Markdown SOP images: keep links intact when moving files

A Markdown SOP can arrive with all its written instructions intact and still be unusable because the screenshots are missing. Before moving an exported guide into a shared folder or knowledge base, treat the document and its images as one delivery. Check the copy readers will open after the move, rather than assuming that a successful preview on your own Mac proves the handoff is complete.

Identify the document and its companion images

StepShot exports Markdown as a document accompanied by an image directory. Keep both when preparing a transfer. The document contains references to its screenshots; the text file alone is not the whole illustrated guide. Start by locating the exported files together and opening the document in the viewer you intend to use.

Check a screenshot near the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end. Make sure each image matches the instruction beside it. A visible picture is not enough if it belongs to an earlier revision or a different procedure. Compare an identifiable detail, such as the panel heading or selected control, with the reviewed source.

Keep file relationships intact during the move

When moving the guide, preserve the arrangement between the Markdown document and its image directory. Avoid renaming or separating the image files casually. If you deliberately change the structure, update the corresponding references and verify them. Do not assume that a file browser or a destination editor will repair those relationships automatically.

A useful transfer check is to open the delivered copy from its new location. Keep your working export distinguishable so you know which version you are testing. If the destination copy only works while your original folder remains available, investigate which image references it is resolving before distributing it more widely.

Test the destination's actual publishing workflow

A knowledge base may have its own method for importing Markdown and storing images. Check that method in the destination you use instead of treating every paste or upload as equivalent. You may need to transfer the images through a separate supported control and adjust their references. Confirm the result with a representative page before repeating the process for a larger collection.

Review the published or shared page as a reader. Check image loading, step order, captions and links. A preview inside an authoring tool may use files or permissions that readers do not have. If access differs by audience, have an appropriate reviewer confirm the result without using your author session as the only evidence.

Keep revisions from mixing together

Give each handoff a clear revision identity. Keep the reviewed document paired with the image set that produced it, and avoid combining an updated text file with a folder copied from an earlier export. After replacing a screenshot or changing the step sequence, export again and inspect the new delivery as a whole.

Be deliberate when replacing files at the destination. Confirm which references the live page uses before removing older images. Retaining every historical image indefinitely can create confusion, but deleting an apparently unused file without checking can break another page. Follow the destination's own publishing and cleanup process, and verify the guide after the change.

Finish the review before calling the handoff complete

Check that the intended steps are present and that screenshots contain only material suitable for the audience. In StepShot's free edition, Markdown export is limited to the first ten captured steps; the editable project may contain more. Review the selected output and any omitted steps so that a technically correct transfer does not deliver an incomplete procedure.

StepShot for macOS 14 and later lets authors prepare steps and screenshots before export. Read the editor guide for refining the source and the export guide for the Markdown output structure. Keep the document and its evidence together, then test them where readers will actually work. That final check turns a collection of exported files into a verified handoff.