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The real power of a Seilers SOP is in its structure. Plain prose instructions are easy to skip or misread — numbered steps and embedded checklists force clarity, create a clear sequence, and give your team a reliable way to track progress as they work through a procedure. This page covers everything you need to know about building out the body of an SOP, from adding your first step to assigning work to specific team members.

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Numbered Steps

Steps are the primary building block of every SOP. Each step represents one discrete action or stage in the procedure. Adding a step: Click + Add Step below the last step in your SOP, or press Tab at the end of an existing step to insert a new one immediately after it. Each step is automatically numbered in sequence. Reordering steps: Hover over any step to reveal the drag handle (⠿) on its left edge. Click and drag the step to its new position. Seilers renumbers all steps automatically after you drop it. Nesting steps: To create a sub-step beneath a parent step, click inside the step you want to nest and press Tab. This indents the step one level, making it a child of the step above it. Sub-steps are numbered using the parent’s number followed by a letter (e.g., Step 3 → 3a, 3b, 3c). Press Shift + Tab to promote a sub-step back to the top level. Keyboard shortcuts for adding steps:
ActionShortcut
Add a new step below the current oneTab at end of step
Add a new step above the current oneShift + Enter
Create a sub-step (nest)Tab at start of step
Promote sub-step to parent levelShift + Tab
Delete the current stepBackspace on an empty step

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Checklists

Checklists let you embed a set of discrete verification items inside a step — perfect for situations where a step involves confirming multiple conditions or completing several small tasks that don’t each warrant their own numbered step. Embedding a checklist in a step: Inside any step, click the + insert menu and choose Checklist. A checklist block appears within the step. Type each item and press Enter to add the next one. Checking off items: When a team member is executing the SOP, they click the checkbox next to each item to mark it complete. Completed items are visually struck through, giving an at-a-glance view of progress. The step itself shows a progress indicator (e.g., “3 / 5 items complete”). Resetting a checklist for reuse: When the same SOP is run again for a new instance of the process, all checklists reset to unchecked automatically. You don’t need to manually clear completed items. Each time a team member opens a fresh SOP run, every checklist starts clean and ready to use.

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Step Types

Seilers supports four step content types, allowing you to model even complex real-world processes accurately. Text Step The default step type. Use it for any action that requires written instructions. Text steps support rich formatting: bold, code snippets, links, images, and embedded notes. Checklist Step A step whose primary content is a checklist rather than prose. Use a checklist step when the entire purpose of the step is to verify a list of conditions — for example, “Confirm all onboarding accounts have been created” followed by a checklist of each system. Decision / Branch Step A decision step presents a conditional branch in the procedure: if one condition is true, the executor follows one path; if another condition is true, they follow a different path. Use this step type to replace the common (and confusing) pattern of burying if/else logic inside prose. Example of a decision step: 
**Step 4 — Determine refund eligibility**

- **If** the purchase was made within the last 30 days → proceed to Step 5 (Process Standard Refund).
- **If** the purchase was made 31–90 days ago → proceed to Step 7 (Escalate to Manager Review).
- **If** the purchase was made more than 90 days ago → proceed to Step 9 (Issue Store Credit Only).
Link / Reference Step A link step points the executor to an external resource, another SOP, or a specific tool they need to open. Instead of embedding lengthy instructions from another process, use a reference step to keep the SOP focused while still providing the right context. You can link to any URL or directly to another Seilers SOP.

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Assigning Steps

Any individual step in an SOP can be assigned to a specific team member or role, making it clear who is responsible for completing that action. To assign a step:
  1. Hover over the step and click the Assign icon (person silhouette) that appears in the step toolbar.
  2. Search for a team member by name or browse by role.
  3. Select the assignee. Their avatar appears on the step, visible to anyone viewing the SOP.
Assigned steps appear in the assignee’s My Tasks view in Seilers, so they can track what they’re responsible for across all active SOP runs without needing to hunt through individual documents.
For complex, multi-day processes, consider breaking the procedure into several focused SOPs rather than building one very long SOP. Link them together using reference steps or embed them in a playbook. Shorter SOPs are easier to maintain, easier to assign, and far easier for your team to follow without losing their place.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Hover over any step to reveal the drag handle on its left side, then drag the step to its new position. Seilers automatically renumbers all steps to reflect the new order. You can reorder steps at any time — whether the SOP is in draft or already published. If the SOP is published and you reorder steps, you’ll need to republish to make the updated order visible to your team.
Yes. Every time a new run of an SOP is started, all checklists reset to fully unchecked. The previous run’s completed state is preserved in that run’s history, so you always have a record of who checked what and when — but the fresh run always starts clean. You never need to manually uncheck items between uses.
Each step supports one primary assignee at a time. If a step genuinely requires two people, the recommended approach is to split it into two sequential sub-steps and assign each sub-step to the appropriate person. This makes the division of responsibility explicit and ensures both assignees see the task in their individual My Tasks view.