Community Clips

1. What is Community Clips?

2. The video I was seeking doesn’t exist. Can I request a video?

3. Can I use other screen recording software?

4. How do I make good videos?

1. What is Community Clips?
Community Clips is a website full of homemade "how-to" videos about Microsoft Office products. The videos are made by users around the world. Community Clips also includes a screen recording application to easily create and share your own videos to help others.

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2. The video I was seeking doesn’t exist. Can I request a video?
Yes. You can request a video from this page: http://communityclips.officelabs.com/VideoRequests.aspx. You can also view and vote for other users’ questions.

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3. Can I use other screen recording software?
Yes. You do not have to use the Community Clips recorder. A video created from any screen capture tool can be uploaded to Community Clips.

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4. How do I make good videos?
• Keep it short. Viewers will want to rewind and replay your video to make sure they fully understand how to do the task at hand. The shorter the video, the easier it is to digest, and the easier it is to find the part you want to watch again. We recommend 2-4 minute videos.
• Close other apps. Any app that might pop up in the middle of a recording (e.g. mail clients, IM clients, etc.) could make you have to restart your recording. Not to mention, the Community Clips recorder can eat up a lot of your CPU (it’s a prototype), so you’ll have better performance if you close everything other than the apps you want to record.
• Change your screen resolution. Your videos will look best if you set your screen resolution to 1024x768 before starting your recording.
• Minimize background noise. It’s a good idea to silence your phone, and shut the door (if possible). The less ambient noise, the clearer your audio stream will be.
• Give your videos descriptive names (and tags). Most viewers find videos by searching for them. The more descriptive your name, description, and tags, the more likely it will be that viewers will find your videos. It’s good practice to think of key words – either official names of features (e.g. AutoText) or friendly names that you think viewers will think of during search – and add them as tags.
• Speaking of tags…add your own! Did you know that you can add tags to other people’s videos? It’s true. Let’s say you search for a video on a particular topic, don’t find it, and then you browse collections by clicking the Video tab. If you stumble upon the video that you were searching for but couldn’t find, why not leave a tag with the search term you tried? Just sign in, and add tags in the left column under the Tags header.

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