Present tense allows readers to experience the documentation while they read it. Minimize the use of past tense or future tense in your writing.

Review the following table for examples rewritten to use present tense:

Do this	Don't do this
The summary statistics continue to calculate allowed items, but the items don't appear in the dashboard.	The tool processes all apps before they are published to Splunkbase.
All apps are processed through the tool before they are published to Splunkbase.	The tool will now process all apps before being published to Splunkbase.
After the search is completed, the table updates automatically.	After the search was completed, the table updated automatically.

When is it okay to use future tense?

Write in future tense carefully and sparingly. Do not use future tense if you can rewrite the sentence to use present tense instead. In general, strive to keep documentation timeless, and avoid writing about time-sensitive information that might become irrelevant in the near future. For more information, see the information about timelessness in Use plain language.

The following examples describe situations where you might choose to use future tense:

• In tutorial content, when describing what the reader will achieve during the tutorial part.
• In deprecation or end-of-life statements for a product.