Does anyone know of a software that will help create training manuals?

I'm looking for something where I can plug in my text/information into a field and the software will organize it, create table of contents, etc.

Of course, cost and ease-of-use are critical factors as well.

MS Word will create table of contents. I am not aware of any software application which will "organize" content.

The "industry Standard" for technical documentation (mostly operator and service manuals) is FrameMaker from Adobe. Specifically Frame Maker with XML support allows you to create bits of content (text blocks, digrams), and then link them into the document. HOWEVER I strongly recommend against it. FrameMaker is an extensive package requiring a great deal of skill to use and develop.

I would suggest that MS Office or openOffice (for the budget minded) are good options. MS Word supplies some very easy to use templates for reports, but i admit that their publication templates are lacking.

Your best bet... look for a manual that was particularly useful to you... what did you like about it? The way the text looks? Was there something that just made it easy to use?...

Then copy it... Impersonation is the highest form of flattery... just don't use their content...

Alicia,

Look at LeaderGuide Pro (http://www.leaderguidepro.com). It works with MS Word.

Big, huge, "ginormous" difference between technical documentation and training. Yes, I've done both. JMHO