Master this essential documentation concept
Reusable Blocks are modular content components that can be created once and inserted across multiple documentation assets, ensuring consistency while reducing maintenance efforts. They allow documentation teams to update information in a single location and have those changes automatically propagate to all instances where the block appears.
Reusable Blocks are predefined content modules that documentation teams can create, store, and deploy across multiple documents or sections within a documentation system. They represent a fundamental shift from linear document creation to modular content management, enabling teams to maintain consistent messaging while significantly reducing duplication of effort.
When demonstrating how to use reusable blocks in your systems, you likely record training videos showing how to create, modify, and implement these components. These videos capture valuable knowledge about your standardized content elements, but the information remains trapped in long recordings that team members must rewatch repeatedly.
The challenge emerges when new team members need to quickly reference specific details about your reusable blocks—they waste time scrubbing through videos to find the exact moment explaining a particular component's implementation. Additionally, updates to your reusable blocks require re-recording entire videos, creating version control issues.
By converting these instructional videos into searchable documentation, you can extract explanations about each reusable block into its own discrete, well-organized section. This transformation creates documentation that mirrors the modular nature of reusable blocks themselves—content that can be easily found, referenced, and maintained. When block specifications change, you can update just that documentation section rather than re-recording entire training sessions.
Your team can build a comprehensive library of reusable block documentation that serves as both reference material and implementation guide, ensuring consistency across all your content creation efforts.
A software company maintains documentation for multiple products that share similar features, but descriptions become inconsistent as different writers document each product independently.
Create reusable blocks for each common feature description, then reference these blocks in all relevant product documentation.
['Identify features that appear across multiple products', 'Draft standardized descriptions that work in all contexts', 'Create reusable blocks with these descriptions in the documentation system', 'Replace existing varied descriptions with references to the appropriate blocks', 'Establish a review process for any proposed changes to shared feature blocks']
Feature descriptions remain consistent across all products, reducing user confusion. When features are updated, descriptions can be modified in one place and automatically update across all documentation. Translation costs decrease as duplicate content is eliminated.
Legal disclaimers, compliance statements, and regulatory notices must appear in multiple documents and be updated frequently as regulations change, creating high risk of outdated information.
Implement reusable blocks for all legal and compliance content, categorized by regulation type and region.
['Work with legal team to identify all required notices and disclaimers', 'Create region-specific and product-specific variants as needed', 'Implement as reusable blocks with appropriate metadata for filtering', 'Replace all hardcoded instances with references to the appropriate blocks', 'Create an update workflow that includes legal review and automatic notification of changes']
Legal compliance improves as all notices update simultaneously when regulations change. Risk of outdated legal information decreases substantially. Legal team gains confidence that approved language appears consistently throughout all documentation.
Common technical procedures (like installation steps, configuration processes, or troubleshooting workflows) are duplicated across multiple guides with slight variations, leading to maintenance challenges and inconsistent instructions.
Convert standard procedures into reusable blocks with conditional sections that adapt to different contexts.
['Identify procedures that appear in multiple documents', 'Create standardized versions that accommodate necessary variations through conditional logic', 'Implement as reusable blocks with parameters that control conditional display', 'Replace existing procedure descriptions with references to blocks, passing appropriate parameters', 'Establish a testing protocol to verify that procedure changes work in all contexts']
Users receive consistent instructions regardless of which document they consult. Procedure updates happen once and propagate everywhere. Quality improves as testing focuses on a single implementation rather than multiple variations.
API endpoints, parameters, and response codes are documented in multiple places (developer portal, SDK documentation, integration guides) and frequently become out of sync during API updates.
Create reusable blocks for each API element that can be referenced wherever that element needs to be documented.
['Break down API documentation into logical components (endpoints, parameters, response codes, examples)', 'Create reusable blocks for each component with appropriate metadata', 'Implement a system to pull the latest API specifications and update blocks automatically', 'Replace hardcoded API references with block references in all documentation', 'Add version control to track API changes over time']
API documentation remains synchronized across all touchpoints. Developers receive consistent information regardless of which documentation they consult. API changes can be implemented faster with reduced risk of documentation errors.
Create blocks that are context-neutral enough to work in multiple scenarios while still providing specific value. Balance between overly specific blocks that can't be reused and overly generic blocks that provide little value.
Develop a consistent, intuitive naming system that helps writers quickly find the right reusable blocks and understand their purpose without having to view the content first.
Maintain a history of changes to reusable blocks to track when and why modifications were made, and to provide rollback options if needed.
Establish clear ownership and review procedures for reusable blocks to maintain quality and prevent unauthorized or problematic changes.
Periodically review how and where reusable blocks are being used to identify opportunities for consolidation, blocks that need updates, or content that could be converted to blocks.
Modern documentation platforms have revolutionized how teams implement and manage reusable blocks, transforming what was once a complex technical challenge into an intuitive content management approach. These platforms provide the infrastructure needed to fully leverage modular content strategies at scale.
Join thousands of teams creating outstanding documentation
Start Free Trial