Document a process fast, in your browser, free

Yes, CobaltCapture is the fastest way to document a process once and ship it. No install, no signup, no per-seat pricing. Capture a screen, talk through the steps, export to markdown, Word, or PDF, or share a public URL. The doc lives wherever your team already keeps things.

Why process documentation is slow today

Process knowledge usually lives in someone's head. The person who needs to write it down is also the person doing the job. The documentation tooling on the market is either enterprise overkill (multi-seat SOP platforms with template libraries and approval flows) or non-existent (a Google Doc with no good way to embed screenshots).

The result: the doc never gets written. Then someone goes on vacation, or leaves the role, or onboards a new hire, and the same conversation happens for the third time.

The friction is in the authoring step:

• Switching between the system you're documenting and the doc you're writing.
• Taking screenshots, cropping them, dropping them somewhere with a stable URL.
• Typing out steps you can describe out loud in 30 seconds.
• Picking a tool, signing up for it, getting your team's IT to approve it.

CobaltCapture removes that friction. You're done before you would have finished setting up the SOP platform.

The workflow

1. Open the system, app, or page you're documenting.
2. Open CobaltCapture in a second tab. No signup needed.
3. Click Capture, pick the tab or window, drag a box around what matters.
4. Hit Dictate and talk through the step out loud. The voice transcript becomes editable text next to the screenshot.
5. Repeat for each step. Reorder, edit, crop as needed.
6. Click Copy as markdown, Export to Word, Export to PDF, or grab the public URL, depending on where the doc needs to land.

Done. The doc gets written this afternoon instead of "next week."

What the output looks like

A clean document with one heading per step, embedded screenshots, and your dictated narration as paragraphs:

# How to publish a release to staging

![Screenshot 1](https://cobaltcapture.com/r/abc12345/img/1.png)

Open the deployment dashboard and pick the **staging** environment from
the dropdown. The build number should match the PR you're shipping.

---

![Screenshot 2](https://cobaltcapture.com/r/abc12345/img/2.png)

Click **Deploy** and wait for the green check. If the check is red,
roll back via the same screen, don't try to push a fix on top.

Same content as a public URL, a Word doc, and a PDF. One click each.

Where the output goes

CobaltCapture is the writing step. The doc lives wherever your team already keeps things:

• SharePoint or Google Drive: use the Word export.
• Notion, Confluence, or an internal wiki: paste the markdown.
• A handover doc: share the public URL when someone is leaving the role.
• A training note for a new hire: PDF in an email, or a public URL in a Slack DM.
• A repo's docs/ folder: save the markdown as a .md file.

One artifact, every destination. No new platform to adopt, no migration, no training.

What CobaltCapture is not

Not a knowledge base system. Not a process management platform. Not a training platform. Not Scribe, Tango, Trainual, or Process Street.

CobaltCapture is the lightweight authoring tool for the user who does not need a knowledge-base system, because the doc lives in SharePoint or Notion or an email, not in a dedicated platform.

That's a deliberate scope. The user documenting this week's process doesn't need another tool to learn. They need a faster way to capture what they know and a clean export that drops into the place they already work.

Why not Scribe or Tango

Scribe and Tango are excellent for polished, branded SOP libraries that a team of 50 will read over two years. They require a Chrome extension, a signup, and per-seat pricing.

CobaltCapture is the lightweight alternative for the user writing one doc this week, not maintaining a library. See Scribe alternative and Tango alternative for the full comparison.

If you have a knowledge-base team and a content roadmap, use Scribe or Tango. If you have one process to document and an inbox to send it to, CobaltCapture is faster and free.

A note on naming

Some teams call this "process documentation." Some call it "SOP" or "standard operating procedure." Some call it "how-to docs" or "instructions" or "the handover doc" or "the runbook." The vocabulary varies by industry and team size.

The job is the same: get the knowledge out of one person's head and into a document someone else can use. CobaltCapture is for that job, regardless of what your team calls the artifact.

Who this is for

• Small-team ops and IT writing internal docs for teammates.
• Government, education, and nonprofit workers documenting how their team does things, without enterprise software budget or IT support for new platforms.
• Solo operators and consultants documenting a workflow for a client.
• Anyone leaving a role and writing a handover doc.
• Anyone onboarding a new hire who needs to know how something works.

If you have one process to document, CobaltCapture saves you the morning. If you have ten, it saves you the week.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free way to document a process with screenshots?

Yes. CobaltCapture is free to use, free to share, and free to export. Capture a screen, talk through the steps, send the doc. No trial countdown, no per-seat plan, no credit card, no install.

Can I write process documentation without installing a Chrome extension?

Yes. CobaltCapture runs entirely in the browser using native APIs. No Chrome extension, no desktop app, no install. That makes it viable for government, education, nonprofit, and IT-restricted environments where extensions are blocked or unapproved.

Do I have to sign up before I can document a process?

No. Anonymous capture and publish work without an account. The first doc needs nothing but an open browser tab. Sign in later to keep your docs permanently and unlock editing.

What formats can I export the doc as?

Markdown, PDF, Word, and a public review URL. One click for each. Word and PDF cover SharePoint, Google Drive, and email. Markdown is the right format for Notion, Confluence, GitHub, or any modern wiki. The public URL is the right link for a teammate who just needs to read it.

When should I use Scribe, Tango, or Trainual instead of CobaltCapture?

Use Scribe, Tango, or Trainual when you're building a full branded SOP library for a team to read over time, when you need versioning and team management, or when the deliverable is a knowledge base, not a one-off doc. CobaltCapture is for the user who needs one doc this week, not a library of 200 by next quarter.