Alongrail Desk · Guided sessions
Your customers get unstuck on their own screen, at any hour, without a single call.
You give Desk a help article: one you already have, or one written with Desk. It prepares the steps, you try them on your own product, and you publish. You get a link to put in your help article, a support reply or an onboarding email.
Your customer opens the link and shares the tab or window they’re working in. Desk shows them one step at a time, checking their screen after each, until the task is done. They do every click. No account, nothing to install, and no picture of their screen is kept.
Free for 14 days: 10 guided sessions, no card. Chrome or Edge on a computer.
On a phone?
Signing up, uploading your help documents and reviewing what Desk makes from them all work here. The guided session shares a screen, so it needs Chrome or Edge on a computer.
Start here with your email. Your desk is kept under that address, so it is waiting when you sign in with it on your computer.
You know the call where a customer shares their screen.
A customer gets stuck. They write in. A few messages go back and forth, and it ends in a call. The first thing your team asks is “Can you share your screen?” Then they watch, tell the customer what to do next, and the customer does each click.
A guided session is that call, without the call. It’s there at any hour, with nobody from your team needed. What changes for your team:
- Fewer screen-share calls, because the customer is shown each step on their own screen.
- Fewer “how do I…?” questions in your inbox, because a customer who gets stuck can follow the link instead of writing in.
- Help at any hour, including nights, weekends and other time zones.
- Customers finish what they start, instead of stopping halfway and writing in.
- Customers learn the task, because they did every click.
- Help articles that are a little out of date still help, because Desk follows what is actually on the customer’s screen.
What your team does
- Add a help article. You can upload a document or a PDF, paste the text, or choose a help article you wrote with Desk.
- Check the steps. Desk drafts a workflow: the steps it will guide your customer through. Please read each step and change anything that’s wrong. Then rehearse it: try it on your own product, as your customer would. Rehearsals are free.
- Publish, and share the link. Nothing is live until you publish. Then the link can go wherever your customers look for help.
What your customer does
- Opens your link. From your help article, a support reply, an onboarding email or your product. No account and no download.
- Chooses what to share. One tab, one window or the whole screen. Desk asks them to share the place where they use your product.
- Reads one instruction, and does it. The instruction uses the words on their screen. They press “I’ve done it” when it’s done.
- Gets the next step. Desk checks the screen and gives the next instruction, until the task is finished. At the end they see the list of steps they were taken through, and they can close the tab.
During the free trial, that last card shows “Guided by Alongrail”. You can turn it off once you’ve bought a pack.
When you’re in draw.io and ready, press “Show me the first step”.
Click PNG in the Export as submenu.
▸ 1 earlier step
Export your diagram as an image
That’s done.
Your screen is no longer being shared, and you can close this tab.
What you were taken through
- 01Click File in the top menu, then choose Export as.
- 02Click PNG in the Export as submenu.
- 03Click the blue Export button to generate your PNG file.
We kept no pictures of your screen. Diagrams can see the steps above, how each one went, what you typed and the text read off your screen.
Guided help for Diagrams, powered by Alongrail. We guide; you do every action yourself.
Sharing a screen, in plain words
Some customers are careful about sharing a screen. That’s sensible, so here is exactly what happens.
- They choose what Desk sees. One tab, one window or the whole screen. If your product runs in a browser, you may like to suggest they open it in its own tab and share just that tab.
- They can stop at any time. One button stops sharing.
- Desk never clicks or types. It has no way to act in their account. Every action is theirs.
- No picture of their screen is kept. Desk reads the screen to work out the next step. The session record your team sees is in words: what they typed, each instruction and each screen check.
When their screen doesn’t match the help article
- Your help article says“People”
- Their screen says“Members”
- Desk“Click Members.”
Your help article might say “People”. Your customer’s screen says “Members”, because of their plan, their permissions or a change in your product. Desk reads what’s actually on their screen and says “Click Members.”
So the guidance can follow the customer even when their screen differs from the help article. And each time it happens, Desk shows you where the two disagree, so you can fix the help article or the product.
Where your documentation is out of date
Recorded at the moment it happened, with your own procedure in view and the live screen beside it. Each one is an edit you can make today.
Export your diagram as an imageseen 1 time
Your document says
Enable the Grid checkbox if you want the drawing canvas grid in the image.
The screen showed
This Image export dialog has no Grid checkbox; it only shows Zoom, Size, Transparent Background, Include a copy of my diagram, and Advanced.
What you learn from each guided session
Each guided session leaves a record in words: what the customer wanted, in their own words; every instruction; every screen check; and where it ended.
Across sessions, Findings show you:
- where customers stall;
- what they typed at each step, word for word, grouped by step;
- where your help articles and your product disagree.
So your help keeps up with your product, and you learn where your product confuses people. Each session record says how it ended: completed, stopped partway, or handed over to your team, so you can see what Desk does on your own product.
What your customers said, step by step
Every line a customer typed, exactly as they typed it, under the step they were on. Where a step collects lines, your documentation has not told people something they needed there.
Export your diagram as an image
Step 1 · Choose Export as from the File menu. 2 lines
- “I’m stuck. I opened File but I can’t find Export as.”asked · 1 Oct
- “Where is the File menu? I can’t see it on my screen.”asked · 1 Oct
02 · they asked something
It’s in the top-left corner of the page, in the row with Edit, View, Arrange, Extras, Help - just below the 'Untitled Diagram' title.
Look at the top-left of the window for a menu bar reading File, Edit, View, Arrange, Extras, Help, then click File.
Seen on screen
The File menu is open and lists "New...", "Open from", "Save", "Import from", "Export as" (highlighted) with its submenu showing PNG..., JPEG..., WebP..., SVG..., PDF....
They pressed “I’ve done it”
Pressed to have it checked
03
Click PNG in the Export as submenu to export as a PNG image.
Seen on screen
The modal titled "Image" is open with Zoom: 100%, Size: Diagram, a "Transparent Background" checkbox, "Include a copy of my diagram" checked, an Advanced section, and Cancel / Export buttons — draw.io’s PNG export options dialog.
They pressed “I’ve done it”
Pressed to have it checked
04
Leave the options as they are, or adjust zoom/size if needed, then click Export.
The customer said it was done — it happens outside what they shared, so it was not seen
They pressed “I’ve done it”
Confirmed it themselves
05
No further action needed for the export.
Where to put the link
- In the help article itself. Once the workflow made from a help article written with Desk is published, every download of that help article carries a Walk me through it button.
- In a support reply. Desk gives you a ready reply with the link, to paste into your help desk.
- In an onboarding email, for the first tasks every new customer needs to do.
- In your product, beside the setting customers ask about.
Desk doesn’t connect directly to Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk or other help desks yet. The link works anywhere you can paste it.
Please try it as the customer first
You’re welcome to be the customer before you decide. The guided session on Alongrail was made in our own desk, from our own help article. It walks you through setting up a free trial desk and making your first workflow, one step at a time. You do every click. There’s nothing to sign up for before you start.
This guided session needs a computer. You’re welcome to open this page on one.
This needs Chrome or Edge on a computer.
Pricing
Each guided session uses 1 from your balance, whether it has five steps or fifty. Your own rehearsals are free, and so are making and publishing a workflow. Each guided session costs less than a dollar, with nobody from your team on a call.
The free trial gives you 14 days, 10 guided sessions and one published workflow at a time, with no card. After that, packs are 100 for $99, or 500 for $399, plus tax. Packs never expire, and a guided session that has started is never cut off.
Questions
Does Desk click anything?
No. Your customer does every action in their own account.
What does my customer need?
Chrome or Edge on a computer, and your link. No account, and nothing to install.
Is the screen recorded or kept?
No picture of the customer’s screen is kept. The session record is in words.
Do we have to rewrite our help articles?
No. Desk starts from the help articles you have. You read and change each step before you publish.
What if Desk can’t work out a step?
It looks at the screen again and tries a different instruction. After two steps in a row that didn’t work, it offers to go back to where it last worked. Your customer can press “Pass this to a person” at any time: the guided session ends there, and everyone on your desk gets an email with the session record straight away.
What happens when our product changes?
The guidance follows what’s on the customer’s screen, and Findings show you where the help article and the product now disagree. You can edit a published workflow’s steps at any time: saving changes them for anyone who opens the link from then on, and the link stays the same.
Does it work with our help desk?
There’s no direct connection yet. You paste the link, or the ready reply with the link, into any help desk.
How long until a customer can use it?
Setting up a trial and your first workflow takes about ten minutes. The link works as soon as you publish.
What counts as a guided session?
It counts when Desk has seen your software on your customer’s screen and shown them the first instruction. Opening the link, reading the start screen, sharing the wrong window, or leaving before the first instruction never counts.
Please try it with the task your customers ask about most
Free for 14 days: 10 guided sessions, no card.