Documentation is most frequently accessed online through websites. With a successful connection to the Internet, you can locate the documentation directly or use the web to search for specific content. However, there may be situations where you are unable to connect online and acquire the documentation you need. Thus, making documentation available to offline users improves usability in such cases. 

Offline documentation refers to the ability to access documentation while disconnected from the Internet. The same content that you would find online is replicated in offline formats, such as PDFs or raw HTML copies. The delivery method of offline documentation may take many forms, but ultimately, users have preference on which method they would like to interact with. 

At a glance, situations that require offline documentation might not seem common. However, there are many cases where it becomes the only method for accessing documentation. It is common that an Internet connection isn’t always available to all users for security purposes. Some internal employees may only have access to internal systems and networks, forcing them to stay offline. Access to the Internet is strictly controlled, potentially using firewalls or air-gapped systems. Large government organizations follow this practice by keeping their operations and network administration staff working in controlled environments to maintain security standards. Despite the offline environment, their reliance on documentation remains. Consider an employee working in an offline environment that is tasked with installing a new product. In order to follow the instructions within the documentation, they must be able to access the offline versions. It is the responsibility of the documentation teams to develop offline solutions that are simple, comprehensible, and navigable.

In order to better understand the demand for offline documentation and your needs as a user, IBM Automation has developed a survey to gather insight. The survey provides four possible methods of presenting offline documentation and explores which of these approaches works best for you. Please consider taking a few minutes to complete the survey at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6574740/Offline-Documentation-for-IBM-Automation. Your feedback is valuable and will help to improve the offline documentation experience within IBM Automation.