Settings

Everything here lives under SimplifyGuide → Settings. Only administrators see the screen (it needs the manage_options capability). The settings are split over five tabs, and one Save changes button at the bottom saves all of them at once.

Changes apply to new recordings and exports. Screenshots you have already taken are not re-processed when you change the format, width or Smart Blur categories.

The setup wizard writes to the same settings, so anything you chose there shows up here and can be changed at any time.

General

Recording, privacy and who sees new guides.

Setting	Default	What it does
Smart Blur	All seven categories on	Text that matches a category is pixelated in your browser before a screenshot is uploaded.
Screenshot format	WebP (recommended)	WebP, JPEG or PNG. WebP gives the smallest files; PNG keeps text perfectly sharp.
Maximum screenshot width	1600 px	Wider screenshots are scaled down to this many pixels. Accepts 800 to 3840.
Toolbar button	Shown	A Record guide button in the toolbar, on every screen, for people who can record.
New guides are shown to	All off (everyone who can log in)	The roles that see a new guide in the Help Center once it is published.

Smart Blur

Seven switches, one per category: Email addresses, Phone numbers, Social Security numbers, Credit card numbers, IP addresses, MAC addresses and API keys and secrets. Turn off a category only if it keeps blurring something you genuinely want readers to see — an IP address in a server-setup guide, say.

Two things to know:

• Step text never contains a detected value, whichever categories are on. The switches decide what is pixelated in the picture; the text check always uses every category.
• Password fields with anything typed in them are always pixelated, even with every category off.

See Privacy and Smart Blur for exactly what each category matches.

New guides are shown to

This is the starting audience for every new guide, however it was created — recorded, imported or added blank. Leave every role off to show new guides to everyone who can log in. Each guide’s audience can be changed later in its Who sees this guide box; see Roles and capabilities.

Branding

Your colour and logo on highlights, walkthroughs and exports.

Setting	Default	What it does
Brand colour	#ff7a45 (orange)	Click highlights, walkthrough spotlights and export accents.
Logo	None	Shown on PDF, Word, GIF and video exports.
Footer line	Empty	Printed at the bottom of exports.
Credit	Hidden	Shows “Made with SimplifyGuide” on exports.

Branding covers each of these in detail, including where the colour and logo appear.

AI writing

Optional. AI rewrites recorded steps into clear instructions. Only step text and a little page context are sent, never screenshots.

Setting	Default	What it does
Provider	WordPress AI (site connection) on WordPress 7.0+ with AI available; otherwise Anthropic (Claude)	Which provider writes step text.
Write steps in	Empty (site language)	The language AI writes in. Can differ from the language of the admin screens.
Rewrite on Finish	Disabled	Rewrite all steps with AI when a recording finishes.
Providers	No keys	One card per provider: API key, model, and an optional server of your own.

Under the provider picker, a status line tells you where you stand:

• Ready: steps can be written by … — the chosen provider has a key and a model, and AI writing is on.
• No API key is set for this provider, so steps use plain rule-based descriptions. — nothing is broken; steps are still written by SimplifyGuide’s own rules. Add a key to turn on AI writing.

Write steps in suggests a list (English, Español, Français, Deutsch, 简体中文, 日本語 and others) but accepts any language name you type.

AI providers explains each provider card, keys and models.

Voice narration

Talk while you record: your words become step notes and the voice-over of video exports.

Setting	Default	What it does
Transcribe with	OpenAI	The provider that turns narration into text: OpenAI, Groq or Custom (OpenAI-compatible server). It needs a key in AI writing → Providers.
Microphone	Not allowed yet	Press Allow microphone access to see your device names and pick one.

The microphone choice is not saved with the other settings. It is remembered in the browser you picked it in, because devices differ between computers.

Without a transcription key, narration is still recorded and saved as audio — video exports use it as the voice-over — it just is not turned into step notes. See Voice narration.

Advanced

Setup and data.

Setting	Default	What it does
Setup wizard	—	Run setup again reopens the setup wizard.
Delete data on uninstall	Disabled	Deletes all guides, screenshots, narration and settings when the plugin is deleted.

Leave Delete data on uninstall off unless you are removing SimplifyGuide for good. With it off, deleting the plugin leaves your guides in place, so a reinstall picks up where you left off. Deactivating the plugin never deletes anything, whatever this is set to.

Where settings are stored

Two rows in wp_options:

Option	Contents
simplifyguide_settings	General, Branding and Advanced
simplifyguide_ai	AI writing and Voice narration, including API keys (encrypted)