longer, it is probably two tasks, and two short videos are easier to find again than one long one.

2. Keep the client’s data off camera

Most walkthrough guides skip this step, and it is the one a client remembers if it goes wrong. A recording of their system can show invoices, customer names, bank details or salaries, and videos get forwarded.

• Record in a test copy if there is one. Xero has a Demo Company, Shopify partners can make development stores, and Odoo can create a database with demo data. A walkthrough recorded there can be reused for your next client too.
• If you have to use the live account, open only the screen you need and look before you record: other customers in a list, totals on a dashboard, an email address in a corner, an API key on a settings page.
• Log in before you press record, so no password is typed on camera.
• Share the tab, not the screen. When Chrome asks what to share, choose the tab with the client’s software. Nothing else on your computer can appear: no email, no chat, no other client’s files.
• Know where the recording goes. With ScreenCursor, recording, editing and export all happen in Chrome on your own computer, and nothing is uploaded, to us or anyone else. The file you send afterwards is still the client’s data, so share it privately, as in step 6.

3. Set up the screen

• Close the other tabs and hide the bookmarks bar with Ctrl+Shift+B on Windows or Cmd+Shift+B on a Mac.
• Make the text bigger. Press Ctrl and + on Windows, or Cmd and + on a Mac, once or twice. Clients often watch on a laptop, or on a phone between meetings.
• Turn on Do Not Disturb and quit Slack and your email app, so a message preview never lands in the middle of the recording.
• Open the screen where the task starts, so the video begins on the first step instead of on you finding it.

On a Mac, the first time you record, allow Chrome under System Settings, Privacy & Security, Screen Recording (Screen & System Audio Recording on newer versions of macOS), then quit and reopen Chrome. Windows does not ask.

4. Record it as if the client were on a call

With ScreenCursor, recording goes like this:

1. Click the ScreenCursor icon in Chrome’s toolbar. If you cannot see it, click the puzzle-piece icon and pin ScreenCursor.
2. Turn on Microphone.
3. Click Choose screen…, pick the tab with the client’s software, and click Share.
4. The first time, Chrome asks about your microphone. Choose Allow while visiting the site and it will not ask again.
5. Do the task from your list, talking as you go.
6. To stop, click the ScreenCursor icon again. The editor opens with a zoom already placed on every click, drag and keystroke.

How to talk through it

• Say why, not only what. “We approve it here so the supplier is paid in Friday’s run” teaches more than “click Approve”.
• Use the words on the screen. Read each button’s label as it appears, so the client can find it again when you are not there.
• Click, then keep still for a second. The zoom settles, and the client has time to see where you clicked.
• Fumbled a step? Keep going. Pause and do it again. You will cut the bad attempt out in the editor, and the zooms move with the cut.
• Recording a set? Export each video before you record the next one. ScreenCursor keeps only your latest recording, so a new take replaces the last.

5. Edit it for the client

A client walkthrough needs fewer edits than a marketing demo. Three are worth the time.

Check the zooms

Play it through once. Select a zoom you do not want and press Delete, or press Z to add one where the playhead is. To aim a zoom at the field that matters, like a total or a status, right-click it and choose Zoom focus point, then drag the box over it.

A lot of business software runs in the browser, and that is where zooms place themselves. If part of the task happens in a desktop app, such as the spreadsheet an export opens in, add those zooms with Zoom focus point.

Cut the waiting

Press S to split the clip at the playhead and delete the fumbled attempts. For the parts the client should see but not sit through, like a report loading or a file uploading, speed that clip up instead of cutting it.

Leave the rest plain

No music and no intro. The client opened the video to do a task, so the first second should already show their software. A plain background and the 16:9 shape suit a video that will be watched on a laptop.

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6. Send it so the client can keep it

Export an MP4 at 1080p. For software, 30 fps is plenty, and it keeps the file smaller than 60. The video saves to your computer, with no watermark.

• Name it after the task, with a number: “03 Approve a supplier bill.mp4”. A client scanning a folder finds it in seconds.
• Send a link, not an attachment. Gmail and Outlook.com both stop at 25 MB per email, and most walkthroughs are bigger than that. Put the file in a Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox folder shared only with the client, and send them the link.
• Put the link where the task lives: next to the written steps in your handover document, in the client’s support ticket, or pinned in the Slack or Teams channel you share.
• Ask the client to try the task once with the video playing. If they get stuck, that is the step to record again.

The handover set: what to record at the end of a project

If you build or set up a system for a client, a short set of walkthroughs saves you a lot of “quick questions” later. This set covers most of them:

1. Getting around: logging in, where the main screens are, and how to ask you for help.
2. The daily tasks: one video for each of the three to five things they will do every day.
3. The rare tasks: month-end, year-end, adding a new user. These are the ones nobody remembers how to do.
4. When something goes wrong: the errors you saw while testing, and what to do about each.

Number them in the order a new person should watch them, and keep them in one folder the client owns. When a screen changes, record just that video again: the file name tells you which one. If you also make videos that sell, our guide on how to make a product demo video covers that kind.

Common questions

How long should a software walkthrough video be?

Long enough to show one task from start to finish. We aim for one to four minutes. If a walkthrough runs much longer, it usually covers two tasks, and two short videos with clear names are easier for a client to find again than one long one.

Should I record a walkthrough in the client’s live system?

Use a test copy when there is one, such as Xero’s Demo Company, a Shopify development store or an Odoo database with demo data, so no real data appears and the video can be reused. If you have to use the live system, log in before recording, record only the browser tab with their software, and check the screen for other customers, amounts and email addresses before you press record.

How do I send a large video to a client?

Share a link instead of attaching the file. Gmail and Outlook.com both limit an email to 25 MB, which most walkthrough videos go over. Put the MP4 in a Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox folder shared only with the client, and send the link. The client keeps the file, and you can replace it when the software changes.

Does ScreenCursor upload my recordings?

No. Recording, zoom placement, editing and export all happen inside Chrome on your own computer. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account. The only network request the extension makes is to check your license key with Polar, at most once a fortnight.

Can I record a walkthrough on Windows, Mac and Linux?

Yes. ScreenCursor runs in Google Chrome on Windows, macOS and Linux, and one license covers three computers for $49 once. On a Mac, allow Chrome to record the screen the first time, under System Settings, Privacy & Security.

Does auto zoom work in desktop apps like Excel?

Zooms place themselves in web apps in Chrome, which is where a lot of business software runs today, from Xero and QuickBooks Online to Shopify, HubSpot and Odoo. In a desktop app ScreenCursor records the screen but cannot see the clicks, so you aim those zooms yourself with Zoom focus point in the editor.

What is the difference between a walkthrough and a product demo?

A product demo sells: it shows a prospect the best moment of a product, usually in under two minutes. A walkthrough teaches: it shows someone who already uses the software how to do one task, step by step. The recording steps are the same and the planning is different. Our guide on how to make a product demo video covers the selling kind.