Check a finished tutorial before publishing it

Open the exported video in an ordinary player, not your editor, and watch it from start to finish at normal speed. Editors can show effects and audio that did not make it into the export, and skipping through the file can miss brief problems. Inspect frames around cuts and redactions separately; normal-speed playback alone may miss a short exposure.

If you will publish on a website or platform, watch it there too after upload. Encoding by the platform, or the page’s player, can introduce problems the file did not have.

Reel’s single-track audio setting is enabled by default, but check the actual file and current settings. If a file has separate tracks, inspect them in an editor and mix the intended sources for delivery. Ordinary players may select only one audio track. Also confirm that the source app allowed its sound to be captured.

• Your voice is clear and at a steady level throughout.
• App audio is present where it should be and does not drown out the narration.
• There is no unexpected silence, echo or doubled audio.
• Listen once on headphones and once on a phone speaker.

W3C’s explanation of prerecorded captions says they should include dialogue, identify speakers and include meaningful sound. Check that captions are in sync, spelled correctly, including product names, and that they do not cover important parts of the screen. Read every on-screen title and callout for typos; they are harder to fix than the description.

• Every blur or box covers its target for its whole duration, including while the page scrolls.
• No notification banners, email addresses, tab titles or file names you did not intend to show.
• No real customer, student or colleague data.
• The camera background effect has not let something private show at the edges.

Compare each step with the current version of the app you are teaching. Menu names change. Check that statements about prices, plans, compatibility and limits are correct today and are attributed to the right product. Remove claims you cannot back up.

1. Play the exported MP4 in QuickTime on a Mac from start to finish.
2. At 1:12, a messaging preview flashes for a few frames; trim it and export again.
3. On headphones, the app’s confirmation sound is louder than your voice; lower it.
4. Captions say Export as when the button now says Export…; correct the caption and re-record the voiceover line.
5. Upload privately to the platform and repeat the playback check there.
6. Publish only after the second check passes.

Keep the original recording and the edited project until the published version has been checked and accepted. If a problem is found after publishing, you can fix and re-export instead of re-recording everything.