Being a tester, there have been several instances when I have had to record the steps to reproduce an error. Often I am testing software and systems in a Staging Environment where the testing tools are not available, so it requires extra effort to document the steps to reproduce any problems uncovered.
Now with Windows 7 there is a cool feature known as "Problem Steps Recorder". Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) captures the steps performed by the user on an application as a set of screen shots with a text description of where they clicked. The capture can be saved as a file that can be used to reproduce and troubleshoot the problem.
Record and Save Steps
Click the Windows Start button and type "Record the steps to reproduce" in the Search box and hit Enter.
The Problem Steps Recorder is opened.
Click the "Start Record" button.
Now perform the steps to reproduce your problem. The Problem Steps recorder will capture all the steps performed by you and log information such as mouse clicks, text entered, program opening, closing, etc.
You can pause the recording at any time and resume it later.
When you are finished, click the "Stop Record" button. The "Save as..." dialog is opened to enter the file name, which is saved as a .ZIP file.
Send the Problem Steps via E-mail
Once the recording is complete and saved to a ZIP file, click the down arrow key on the far-right and select "Send to E-mail recipient...". This will open an email draft with your last recorded PSR file attached to it.
Report the Problem Steps
The PSR will not record anything that you type while recording, but the "Add Comment" feature can be used to add your comments to further describe the problem.
Click "Add Comment" and select the part of the screen that you want to comment on, using the mouse. Then type your comments in the comment box and click OK.
Adjust PSR Settings
The PSR settings are saved only for the current session. It will return to the default settings once you close.
Click the down arrow key on the far-right and this time, select "Settings..."
The Settings enable you to choose a default file name for the recordings. Click the browse button to enter the output file name.
Select "No" If you do not want to capture the screen shots along with the click information.
The default number of recent screen shots is set to 25 which can be increased or decreased.
Conclusion
Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder is a really useful tool for communicating exactly what you did to uncover a problem.
But there's more: the steps are also time based, so you are also recording how long operations are taking, which might help document performance issues. And for simple "how to" instructions, PSR can be a great tool to help a user understand where they are going wrong.
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