What is Manual Testing ?

Manual Testing is a very basic type of Software Testing, where Software Testers manually test the Software, instead of using any Automation Tools for testing.

In order to understand the manual testing in a better way, we can break the above statements as below:

Manual Testing is a

• Very basic type of Software Testing
• Software Testers performs Testing in Manual Testing
• Testing is performed without the use of any Tools.

How Software Tester performs Manual Testing

The below are the steps performed by a Software Tester, in order to perform Manual Testing on a Software Application:

Step 1 - Software Tester goes through the Requirements Specifications Document and creates a bunch of test cases for testing the Software Application

Example for test cases:

• Login to the facebook.com using valid user name and valid password
• Login to the facebook.com using invalid user name and password
• Login to the facebook.com without providing any user name or password

Step 2 - Software Tester checks the test cases one by one with his own hands and eyes

Example for testing one of the test cases i.e. 'Login to the facebook.com using valid user name and valid password' :

• Software Tester manually types the facebook.com into any browsers address filed
• Software Tester manually types the valid username using the keys on his computer keyboard into the 'username' field on facebook.com
• Software Tester manually types the valid password using the keys on his computer keyboard into the 'password' field on facebook.com
• Software Tester manually clicks on 'Login' button using the Computer mouse 
• Software Tester manually checks with his eyes, where tester is able to login to the application and confirms that after seeing various posts on the home page of facebook. 

Step 3 - Software Tester reports bugs, if the executed test cases are giving different results.

Example:

• On manually entering valid username and valid password and clicking on 'Login' button, if the User is not able to login to facebook page, the Software Tester will report a Bug.
• After checking the Bug details provided by Software Tester, Software Developer fixes the Bug
• Software Tester then retests the Bug and confirms whether the Bug is fixed .

Purpose of Manual Testing

The purpose of manual testing is to find bugs in Software Applications without using any Automation tools like QTP / UFT, Selenium etc.

Hence the goal of the Manual Testing is to make sure that the Software Application under Test is defect free and is working as per the requirements specified by the business clients in the Requirements Specifications Document.

Who is a Manual Tester ?

The Software Tester who generally performs testing on the Application without using any automation tools is known as Manual Tester. In other terms, the Software Tester who has knowledge on Manual Testing but has no knowledge on Test Automation is known as a Manual Tester.

Difference between Manual Testing and Automation Testing 

In Manual Testing, Software Testers performs the testing manually without using any Test Automation Tools.

Where as in Automation Testing, Software Tester performs the testing using Test Automation Tools.

What comes first ? Manual Testing or Automation Testing ?

Manual Testing comes first and later based on the requirement Automation Testing will be performed. That is when any Software Tester is asked to perform testing on a new Software Application, Software Tester will first perform Manual Testing only and will later decide whether the Automation Testing is feasible.

Testing Types and Manual Testing

Any of the below specified testing types can either performed manually or using automation:

• Black Box Testing
• White Box Testing
• Unit Testing
• Integration Testing
• System Testing
• Acceptance Testing

i.e. We can performing any of the above specified testing types without using automation tools.

Conclusion

Performing Software Testing without using any Automation tools is known as Manual Testing.