Most teams manage work instructions in isolated documents that are disconnected from each other, from the people executing them on the floor, and from any formal review process. In Threaded, work instructions live in a shared Instructions Library — a central home for all of your documented procedures, organized with folders, built for team review, and versioned for control. Your library is not a folder of saved files. It’s a living system your team actively maintains together.

#Key Concepts

Work Instructions are named, versioned documents in the Instructions Library. Each Work Instruction represents a complete documented process — for an operation, a sub-assembly, or any defined scope of work. It contains one or more Procedures, carries its own version history, and moves through a draft → review → publish workflow before reaching operators.

Procedures are the core unit within a Work Instruction. Each procedure contains work steps, visual media, and process plan data. A Work Instruction can have multiple procedures, and procedures can be reordered as your process evolves. You can start with a single procedure that covers all of your steps and break it up as needed, or add procedures one at a time as you build out the document — whatever works for you.

Work Steps are the individual instructions within a procedure. Threaded supports three step types:

Work The primary building block of a procedure. Work steps describe the actions an operator needs to take, and include process plan data such as operator and machine cycle time, required operators, and lot size to support capacity planning and analysis.
Check Used to call out inspection points, verification steps, or key notes the operator should confirm before proceeding. These also include process plan data, as checks often have time and resource requirements.
Safety Warning Used to highlight specific risks, required countermeasures, and PPE requirements for safe operation.

Step type can be changed at any time, and helps operators quickly identify the nature of each step at a glance as they are being trained or for reference while building.

The Instructions Library is the top-level home for all of your organization’s Work Instructions, accessible by clicking Instructions in the top navigation. From the library you can browse, create, and organize Work Instructions using folders. The folder structure is up to you — organize by product line, process area, customer, or whatever reflects how your operation is structured.

#Creating Work Instructions

#The Instructions Library and Folders

The Instructions Library is your starting point for all work instruction authoring. Click Instructions in the top navigation to open the library. From here you can:

Create a new Work Instruction by clicking New Work Instruction. Give it a name that reflects the operation or process it documents.
Create folders to organize your library. Click New Folder to add a folder at the top level, or within any existing folder. Breadcrumb navigation at the top of the library shows your current location as you move through the folder structure.
Open any existing Work Instruction by clicking its name. This opens the WI detail view where you can view and edit procedures, check version history, and manage the review and publish workflow.

#Creating Procedures

Once a Work Instruction is open, click Add Procedure to create the first procedure. Name it after the specific task it covers. You can add additional procedures using the 6-dot menu next to any procedure name and selecting “Add After”. Procedures can be reordered by dragging.

#Adding and Organizing Work Steps

Steps are added within a procedure and can be reordered by dragging, or moved between procedures using drag and drop. Each step has a type — Work, Check, or Warning — which can be changed at any time. Step types help operators quickly identify standard instructions, verification points, and safety information at a glance. Clicking on the 6-dot menu next to a step allows you to update cycle time and required operator information for process planning.

#Adding Visual Media

Images and videos can be added to each procedure to help operators understand exactly what to do. Images can be added from your media library, uploaded from your desktop, or pasted directly from your clipboard. Mobile upload is also supported from either the mobile app or web access, making it easy to capture images directly from the floor. Any image captured in the app is automatically available in your media library to all editors in your organization, removing the need for manual image transfer or emailing photos between collaborators. For more on uploading and organizing your visual assets, see Media Library.

#The Canvas Editor

Threaded includes a built-in canvas editor for annotating and composing images without leaving the platform. The editor opens in a dialog with the media library on the left for quick access to your files, and the annotation canvas on the right. The toolbar provides:

Pointer: Select and move existing annotations.
Text: Add text labels and callouts directly on the image.
Shapes: Rectangle, circle, and arrow tools for highlighting areas, drawing attention to components, or showing direction of assembly.
Symbols: Green checkmark, red X, and yellow warning triangle for go/no-go visuals, safety callouts, and quality indicators.
Crop: Trim images to focus on the relevant area.
Image positioning: Compose and layer multiple images together in a single visual.
Zoom: Zoom in, zoom out, and fit-to-view controls for working on detail areas.
Undo/Redo: Step back or forward through your edits.

Annotations are saved with the image when you click Save, and the annotated version is what operators see in Production. This means you can add callouts, labels, and indicators that make the image self-explanatory without relying on separate text descriptions.

#Parts, Tools, and Linking

Threaded maintains organization-wide tables for Parts and Tools that serve as a shared library across your Work Instructions. These tables store reference data and connect your instructions to the broader system of what it takes to build your product, enabling analysis and traceability that isn’t possible when instructions live in isolated documents. For the full reference on managing your parts and tools tables, see Parts and Tools.

#Parts

The Parts table is your organization’s master list of components used across your value stream. Each part record includes fields for supplier, cost, lead time, minimum order quantity (MOQ), unit of measure, notes, and more — giving you a complete picture of your supply chain in the context of how and where each part is used in production.

Parts can be added manually using the “Add Part” button in the Parts table, or in bulk by providing a CSV of existing parts data to the AI Assistant and asking it to create them for you.

#Tools

The Tools table maintains a library of equipment and tooling used across your Work Instructions. Each tool record includes a description, cost, and usage to track not just what tools are needed, but where they appear across your procedures and what it costs to run the system.

Tools can be added manually using the “Add Tool” button in the Tools table, or with AI assistance in the same way as parts.

#Linking in Work Steps

Both tables come to life when linked directly into work steps using @mentions. While editing a step, type @ to open the mention menu and link to:

Parts Components required for the step, drawn from your parts table. Mentions also include the quantity used in this step or “ref” if the part is only referenced but not consumed.
Tools Equipment or tooling required, drawn from your tools table.
Work Instructions Reference another Work Instruction directly, useful for linking to related processes, sub-assemblies, or maintenance procedures.
Media Link to files in your media library such as spec sheets, reference drawings, or supplemental documentation.

If a part or tool doesn’t yet exist, you can create it inline by typing @ followed by the name - “Create Part” and “Create Tool” options will appear when the text doesn’t match any existing reference.

Linked parts and tools automatically appear in the procedure summary on the right hand side, and roll up to the Work Instruction metrics summary. Usage is tracked in the tables themselves, so you can see everywhere a specific part or tool is referenced across your organization.

#Why this Matters

Linking transforms your work steps from isolated text into a connected, executable description of your production system. When parts and tools are linked, your Work Instructions become a source of operational intelligence. Engineers can analyze where specific parts are used, understand the cost and lead time implications of process changes, and identify supply chain dependencies directly from the library. The AI Assistant can also use this data to support deeper analysis of your process, supply chain setup, and equipment requirements.

#Using Work Instructions

#Navigating Procedures

Procedures within a Work Instruction are listed in the sidebar of the WI detail view. The sidebar lets you move between procedures quickly without losing context, automatically scrolling to the selected section. Left and right arrows at the top of the detail view allow for discrete progression forward and back through the procedures in the document.

#Metrics Summary

The metrics summary at the top of a Work Instruction rolls up process plan data, parts, and tools from all procedures it contains. It also includes a print function for generating formatted documentation. For line balancing and value stream analysis, see Process Planning.

#Version History

Version History is accessible from the left panel within the Instructions section. It shows the org-wide timeline of published Work Instruction versions, with entries for every release across your library. Each entry shows the version name, who published it, when, and a summary of what changed. Over time, this becomes the audit record for your organization — every change, every approval, in one place.

#Configuration

Configuration is accessible from the left panel within the Instructions section. It lets you set organization-wide settings for Work Instructions, including approval requirements and automated review settings for the WI publish workflow.

#AI Assistance

Threaded’s AI Assistant can help create, review, and improve work instructions. Editors can ask the AI to suggest steps for a given procedure, review an existing procedure for completeness or clarity, help write safety warnings, or identify improvements across the library. The AI operates with full context of your Work Instructions, Map, and catalogs, making it a useful collaborator for both building new instructions and continuously improving existing ones.

Using @ in the chat allows you to focus on specific context with any request, and you can also attach external files—CSV, PDF, images, and more—for additional support. See The AI Assistant for more ways to leverage AI in Threaded.

#Operator Mode

Access to work instructions in Threaded is role-based. Editors can edit drafts and publish Work Instructions; operators see only published versions. Operator Mode provides a simpler, focused experience where draft content and previous versions are never visible, and operators can create Issues directly from their instructions to flag problems or provide feedback.

For the full details on what operators can see and do, how to add them to your organization, pricing, and compliance, see Operator Mode.