Rimming Passive: A Strategic Tool for Technical Writers

Ever spent hours writing a user manual, only to have readers skip straight to the screenshots? You’re not alone. Technical writing isn’t about sounding smart-it’s about making sure people actually use what you write. One quiet but powerful trick that’s quietly transforming how top teams build documentation is called rimming passive. No, it’s not what you think. In technical writing, rimming passive isn’t about anatomy-it’s about how you structure sentences to guide the reader’s focus exactly where it needs to go.

What Is Rimming Passive in Technical Writing?

Think of rimming passive as the art of subtly shifting attention away from the actor and toward the action or outcome. It’s not about avoiding active voice entirely-it’s about knowing when the who matters less than the what and why.

For example:

• Active: The system administrator updated the firewall rules.
• Rimming passive: The firewall rules were updated.

In the first version, the reader’s brain pauses to wonder: Who did this? Is that person still available if I have questions? In the second, the focus stays on the action-the thing the user needs to know to proceed. The administrator’s identity is irrelevant. What matters is that the rules are now updated, and the user can move forward.

This isn’t grammar pedantry. It’s cognitive efficiency. Studies in human-computer interaction show that users scanning documentation spend under 3 seconds per paragraph. If your sentence makes them pause to track roles, you’ve lost them.

Why Rimming Passive Works for Technical Documentation

Technical writers aren’t novelists. Readers don’t want drama. They want clarity. Speed. Confidence.

When you use rimming passive strategically, you reduce cognitive load. Here’s how:

• Eliminates unnecessary attribution: Who configured the server? Doesn’t matter. The server is configured.
• Highlights outcomes, not processes: Users care that the backup completed successfully-not that Jane in IT ran the script.
• Creates consistency: If every step in your procedure starts with the action, readers build mental patterns faster.

Take this real-world example from a SaaS onboarding guide:

Active: Your account manager will send you a welcome email within 24 hours.

Rimming passive: A welcome email will be sent within 24 hours.

In the passive version, the reader doesn’t wonder: Who is my account manager? What if they’re on vacation? Will I get it on weekends? The passive version removes anxiety. It says: This will happen. You don’t need to chase it.

When NOT to Use Rimming Passive

Don’t mistake rimming passive for blanket rule. There are times when active voice is non-negotiable.

Use active voice when:

• Accountability matters: The developer pushed the broken code to production. (You need to know who made the mistake.)
• Instructions require ownership: Log in as the system admin before proceeding. (The user must act.)
• Clarifying roles is critical: Your IT department must approve this change.

The goal isn’t to eliminate active voice-it’s to choose the right tool for the right moment. Rimming passive is your scalpel, not your sledgehammer.

Real Examples from Top Tech Companies

Look at how Google, Microsoft, and AWS handle their docs:

• Google Cloud: The bucket will be deleted after 30 days of inactivity. (Not: “You must delete it.”)
• Microsoft Azure: Authentication tokens are refreshed automatically every 8 hours. (Not: “Our system refreshes your tokens.”)
• Amazon Web Services: Security groups are applied at the instance level. (Not: “AWS applies security groups…”)

Notice a pattern? They remove the actor entirely. Why? Because the user doesn’t care who built the system. They care what the system does. That’s the power of rimming passive.

How to Apply Rimming Passive in Your Own Docs

Here’s a simple 3-step method:

1. Identify the action: What’s the key thing the user needs to know? (e.g., “The file was encrypted.”)
2. Ask: Who did this? If the answer is “someone who isn’t relevant to the user,” remove it.
3. Rephrase: Turn the sentence into passive form only if it improves clarity. If not, keep it active.

Try this exercise on your next document:

• Original: The support team reset your password.
• Revised: Your password has been reset.

Now ask: Did the reader gain anything by knowing it was the support team? Or did they just feel like they lost control? The revised version puts the user back in charge: You now have a new password. Go ahead.

Rimming Passive vs. Active Voice: When to Choose Which

Notice how the passive version works best for things that happen to the user, and active works best when the user must do something. That’s the sweet spot.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced writers mess this up. Here are three traps:

• Overusing passive: Don’t turn every sentence into passive. That reads like bureaucracy. “The file was opened. The setting was changed. The error was ignored.” Boring. And confusing.
• Adding vague actors: “It was decided that…” Who decided? Don’t hide behind “it.” Be clear or be silent.
• Confusing passive with weak writing: Passive isn’t weak. Vague is weak. “The data was processed” is fine. “The data was processed somehow” is not.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Bad documentation doesn’t just frustrate users-it costs companies money. A 2023 study by the Society for Technical Communication found that companies with clear, passive-optimized documentation saw a 37% drop in support tickets related to basic setup and configuration.

Why? Because users could find answers themselves. No calls. No emails. No escalations. Just clear, quiet, focused writing.

Rimming passive isn’t a trick. It’s a mindset. It’s about respecting the reader’s time, attention, and mental bandwidth. It’s about writing not to impress your manager-but to help your user succeed.

Final Tip: Test It

Next time you write a procedure, try this:

1. Write it in active voice.
2. Then rewrite the key steps using rimming passive.
3. Ask a colleague to read both versions.
4. Which one felt faster to understand?

You’ll be surprised. Often, the passive version feels more confident-even though it’s quieter.

If you want your documentation to be the one people actually read, stop trying to sound like a manual. Start thinking like a guide. Let the action speak. Let the user focus. That’s the quiet power of rimming passive.