🧵Atlassian Loom for Beginners

Despite chrome constantly crashing I had a great time showing folks that he basics of Loom. I find it a great tool for recording audio, video screen shares and screenshots, and even better it integrates natively with confluence and Jira - two tools I love in constantly.

The App(s)

Loom has two apps - a chrome extension and a desktop app (both downloadable here). My Loom journey began using the chrome extension, which is a great, lightweight way to record Looms (Looming?) and save them to your library (what Loom calls your storage). Of course this only works/makes sense if you happen to use Chrome, but if you do it’s a great way to quickly begin Looming (on second thought maybe I’ll call it weaving?). Clicking the Loom icon immediately opens up the recording panel where you can decide how you’d like to record. You can optionally include your screen, video and audio, letting you record the range from silent screen recordings to fully A/V walkthroughs of something.

Recently, however, I’ve started working with the desktop app, which is a bit beefier in terms of size, but offers more features(namely recording and screenshots via hotkeys, drawing on screen and capturing mouse clicks). The additional features have made it more attractive (especially the hotkeys and capturing mouse clicks) as they speed up by workflow and make it easier to clearly indicate what I intend to share.

Library

Once recorded Looms (what I'll call a screenshot or recording from. Loom) are stored in your Library. This is basically cloud storage that you can organize to easily keep track of Looks, but also let's to easily share and collaborate. Collaboration takes the form of comments, @ mentioning and shared-editing (more on editing below). Comments can be dropped on an overall Loom, or at specific timestamps (something I find really useful when I need to point out a specific question or clarification).

In addition to your Library you can also add Spaces to Loom. These function similarly to a Confluence space and let you organize content by whatever grouping you like (team, department, product, etc). Spaces can be public or “closed”. Everyone in your workspace can see all open spaces, but have to be invited in to see closed spaces. This lets teams keep sensitive information private, while being able to easily share with those who need it.

Editing

Once recorded Looms can also be edited in the cloud - either by you or shared editors - making it very easy to quickly create content. Other solutions I use will provide either recording or editing, so having both in one spot, and an easy to use interface, is a great win.

Editing can be as simple as cutting a few seconds of lead, or removing and replacing sections with other videos. You can also easily add shapes, texts and call outs to the video - as well as a button linked to a page or other content.  With the premium tiers you'll also have access to some AI tools to help remove pauses and/or filler words (although personally I haven't used these).

Integrations

Loom is made by Atlassian, the same company that is responsible for Jira and Confluence, and their main focus is on helping teams work better, together. This is expressed in Loom by having native integrations with Jira and Confluence, letting you instantly start recordings from Jira tickets or Confluence pages. I’ve found this to be a really useful (and time saving) feature as I can create recordings in the moment I’m thinking about them vs. having to wait and figure it out later.

Pricing

As of writing Loom has a free tier which allows you to have up to 50 people in the same workspace. They’re limited to 25 total videos, but it’s a great way for smaller teams to quickly share visual information. As you go up in tiers you get access to more storage, editing and AI tools. Personally I haven’t used the AI too much so I’m unsure if it’s worth the cost, however, the editing features do make the premium tiers very useful.

Final Thoughts

Loom is a great, lightweight way to quickly record information and share it (even on the free plans). The premium features, like editing,make it worth the investment (especially if you use other Atlassian products). It’s definitely worth checking it out!

If you’re looking for a more in-depth look check out the video below: