Recording

Good recordings make editing quick. Almost all of the effort saved later comes from three habits: recording in short segments, saying take markers out loud, and keeping a log of what you recorded.

Choose your recording tool

Microsoft Teams is our default for screen walkthroughs — it captures the screen and produces an automatic transcript, which is what makes the take markers below searchable. Other options are available depending on what you are recording.

Option	When to use it
Microsoft Teams (default)	Screen walkthroughs of a live application. Records the screen and generates a transcript automatically.
PowerPoint Record	Slide-based training where the deck is the main content and you are narrating over it.
Snipping Tool	Short, targeted captures. Snip the region of the screen you are going to record rather than the whole desktop.
Other Microsoft Store software	Anything else available in the Microsoft Store that has been approved by IT.

⚠️ Heads up: Only record with software approved by IT. Check before installing anything new, particularly for sessions that will show live company data.

Use verbal anchors as take markers

This is the highest-value habit in the whole process. Before you record a section, say the marker out loud, and say the closing marker when you finish it:

Say “Take 5” clearly, then pause for a moment.
Record the section.
Say “Take 5 End” clearly before you stop or move on.

ℹ️ Good to know: Because the recording is transcribed automatically, anything you say becomes searchable text. Spoken take markers turn into distinct, findable landmarks — in Clipchamp you search the transcript for “take” and jump straight to the boundary, instead of scrubbing through the timeline hunting for it. See Trimming gaps and unwanted takes.

💡 Pro Tip: Speak the markers deliberately and slightly slower than the rest of your narration. A mumbled “take five” may be transcribed as something else and stops being findable.

Keep a take log

Keep a short running note of your takes as you record. It costs seconds at the time and saves you from reviewing hours of footage afterwards, because you already know which take was the good one.

Take	Section	Outcome	Use?
Take 1	Overview	Stumbled over the intro.	No
Take 2	Overview	Clean.	Yes
Take 3	Submitting a claim	Correct figures, clear explanation of the approval route.	Yes
Take 4	Submitting a claim	Wrong figures shown on screen.	No

💡 Pro Tip: Note why a take was the good one — for example that it had the accurate financial data, or the clearest explanation of a policy. That detail is what you will be trying to remember a week later.

Recording tips

Keep a consistent speed. A steady pace is easier to follow and much easier to cut between takes without the edit sounding abrupt.
Record in short segments. Instead of one long take, break the content into logical modules (“Overview”, “Step 1”, “Step 2”). Editing is easier and you only re-record the module you got wrong.
Keep your desktop clean. Close unrelated apps, silence notifications, and use a neutral background so nothing pulls attention away from the walkthrough.

Protect sensitive data on screen

Screen recordings capture whatever is on screen, including anything you did not intend to show. Before you hit record, check the data you are about to walk through.

⚠️ Heads up: Blur or avoid sensitive data — actual financial figures, employee names, payroll details — during screen recordings. Use demonstration or test data where you can. Full guidance is in Data privacy and compliance.