Video Content

Video Overview

Simply put, video is a huge asset to your training content. We could cite a bunch of studies about all of the benefits, but here's the deal: Your team doesn't only just want to read text. Employees consume content on social media via videos, watch all types of videos on YouTube, and of course, most employees watch TV. 

Here's what you need to know about video inside of Trainual:

Video content is embedded inside of Trainual, not uploaded to Trainual directly. Video files are large and third-party video hosts have some amazing features. We've been able to keep the cost of Trainual low, partly due to not having to house mega file sizes of video files in a server somewhere. Leverage the power of these awesome third-party video hosting sites and embed them straight in Trainual. We'll help you make sure the privacy settings fit your preferred level of security later on in this subject.

With just a couple clicks, you can embed videos straight into Trainual. The videos will play right in the Trainual steps that you embed them in. You can customize the way they look and the way the videos show up to your user through some embed customizations.

You can choose where you embed the videos inside of Trainual steps. Get creative with how the videos and your supplementary content displays inside of Trainual. If you are referencing specific documents in your video, you can embed or link them below the video. If you want to make your training content fully accessible, put the script of the video below the embedded video.

Remember, you don't have to create every video that you want to embed in your Trainual account.  Most f us have turned to YouTube or Google to find a video for how to do something. Maybe it was fixing a leaky faucet, how to perform a task in Excel, or just to learn about a different country. Match that need for knowledge within your team with the tons of information that has been created on YouTube that is available for free. Before you create something from scratch, see if it is available already on YouTube. If so, verify the accuracy and quality of information, grab that link, and embed!

Choosing a Video Host

If you already have a video host, it's likely that it already works for you! Don't change just for the sake of change. But here at Trainual, we get asked which video host we recommend, and we're here to help you make the tough decisions.

Every video host has pros and cons. Most video hosts have a free option. Just like most other services, sometimes the free option gets you everything you need, sometimes it doesn't. Here's the four most popular hosting services and their pros and cons.

YouTube

Investment: Free

Pros: 

• Widely used.
• Functional free privacy options.
• Recognizable.

Cons:

• Low control on embed settings.
• Can be distracting to learners.
• Advanced privacy settings require users to be logged in to Google account.

Vimeo

Investment: Free or Paid

Pros:

• Great privacy and embed settings with the paid version.
• More secure than other hosts.
• Ability to bulk manage videos and video settings.

Cons:

• Investment required to activate larger upload limits and privacy settings.
• Not as commonly used, so there can be a slight learning curve.

Wistia

Investment: Free or Paid

Pros:

• Most secure video hosting service.
• Ability to customize embed settings.
• Great for marketing videos to be used elsewhere outside of Trainual.

Cons:

• Free option only allows 3 video uploads.
• Much higher investment than other hosts.

Loom

Investment: Free or Paid

Pros:

• Great for screen recording and sharing outside of Trainual.
• Embeds well in Trainual.
• Free plan is robust.

Cons:

• Doesn't support video uploads of other types of videos created outside of Loom.
• Free plan only allows for 25 active videos.

YouTube Videos

In the spirit of embedding videos in Trainual, here is a quick video on how to upload videos to YouTube according to, well, YouTube!

But here's some pro tips for embedding YouTube videos inside of Trainual:

Choose Your Privacy Setting:

Public: Use this setting when you want ANYONE on the internet to find your video. If your training video doesn't contain any proprietary information that you don't want disseminated, then maybe having your video publicly searchable and findable is a good option. It is possible that a potential customer or strategic partner will find it and it will provide good exposure for you.Alternatively, maybe you're creating a video that will be used for marketing and you want that video to be as easily accessible as possible. Just remember, a public video can be found by anyone, even if you only embed it straight into Trainual.

Unlisted (Most Popular): Use this setting when you want to control where your content shows up on the web. Unlisted videos don't show up in searches or Google search results, but if someone finds the link, they can send that link anywhere on the internet. Employees could technically grab the link from your Trainual account and save it to their computer or send it to someone else.

Private: Use this setting when you want to strictly control who accesses your video content. A user can only access your Youtube videos when they are actively logged in to their Google account as well as the Trainual account. You would need to manage two logins for users: Trainual and Google. If a user isn't logged into both at the same time, they won't be able to access the content.

One of the cons we mentioned about YouTube videos was the lack of control of customization of the embedded player. If you're into coding, you can learn how to customize the settings here.

If your users are logged in to their YouTube accounts while watching videos inside your Trainual account, depending on the video's settings, they could receive suggested videos for them to watch that are outside of your Trainual content. If my kids have been watching a kids show, then maybe those shows up as suggested videos to watch next!

Vimeo Videos

Let's use another video to teach you about uploading videos! This time, let's talk about Vimeo...

Vimeo's free account is pretty limited, but you do get some basic features such as:

• 500MB per week of upload space, up to 5GB total account storage
• Basic embedding features
• Some privacy controls for your videos, such as "Only me," which makes it visible to you and no one else.
• The ability to upload up to 10 videos per day

Vimeo's real value lies in its paid plans, starting at just $7/month. Vimeo's paid plans activate the advanced security and embed features.

Upload your videos as visible to "Only people with the private link". That way, the video will not show up publicly in any search.

Once the upload has completed, click on the video to change the advanced settings.

Now, there are two ways to embed Vimeo videos into Trainual — with a link, or an embed code. With the link option, all you need is the video URL, and voila! You can embed your Vimeo video. If you want to embed via code, use the following steps:

Click the "Embed" link on the left side of the screen.

Click "Create Preset."

Name your preset "Trainual" or the name of your choice.

Once your preset is created, click "Manage Presets". 

When the page loads to choose the settings for the embed, mirror your settings to these choices:

Uncheck All of the Following:

• Always use a specific color.
• Show like button.
• Show watch later button.
• Show share button.
• Show embed button.
• Speed control.
• Vimeo logo.

Check All of the Following:

• Show fullscreen button.
• Show play bar.
• Volume control.

In the drop down menu for After Video, choose "Empty."

Click Save. If you have already created videos you will be using in your Trainual account, also click "Apply to all existing videos."

Now you're ready to embed your videos in Trainual! Once they are uploaded, go to your "My Videos" page and click the three dot menu on the video to expand "More Actions". Then click "Embed."

Confirm that the "Trainual" embed setting on the left side is enabled. Once you have confirmed, click the "Embed Code" button on the top right of the screen.

Copy the embed code from the pop up.

In the Trainual step where you want to insert the video, click "Insert" > "Video" > "Embed code." Paste your embed code directly into the text box. Click "Insert." Your video will now show up in the step!

Wistia Videos

Wistia is a video hosting and analytics company with tons under the surface. With Wistia, you can upload your content to the web, make it your own, and track how every viewer is watching it. Wistia gives you the power to understand how video is working for your business, and how to make it work even harder.

Embedding Wistia videos into Trainual is slightly different than embedding from YouTube or Vimeo — here are some best practices to make sure Wistia looks great in your account!

First, in your Wistia settings, be sure to choose the following options:

Then insert the code straight into the video "Embed code" option!

Loom Videos

Want to add a recorded video straight into your content? Loom can help!

To use Loom, you'll first need to sign up with either your email address, Google account, or Outlook. If you're a Google Chrome user, there's an extension you can add to make it easy to begin a screen recording at any time.  The extension will ask if you'd like to use your screen and camera, screen only, or camera only. You can also choose between recording your full desktop or current tab, and can toggle audio on and off with the click of a button — making voiceover videos super easy!

Embed Video Into Your Account

Once you've recorded your video, click the share button next to the download and trash icons to grab the embed code.  Then inside of Trainual, click "Insert" > "Video" > "Embed code," and choose the embed code option (this works better than using the URL).

Record a Loom while in Trainual

With the Loom x Trainual integration, it's super easy to create video instructions while working in-app! Here's a video tutorial:

Google Drive

Introduction

Trainual is a great place for all of your how-tos, process documents, and knowledge that you team needs to be consolidated in a simple to use tool. Many of our customers come to us from Google Docs as they realize that, while Google Docs has robust creation and management capabilities, it offers limited reporting and accountability features. Trainual allows you to create automation for assigning content to designated roles, reporting to ensure employees have acknowledged the content, and built in testing to ensure understanding.

While we have a robust text editor here in Trainual, there may be times that you want to leave your content in the G-Suite of services. In this topic we'll walk you through the process of either moving your G-Suite content into Trainual or linking it to your G-Suite account.

Let's get started!

Choosing when to input and when to link

Here are some considerations to make when choosing what to do with your content:

• Do you want Trainual to be the one single source of truth in your business for the how-tos and processes? If so, moving the content inside of Trainual is the way to make that happen. You won't run into old versions of documents that are no longer applicable if you always keep Trainual up-to-date. When people in your organization create Google Docs and leave them untouched for months or years, it creates confusion amongst users search for the most up-to-date information. Make Trainual the one place where the most up-to-date version lives.
• Do you want the ability to make training documents more engaging?  If so, moving your content inside of Trainual is the way to make that happen. The ability to embed GIFs, videos, stock images, hyperlinks, and other media will give your users a much more engaging learning experience. 
• Do you consistently experience permission issues inside of G-Suite?  If your users consistently have to request access to your documents, links get broken when a file is updated, or new employees in your organization get lost in all the documents in Google Drive, then putting all the content inside of Trainual is likely the right move. You can assign content automatically via roles and users will have exactly what they need on their Home page inside of Trainual.
• Do you need to share the content to people who are outside of your organization or a contact that won't have a Trainual account? If so, you'll can still build your content in Trainual! With our public share feature, you can share your Trainual content to outside vendors, freelancers, and contacts without having to give them access to your full account.

• Do you have robust spreadsheets with lots of references, formulas, and extensive formatting?  If so, utilizing the robustness of Google Sheets is likely the correct place to leave that content. While we offer the ability to build tables inside of Trainual, we don't intend to offer an extremely robust spreadsheet tool inside Trainual soon. Don't lose that work!

In the next steps, we will talk specifically about the different types of Google Drive content and how to put them inside of Trainual.

Google Docs

Did you know that you can import documents straight into Trainual, and we'll take care of organizing the content into a Subject for you? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Here's how:

1. Navigate to the "Content" page from the left-hand menu.
2. Click the dropdown on the “Create subject” button and select “Import document.”
3. Save your Google Doc to your computer in .doc, .docx or PDF. Click the grey area to upload your document.
4. Select the specific "Content" page you’d like this subject to "live" in — Company, Policies, or Processes.
5. Press "Next" to begin your transcription.
6. You will see an "Imported!" message when the subject has completed uploading.
7. Review and edit your new subject as needed.

And that's it! From Google Docs straight into Trainual.

Google Slides

Want to embed your Google slides into your Trainual account? Here's how:

PDFs

Insert PDFs into Trainual

Here's a quick video on the ways to upload and embed PDFs:

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Word

Did you know that just like Google Docs, you can import your Microsoft Word content straight into Trainual? Here's a refresher on how to accomplish it:

1. Navigate to the "Content" page from the left-hand menu.
2. Click the dropdown on the “Create subject” button and select “Import document.”
3. Click the grey area to upload your Word document.
4. Select the specific "Content" page you’d like this subject to "live" in — Company, Policies, or Processes.
5. Press "Next" to begin your transcription.
6. You will see an "Imported!" message when the subject has completed uploading.
7. Review and edit your new subject as needed.

Microsoft Powerpoint

If you wish to have your Powerpoint visible as an embed inside of a Trainual step, you will need to convert it to a Google Slide.

Drag and Drop a Powerpoint File Into Google Slides

Use this method if your Powerpoint file is located on a local drive.

1. Open Google Docs.
2. If Slides is not already selected, in the upper-left corner of the application, select the menu (three bar) icon.
3. From the menu, choose Slides. 
4. In the upper-right corner of the Recent presentations section, select the file picker (file folder) icon. 
5. In the Open a file screen, choose Upload.
6. Open the folder where your Powerpoint file is stored. Drag the Powerpoint file into the Drag a file here section. Alternatively, use the blue file-picker button to find your local document through the operating system's file manager.
7. The file uploads and then becomes available for opening or editing like any other Slides document.

Upload a Powerpoint File Into Google Drive

This method will also work for files located on a local drive. 

1. Open Google Drive.
2. In the upper-left corner, select New > File Upload. 
3. Navigate to the file you want to upload and select it.
4. You’ll see an uploading message, then the file will show up in your Google Drive file list. Select the file.
5. At the top of the screen, from the menu choose Open with Google Slides. 
6. The converted presentation will appear in the Google Slides editing environment and you can work with it as you normally would.

Open a Powerpoint File From Google Slides

Use this method if your Powerpoint file is already located on your Google Drive. 

1. Open Google Docs.
2. If Slides is not already selected, in the upper-left corner of the application, select the menu (three bar) icon.
3. From the menu, choose Slides. 
4. Toward the top of the screen, select the down-arrow and choose a class of document to view. 
5. Select your Powerpoint file. You’ll see a dialog box asking if you want to open the file in View Only mode, or Edit as Google Slides. Choose Edit as Google Slides.