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Do you print user manuals?

Do you print your manual PDFs?

  • Yes

    Votes: 1 1.2%

  • Sometimes

    Votes: 18 21.2%

  • No

    Votes: 66 77.6%
  • Total voters
    85
I like when pdfs are formatted in a way so to conveniently read as much as can fit in full screen, two-pages view on a 14 inch laptop (16:10 or 3:2). Then you get the best equivalent of a printed book, but with convenient search. Same format should work fine on 8-10 inch tablet. Some pages could be printed for reference if one finds it usefull.
 
I sometimes annotate different sections of a manual to highlight various parameters. Helpful in learning how to master your tools.
 
Man, music books and manuals. Who writes this stuff? :rolleyes:
Its all there but nothing in context. I especially "love" music books where the author takes 100 pages to explain basic concept he could explain with simple picture and example in 1 page.
 
Francisco Lamolda said:
I get the joke, but seriously, sometimes I see people ask questions here that are answered in the manuals. It is important to read them.
Click to expand...
Yepp, it was a joke. I'm probably one of the few who read the complete Logic manual until it was pdf only. Now I'm fine to read the change logs as pdf's.

But I printed the Dorico manual (let it print in a copy shop): four books! But I will not do that again.
There are too many changes after updates. And I printed the German version of the manual which was a mistake. I understand German better than English but the app itself is really bad translated. So a lot of menu items are easier to understand in English and so I switched to the English version of the app. It's also easier to follow forum advices and YT tutorials as they use the same vocabulary.

A lot of manual studying is replaced by YT tutorials meanwhile. Easier to learn but harder to look up something.
 
I mostly read manuals on a tablet, typically inside a book app (even if the file is a pdf). So, I still want the manual formatted the same way as a printed manual. I do also look up things in manuals on the computer.

Although they make a lot of sense for updates and searchability, I'm not fond of online only manuals. I find those very hard to read for learning, even if they are adequate for referencing on the fly.

JohnS said:
Poll should include answer "only small part of it" or similar
Click to expand...
I agree. I marked 'sometimes' - but that is that sometimes I'll print out selected parts of a manual, or special extra sections with lists of functions.

Ideally, my approach would be to start exploring a library or application without the manual and then, when I have questions in my head and a sense of how things work, I'd go through the manual page by page. When I do this, I've experienced benefits in my understanding and practice pretty much every time.

In practice, it varies. For a library containing relatively unfamiliar instruments, I'll look at the manual to learn more about them. For a library with complex parameters, I may look up those elements after a few months when I finally admit to myself that I don't know what I'm doing. This usually happens after someone on VI-Control asks a question about a library that I use regularly and I realise that I have no idea of the answer as I've just been metaphorically hitting the library with a hammer and listening to the sound that rings out.
 
To be honest, I don't. Although I have always been concerned about ecology, a digital version is simply more convenient for me on several accounts. On the other hand, deep down I'm a huge nostalgic. I completely understand those who are missing paper books, manuals, notebooks, CD and LP covers, and so on these days. Holding these in your hands just has something about it...
 
I remember when software documentation just started becoming a thing - I hated it with a passion. Now I can't imagine using paper, I need search, links, etc. It's one of the reasons I can't get by without a second monitor.
 
Oof, the disregard for manuals on display hurts my soul.

I print very particular pieces of information that is either not obvious, way too hard to remember but vital, or something I need to seriously study. Generally I bind relevant information together in a folder for reference when I'm working on something educational.

I don't often need manuals for general things, but there is vital software out there that does not lend itself to dumbdumb UIs so yeah. If you want to be a professional, RTFM.

EDIT: Nevertheless, for most casual reference a tablet does the job. Mine has an actual folder with collected manuals for when needed. The studio contains a *lot* of stuff.
 
I printed out the manual for a "real" Moog Model D, then went through it page-by-page with the Model D app. Thoroughly enjoyable! At the end of the manual there are patch sheets to replicate on the synth which was great fun.

I think what I enjoyed most was the connection between something in the real world (paper manual) and the VST. Similar to using a hardware controller even just with a few knobs for cutoff etc. It just made it seem more tangible. Plus my eyes go funny if I stare at iPad pdf's too long!
 
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