Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Your content is fully isolated per organisation. No other customer or third party can access your work instructions, videos, or any other data. The platform is hosted on secured infrastructure with encryption at rest and in transit, role-based access control, and full audit logging. Your IP stays yours.

Yes. Manual.to is fully GDPR compliant. Servers are located on Azure in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. We process only the minimum personal data required for user accounts, and a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is available for your legal team.

No. All AI processing is fire-and-forget: your data is sent to the model, a result is returned, and nothing is stored or used for training. The AI servers are located in Brussels, Belgium. Your content is never used to improve models, never shared with third parties, and never retained after processing.

You are never locked in. If the collaboration ends, you can export all of your content, including work instructions in PDF and XML format, with all associated videos included. The reader environment remains open so your teams can continue to access and view existing instructions. The only capability that stops is editing. Your knowledge stays with you.

You can be live within days. The onboarding session gets your champions up to speed, and from there operators can start capturing and consuming work instructions immediately. Most teams see their first real content published within the first week.

Not at all. Manual.to is designed for the shop floor. Creating a work instruction is as simple as taking photos or recording a short video from a phone or tablet and adding step-by-step descriptions. Consuming instructions requires no training. Operators simply scan a QR code or tap a link.

Companies that rely heavily on blue-collar workers with task-specific know-how, where productivity or quality would suffer if that knowledge were lost. This includes businesses with high turnover, seasonal staffing, frequent use of interim workers, or where employees regularly switch departments. Industry examples include manufacturing, logistics, and food processing.

Visual work instructions are step-by-step guides that use images or video, often with minimal text, to show how to complete a task. Today, they are essential. As experienced employees retire and fewer people enter manual jobs, critical knowledge is disappearing. Meanwhile, global teams bring rising language diversity, making visuals a universal tool. Visual instructions help standardize processes, reduce errors, improve safety, and ensure everyone follows the same method.

Manual.to eliminates manual writing and editing by enabling real-time, on-the-job content creation. Using wearable or mounted cameras, employees simply record themselves performing a task, explaining it as they go. This footage is automatically transformed into a step-by-step guide with short video snippets, translated into multiple languages, and sent to an approver for review. Instructions are created in the same time it takes to perform the task. The same applies to software workflows through screen recording.

First, the task is recorded using a mobile phone, smart glasses, chest-mounted camera, or existing CCTV footage. This footage is uploaded to Manual.to, where AI analyzes video frames and transcribes spoken instructions to generate a step-by-step guide with matching video clips and text, automatically translated into multiple languages. The guide then enters an approval flow, allowing managers or reviewers to edit, approve, and publish it to the right users.

Yes. For digital tasks, users can record their screens, and Manual.to automatically generates step-by-step guides with video and multilingual text overlays. For physical processes, you can record a task using a body cam, glasses, or smartphone. The platform uses footage to auto-generate instructions by analyzing video frames and transcriptions, transforming real-world tasks into usable SOPs in real time.

Yes. Manual.to enables advanced integrations with ERP, MES, IoT, and competence management systems through APIs. It integrates with SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, 24Flow, AG5, SuccessFactors, and others. For example, when an MES system detects a machine error, Manual.to can instantly display the exact SOP to resolve it. All usage data can be exported to Power BI or similar dashboards.

Yes. Every customer gets their own branded platform with custom colors, typography, logos, and visual styling that align with their corporate guidelines. Instruction templates can be tailored or automated to match existing formats. This customization is done collaboratively within the first weeks of onboarding.

You can track who read which instruction, for how long, whether they confirmed completion, and if checklists were filled out. Each manual has full version history and traceability. Insights can be exported via API to platforms like Power BI, MES systems, or competence management tools. For Lean, Six Sigma, or regulatory teams, this means connecting instruction usage directly to KPIs.

Yes. It supports multiple roles: Readers, Creators, Reviewers, and Admins, each with clearly defined permissions. Access to instructions can be limited by language, department, team, machine type, or location. You can assign reviewers to approve content before it goes live, and automate parts of this process using API integrations with other systems like LMS, MES, or HR tools.

Yes. The platform provides private and partner APIs that enable seamless integration into your existing IT landscape. Manual.to collaborates with customers to build and expose the specific API endpoints required for their use cases, whether that’s syncing with an LMS, connecting to an MES, logging read confirmations, or embedding SOPs into a digital workflow.

New employees can start training even before day one, reviewing task-specific manuals in their own language. During classroom sessions, instructions can be shared on-screen or via tablets with instant translations. On the job, employees access step-by-step guides via QR codes or system integrations whenever they need a refresher. This reduces onboarding time by up to 70%, while improving KPIs like OEE, downtime, and repair times.

By providing standardized, visual instructions that are always up to date, Manual.to ensures all employees follow the same procedure. Instructions are automatically translated, so everyone can understand and apply them in their own language. The result: fewer mistakes, less downtime, and higher product or service quality across the board.