# Documents, your policies and procedures

Where your policies and procedures live in Sted, what each status means, who can see a draft, and how to find or create a document.

Source: https://sted.digital/docs/product/documents · Last reviewed 17 October 2026 · Strand Product

Documents holds your organisation's policies and procedures. Sted drafts them from its knowledge base, adapted to your organisation, and each one moves from Awaiting review to Draft to Approved. Open **Framework**, then **Documents**, and select one: it opens on a page with a plain-English overview and your top three tasks on it.

## What this is

A document is one controlled piece of your management system: an Access Control Policy, a Document Control Procedure, an Incident Management Procedure. Sted's knowledge base holds 64 policies and procedures and 3 notices and charters, each tagged to the clauses it serves. When you generate your framework, Sted drafts the ones that apply to you and adapts them to your organisation, for you to review. Administrators can add documents of their own alongside them.

### What the statuses mean

| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Awaiting review | Sted has drafted it and nobody has reviewed it yet |
| Draft | Reviewed and being edited; not yet signed off |
| Approved | Signed off; this is the version your people follow |

An Approved document stays Approved while a newer draft of it is being prepared, so nobody loses the version in use. The [approved document](/docs/glossary/approved-document) glossary entry explains why that is the version an auditor reads.

## Where to find it

Open **Framework** in the sidebar, then **Documents**. On a phone, select **Menu** at the top of the screen to open the sidebar first. Framework opens once onboarding is finished.

## How it works

### Find a document

1. Open **Framework**, then **Documents**.
2. Type part of a title or code in **Search**.
3. Choose **Awaiting review**, **Draft**, **Approved** or **Has a task for me** in **Filter by:**.
4. Choose **Title**, **Code**, **Status** or **Review date** in **Sort by:**.
5. Select a document to open it.

### The document's page

Each document opens on a page with a plain-English overview and your top three tasks on it, each linking straight to the work. The overview is a field, not part of the document: Sted copies it from the knowledge base, and an administrator or the document's owner can rewrite it in edit mode, up to 600 characters. It does not appear in the document body or the PDF.

A document that is Awaiting review shows **Get started** in place of the tasks if you may review it, and **Continue review** once you have adopted a section. Both open [the section-by-section review of a new draft](/docs/product/reviewing-a-draft).

### Who sees which documents

Reviewers and Personnel see Approved documents only. A Policy and Process Owner sees drafts only of the documents they own; administrators see every draft. Only an administrator or the document's owner can edit a draft, and only administrators and Policy and Process Owners can own a document. Tasks about a document go to its owner first, and to an administrator when nobody owns it, so naming owners spreads the work.

### Create a document of your own

1. Open **Framework**, then **Documents**.
2. Select **Create New**.
3. Choose a **Type**: Policy, Procedure, Plan, Manual, Statement or Register definition.
4. Enter a **Title**.
5. Write an **Overview** of one or two sentences, if you want one on its page.
6. Choose an **Owner** and a **Review frequency**.
7. Select **Create**.

Then write its sections, as described in [editing a document](/docs/product/editing-documents).

## Permissions

The table shows each level's rule. Ownership narrows it: editing needs an administrator or the document's owner, and only administrators and Policy and Process Owners can own a document.

| Action | Administrator | Policy and Process Owner | Reviewer | Personnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read Approved documents | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| See drafts and documents awaiting review | All documents | Documents they own | No | No |
| Edit a draft and its overview | All documents | Documents they own | No | No |
| Create a document of your own | Yes | No | No | No |
| Export a document as a PDF | Yes, on a paid plan | Yes, on a paid plan | Yes, on a paid plan | Yes, on a paid plan |

Controls your level does not allow are not shown: **Create New** appears only for administrators, and drafts you may not open are not in your list.

## Limits and plan features

Documents are in every plan. On Preview you can open one generated document in full; the others need a paid plan. Exporting a document as a PDF needs a paid plan too.

The knowledge base and every document Sted drafts are in British English only.

## Related guides

- [Document control](/docs/guides/document-control): how to run reviews, versions and approvals so your documents stay controlled.
- [Reviewing a new draft](/docs/product/reviewing-a-draft): the next step for a document Awaiting review.
- [Approving documents and versions](/docs/product/approval-and-versions): how a Draft becomes Approved, and what happens to the old version.
- [Generating your framework](/docs/product/generating-your-framework): where the drafted documents come from.
- [Adopting and rolling out policies](/docs/guides/policy-adoption-and-rollout): introducing approved policies to the people who must follow them.

## Frequently asked questions

Q: Why can't I see a draft policy in Sted?
A: Because drafts are shown only to the people who can work on them. Administrators see every draft, a Policy and Process Owner sees drafts of the documents they own, and Reviewers and Personnel see Approved documents only. If you need to work on a draft, ask an administrator to make you its owner.

Q: Can I add a policy that is not in Sted's knowledge base?
A: Yes, if you're an administrator. Select Create New on the Documents list, pick a type such as Policy, Procedure or Plan, and give it a title, an owner and a review frequency. The new document sits in the same list as the ones Sted drafted.

Q: What does Awaiting review mean on a document?
A: It means Sted has drafted the document and nobody has worked through it yet. An administrator or the document's owner sees Get started on its page, which opens the section-by-section review. When that review finishes, the document becomes a Draft you can edit and approve.

Q: Who can change a document's overview?
A: An administrator or the document's owner, in edit mode. The overview is one or two plain sentences of up to 600 characters shown on the document's page. It is not part of the document itself, so it does not appear in the PDF.