Work Instruction Template + 8 Examples (Free Download)

This free work instruction template gives you a one-task format in Word and PDF, with eight filled-in work instruction examples to copy from. Download it below, then use this page to fill it in: what each section is for, how a step should read, what good examples look like for office, software, support and light operations work, and when a picture or a short video does the job better than a sentence.

Download the work instruction template

There are two versions with the same eight sections. Take the Word file if you will edit it on a computer; take the PDF if you want to print it and fill it in by hand at the desk or bench where the task happens.

• Work instruction template, Word (.docx): blank, with a short instruction in grey under every heading. It opens in Microsoft Word and Apple Pages, and in Google Docs if you upload it to Drive and choose Open with Google Docs.
• Work instruction template, PDF: the same blank template laid out for printing, with ruled tables to write in.
• Filled-in example, Word and as a PDF: a complete work instruction for escalating a customer bug report to engineering, which is example 5 further down this page.

The links go straight to the files, with no email address and no account. Copy them, change them and share them inside your company however you like. For the longer method behind each section, read how to write work instructions alongside this page.

What is a work instruction?

A work instruction is a short document that tells one person how to do one task correctly: what to have ready, which actions to take in order, what they should see after each action and how they know the task is done. It usually sits under a standard operating procedure and gives the exact steps for one task inside it, at the screen, desk or bench where the work happens.

Because it is written for the moment of doing, a good work instruction is short, specific and visual. It names the buttons, fields and parts the person will actually see, it puts a warning in front of the step that needs it, and it gives the person a way to check their own work as they go.

Work instruction vs SOP: what is the difference?

An SOP describes how a piece of work is done across a team: why it exists, its scope, who does what and the controls around it. A work instruction describes how one person does one task inside that SOP, action by action, with what they should see after each one. One SOP often links to several work instructions.

Companies draw the line in different places, and some call everything an SOP. What matters is that each document answers one kind of question and links to the others. For the SOP layer, start with what an SOP is and the free SOP template; for ten worked procedures, see these standard operating procedure examples.

What should a work instruction template include?

A work instruction template needs a header that identifies the document, then the task and its result, who does it, what must be ready, warnings, numbered steps with a check for each, what to do when something goes wrong, the finish line and a revision history. Here is the template's layout, section by section:

The steps table is the heart of it, with four columns: the step number, the action, a key point and a check. The key point holds the one thing that makes the step go right, such as a setting to choose or the reason the step exists. The check is what the person should see when the action worked: a status, a message, a number that matches. That is how a mistake gets caught at the step where it happens instead of at the end of the task.

Sample work instruction format: how should each step read?

Each step should be one action that starts with a verb, names the control or part exactly as the person will see it, and ends in something they can check. If you need the word “and” to describe a step, it is probably two steps. If the person could carry on after the action silently failed, the step needs a check.

• Keep it short. If the steps table runs past fifteen or so rows, the task is probably two tasks with a handoff between them.
• Put the picture next to its step, cropped to the control or part, not a full screen the reader has to search.
• Warn before the risky action, in that row, as well as in section 4. A warning after the step arrives too late.

Work instruction examples

Each example below is one task in the template's format: who does it, what to have ready, the steps with a check for each, and when it is done. They are generic on purpose. System names, limits and timings are placeholders; replace them with your own, then paste the result into the template to add warnings, problems and revision history.

1. Submit an expense claim (office)

Who: any employee. Before you start: the receipt as a photo or PDF, the cost code for the spend and a one-line business reason. Done when: the claim shows Submitted and your manager has the approval request.

Watch for: a wrong cost code. It sends the claim to the wrong approver, and it usually comes back days later, so step 4 says to ask first.

2. Set up a meeting room for a hybrid call (office)

Who: whoever booked the room. Before you start: the meeting invite includes the room and the video-call link. Done when: remote people can see and hear the room, and the room is left ready for the next booking.

Watch for: the call joined from a laptop instead of the room console. The room's camera and microphone then sit unused while everyone hears the laptop, which is why step 2 starts on the console.

3. Add a user to a business app and assign a role (software)

Who: the app's administrator. Before you start: an access request that names the person and the role, approved by their manager. Done when: the invitation is sent with the requested role and the request is closed with the role recorded.

Watch for: the admin role given “just for now”. Extra access is rarely taken back later, which is why step 4 defaults to the lower role.

4. Restore an earlier version of a shared document (software)

Who: anyone with edit access to the document. Before you start: roughly when the document was last right, and who else edits it. Done when: the document shows the right content and the other editors know what was restored.

Watch for: good edits made after the mistake. Restoring takes the whole document back, so step 5 exists to bring the wanted ones forward again.

5. Escalate a customer bug report to engineering (support)

This one is also the filled-in example file, so you can see every section of the template completed, with the key point column in use. Who: support agent. Before you start: the ticket is assigned to you and you can sign in to the support test account. Done when: the bug is filed or linked with evidence, the ticket is tagged and Pending, and the customer knows what happens next.

If something goes wrong: when you cannot reproduce the problem, ask the customer for a screen recording, their browser and when it happened. When customer data is lost or exposed, stop: do not file a normal bug, page the on-call engineer through the incident channel.

6. Verify a customer before changing their account email (support)

Who: support agent. Before you start: a ticket asking for the change, and the customer record open. Done when: the new address is on the account, both addresses have been told, and the ticket records how the customer was verified.

Watch for: a convincing story instead of a code. Changing the email hands over the account, so step 2 has no exceptions, and anyone who cannot receive the code goes to account recovery.

7. Receive a delivery and check it against the order (light operations)

Who: whoever receives goods at the front desk, office or stockroom. Before you start: the list of open purchase orders and a login to the purchasing system. Done when: the order shows what actually arrived, any damage is photographed, and the goods are put away.

Watch for: signing for a delivery before counting it. A shortage noted on the driver's copy is easy to claim; one found after the driver has gone often is not.

8. Print a shipping label and book a collection (light operations)

Who: whoever ships orders. Before you start: the parcel is packed, weighed and measured, and the order is paid. Done when: the parcel carries one clear label, the order shows its tracking number, and a collection is booked.

Watch for: an old barcode left visible on a reused box. Scanners can read the wrong one, so step 5 asks for exactly one.

Visual work instructions: when do pictures or video help?

Visual work instructions put a picture beside each step: a photo for physical work, a cropped screenshot for software, or a short video when movement or order matters more than any single frame. Add a picture wherever the person would otherwise hunt for a control or a part, and leave it out where the sentence already does the job.

A real example: steps generated from one screen recording

Here is what it looks like when the steps come from a recording instead of a blank page. This is the English guide stepvideo.io generated from a real recording of a domain search in a web-hosting dashboard, quoted as it came out, rough edges included. The same guide sits beside its video on our how it works page.

Read it as a draft work instruction, because that is what it is. Every step has an action and its own screenshot, and seven of the eight came with a check line. Step 4, though, repeats the field label and has no check, and nothing in a recording can say who the task is for, what must be ready, or what to do when the name is taken. Those are sections 2, 3 and 6 of the template, and they come from you.

That is where stepvideo fits if you are after an AI work instructions builder for software tasks. You record the task once with the Chrome extension, which records a browser tab, a window or your whole screen; click-accurate editing comes from tab capture with the extension. From that one take it builds the step list, a written guide with a screenshot for each step that downloads as a PDF, and an edited how-to video with AI voiceover and captions. You correct the steps rather than a timeline: rename, reorder, merge, split or delete them, rewrite a step's narration, and re-render.

Paste the guide or its share link into section 5 of the template, and keep the document as the record people approve. From the same project, stepvideo can also draft an SOP-style document with a purpose, scope, prerequisites, procedure and a way to verify success, which you edit like any other draft. If the people doing the task read different languages, stepvideo transcribes 96 languages and publishes narration in 58, so one recording can serve several teams. Plans are on the pricing page.

What are standard work instructions?

Standard work instructions (SWI) record the agreed best way to do a repeated task, in a fixed order, so every person and every shift does it the same way and any improvement starts from a known baseline. The idea comes from lean manufacturing, where standard work has three elements: takt time, the work sequence and the standard amount of work in progress.

Outside a factory, the idea still works without the stopwatch. A support queue, a mailroom or an accounts team can agree one sequence for a repeated task, write it down and change it on purpose when someone finds a better way. The difference from an ordinary work instruction is the word agreed: the standard is the baseline that improvements are measured against.

• To make a standard work instructions template from this one, add a Time column to the steps table and put the expected total time in section 1.
• Keep the key point column. It carries the reason behind each step, which is what stops a well-meant shortcut from becoming the new habit.
• Record each improvement in the revision history with what changed and why, so the standard moves forward on purpose and never drifts.

On a production line with takt times, operator stations and in-process stock, standard work needs the floor practice and forms that go with it, not only a document.

How do you fill in the work instruction template?

Fill it in from a real run of the task, not from memory. Start with the steps table, add warnings and problems from what you saw, and test the draft on someone who has never done the task before you publish it.

1. 1

   Pick one task with one performer

   A work instruction covers what one person does in one sitting: “Escalate a bug report”, not “Support”. If two roles take turns, write one instruction for each and link them.

2. 2

   Watch the task done correctly, or record it

   Ask the person who does it best to do a real one while you take notes. For work on a screen, a recording catches the clicks people no longer notice they make. Write down every question a beginner would ask.

3. 3

   Fill in the steps table first

   One action per row, verb first, with labels exactly as the screen or the part shows them. Add a check to every step where the person could carry on after a silent failure.

4. 4

   Add key points only where they earn their place

   A key point is the trick that makes the step go right, or the reason it exists. If a step has neither, leave the cell empty rather than repeating the action.

5. 5

   List what must be ready, and the warnings

   Put systems and access, materials and the starting condition in section 3. Put each warning in the row before the risky action, as well as in section 4.

6. 6

   Turn every “it depends” into section 6

   Write each problem as the person would see it, then what to do and who to contact. When the safe answer is to stop and ask, say exactly that.

7. 7

   Test it on someone new, then publish it where the work happens

   Ask someone who has never done the task to follow it without help, and rewrite every step where they hesitate. Publish one copy next to the work, set an owner and a review date, and update it whenever the screen or the rule changes.

For the full method, including decision rules, recovery paths and how to run that test properly, read how to write work instructions. For wording individual steps, see how to write step-by-step instructions.

Start with the task people ask about most

Download the template, pick the task your team asks about most, and write one work instruction from a real run of it. Give it to someone new, fix what they stumbled on, and publish it with an owner and a review date. Then copy the closest example above for the next task; the format is already decided, so the second one goes faster.