GitHub is a website designed for programmers to collaboratively build their code. But that doesn't mean you need to be a programmer to use it! You can get started with collaborative version-tracking of your (non-programming) work without ever writing a line of code or using the command line.

If you're unsure whether or not GitHub is something you want to try, I can understand. Learning new things is mentally taxing. So let me promise you now: once you've gone through this guide and given the GitHub workflow a try, you'll never want to go back to the way it was before. Why is that? Because the GitHub workflow is surprisingly simple and sane. You're going to eliminate a lot of problems that are already taxing your brain, such as "Which version of this file was the final one?" and "Who is responsible for making this edit?" Trust me, you're going to like this once you get into it.

This guide isn't meant to turn someone into a git master. It should show non-programmers a simple way to add git and GitHub to their work process with a minimum of jargon. This guide will contain no code, and it will only show how to use the GitHub desktop app for simplicity's sake.

You probably don't write code, and may never want to write code. You are happy with the subpar version control you have (e.g., file.docx, file final.docx, file FINAL.docx, etc.), not because it's good, but because you haven't been shown any other way to do it. This guide is an attempt to show you that better way without making your brain explode.

Any help is welcome in improving this guide. Please see our contributing guidelines for ways to help out.

This guide is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Designs in GitHub products are copyrighted by GitHub, and their images are used under fair use doctrine for educational purposes.