Quick Start Guide
A concise document designed to help users get started with a product, service, or process as quickly as possible by focusing on essential setup steps and basic functionality.
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What is a Quick Start Guide?
A Quick Start Guide (QSG) is a stripped-down instructional document that gets users up and running fast. Rather than walking through every feature and possible scenario like a full manual would, it zeroes in on the essential steps needed for initial success. Advanced features? Troubleshooting? Detailed explanations? Those get left out on purpose so nothing slows down that first experience.
These guides play a key role in cutting down the time it takes for new users to see value. The assumption is simple: people want to do something right now, not study every capability first. This focused approach keeps early frustration low, reduces support tickets during initial adoption, and helps users feel confident by ensuring some quick wins. You'll find QSGs used for software apps, physical products, business processes, and internal systems anywhere rapid onboarding matters for adoption and satisfaction.
What makes a quick start guide effective? Ruthless prioritization. It answers "What's the bare minimum someone needs to know to get going?" not "What might someone eventually want to know?" This makes QSGs fundamentally different from training manuals, operations manuals, or broader training documentation. Each serves its own purpose in the documentation mix.
Key Characteristics of Quick Start Guide
- Essential Steps Only: QSGs stick to the minimum actions needed to start using a product or finish a basic workflow. Advanced features, edge cases, optional configurations? They can wait.
- Goal-Oriented Structure: Each guide helps users hit one or two specific outcomes that deliver immediate value. No attempt at full coverage here, just quick success and confidence building. For ongoing reference needs, teams often complement QSGs with a quick reference guide.
- Minimal Prerequisites: Good quick start guides don't assume much prior knowledge beyond basic familiarity with the general domain. This lowers the barrier and lets users with varying experience levels jump in.
- Visual and Scannable Format: Screenshots, diagrams, numbered steps, clear visual hierarchy. QSGs lean heavily on visuals so users can follow along quickly without wading through dense paragraphs.
- Concise Length: Most clock in at one to five pages or screens. The goal is respecting users' time and staying focused on immediate value rather than attempting knowledge transfer.
Quick Start Guide Examples
Example 1: Software Application Onboarding
A project management platform puts together a quick start guide walking new users through three things: creating their first project, inviting a team member, and adding a task. Annotated screenshots guide each step. Automation rules, custom fields, integrations, none of that shows up here. Users experience success within their first five minutes instead.
Example 2: Hardware Device Setup
A smart home device manufacturer tucks a quick start guide into the box. Four steps: unbox and identify the parts, download the app, connect to WiFi, do one basic thing. Clear diagrams with minimal text make it work for users anywhere in the world, no need to dig up full manuals or call support.
Example 3: Business Process Documentation
A company rolling out a new expense system creates a quick start guide showing employees how to submit a simple expense claim with a receipt. That's it. International travel rules, per diem calculations, approval chains, all of that gets saved for later. Employees adopt the system immediately and pick up the rest as they go. This QSG might be part of a broader onboarding checklist for new hires.
Quick Start Guide vs Getting Started Guide
People often use these terms interchangeably, but there are subtle differences in scope and depth worth noting.
| Aspect | Quick Start Guide | Getting Started Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Achieve immediate success with minimal steps | Provide foundational understanding and initial setup |
| Depth | Ultra-focused on one or two basic tasks | Broader introduction covering multiple foundational concepts |
| When to use | When users need immediate value and quick wins | When users benefit from understanding core concepts before diving in |
How Glitter AI Helps with Quick Start Guide
Glitter AI turns quick start guide creation from a drawn-out documentation project into something that practically runs itself. Teams just perform the essential steps they want to document while Glitter captures everything, automatically generating visual guides with screenshots, annotations, and clear instructions. No more manually grabbing screens, writing descriptions, and fiddling with layouts, the stuff that traditionally makes QSG creation slow and inconsistent.
When products change, Glitter makes it easy to keep guides accurate. Setup processes shift, interfaces get updated? Just record the new workflow and regenerate guides in minutes instead of hours. For organizations that need quick start guides at scale, Glitter can produce consistent documentation across multiple products, features, or processes without needing dedicated technical writers or designers for each one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Quick Start Guide?
A Quick Start Guide (QSG) is a concise instructional document that focuses on the minimum essential steps needed to begin using a product, service, or process successfully. It prioritizes speed and immediate value over comprehensive coverage, typically ranging from one to five pages.
What is an example of a Quick Start Guide?
A common example is a software app's quick start guide showing new users how to create their first project, invite a team member, and add a task—focusing only on these core actions without explaining advanced features, settings, or troubleshooting that users can learn later.
Why is a Quick Start Guide important?
Quick start guides reduce time-to-value by helping users achieve early success quickly, minimize initial frustration and support requests, improve adoption rates by building confidence through immediate wins, and respect users' time by avoiding information overload during the critical first experience.
How do I create a Quick Start Guide?
Identify the single most important outcome users need to achieve first, document only the essential steps required to reach that outcome, use visual elements like screenshots and numbered steps for clarity, limit length to one to five pages, and test with actual users to ensure they can succeed independently. Tools like Glitter AI can automate guide creation from screen recordings.
What is the difference between a Quick Start Guide and a manual?
A manual provides comprehensive documentation covering all features, scenarios, and troubleshooting information for complete product understanding. A Quick Start Guide focuses exclusively on the minimum steps needed to begin using the product successfully, deliberately excluding advanced features and detailed explanations to prioritize speed and immediate value.
Turn any process into a step-by-step guide