Operating instructions software for machinery
With CE-Copilot you create the operating instructions for your machine in a guided editor across 12 chapters per Annex I section 1.7.4 of the Machinery Directive: pre-filled from your project data, with residual risks from the risk assessment, optional AI chapter texts and export as PDF and Word. Available from the Professional plan, bookable once per project.
The operating instructions are an integral part of the machine and regularly the document on which liability questions are decided. This guide explains what belongs in them and how the operating instructions module of CE-Copilot accompanies you from the structure to the finished document.
Why operating instructions are mandatory
Under Annex I section 1.7.4 of Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, every machine must be accompanied by operating instructions, as the “original instructions” or as a translation of the original instructions into the official languages of the country of use. They inform about intended use, reasonably foreseeable misuse, transport, assembly, operation and maintenance, and about the residual risks that remain after all design and technical protective measures.
The operating instructions are therefore the third step of the three-step method of EN ISO 12100: what cannot be eliminated by design or technical measures must be addressed through information for use. Incomplete or missing instructions are therefore not just a formal defect but, in the event of damage, a tangible liability risk. With Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 (applicable from 20 January 2027) these content requirements essentially remain; what is newly regulated includes digital provision.
The operating instructions module in CE-Copilot
The module combines the structure of classic engineering operating instructions with what CE-Copilot already knows about your machine, each function with its concrete advantage and the benefit for your daily work:
Guided document editor across 12 chapters per Annex I section 1.7.4 of the Machinery Directive
From the essential basic information through safety, transport, assembly, operation and maintenance to dismantling and appendices: the editor guides you through a field-tested 12-chapter structure. You adapt the order, titles and selection of chapters freely; your own chapters and sections are added with a click.
You never start in front of a blank page and never forget a mandatory topic: the structure of complete operating instructions is in place from the start, and the progress per chapter is visible at all times.
Pre-filling from your project data
Limits of the machine, intended use and reasonably foreseeable misuse come from the risk assessment, interfaces from the machine profile, directives and year of construction from the declaration of conformity, measured values from the test reports. Every item carried over bears a source note.
What you have already recorded in the CE process appears in the operating instructions without double work, consistent with your other CE documents and traceably marked.
Residual risks and standards added automatically on export
The residual risks with protective measures are taken live from your risk assessment, organised by life phase, the applied standards from the standards checklist; evidence of the risk assessment and the list of appendices complete the chapter “Drawings and other information”.
The safety-relevant core of the instructions is always at the level of your risk assessment: change something there, and the next export is automatically up to date.
AI chapter texts as a verifiable draft
On request the AI drafts individual chapters or all still-empty chapters on the basis of your project data: factual engineering prose with warnings, without invented values. Missing details are marked as named placeholders such as “[enter tightening torque from manufacturer]” instead of guessing.
You save the writing work and keep control: every AI text is marked as a draft, fully editable, and is checked and approved by you as the expert.
Export as PDF and Word in a formal engineering layout
Cover page with logo, title image and CE mark, table of contents, running header, signal-word blocks for warnings and source notes. The Word document (with page numbers) can be edited further as you wish; a completeness check warns of empty chapters and open placeholders.
You hand over a document that looks like it came from a technical writer, and with Word you keep full control over final adjustments in-house.
Who benefits from the operating instructions module?
SMEs & machine builders
The operating instructions grow out of data you have already recorded, without studying text modules and without a blank page.
Series machinery & product lines
Set up once per product line, reused per project: pre-filling and automatic sections keep the instructions consistent with the assessment.
Special-purpose machinery
Economical even for one-off systems: a one-time purchase per project instead of your own authoring software.
External CE consultants
A uniform, professional layout across all clients; you hand over the Word document for final editing.
In detail per audience: CE software by audience
What the module deliberately does not do
Technical drawings, circuit diagrams, spare parts lists and supplier documents you add yourself; the list of appendices in the instructions refers to them. The instructions are created in the language you work in on the platform; translations into the official languages of the country of use you commission externally. And as everywhere in CE-Copilot: the AI delivers verifiable drafts; the expert review and the legal responsibility for CE marking remain with the manufacturer.
Create operating instructions directly from your CE project
From the Professional plan, bookable once per project, no recurring fee. Pre-filled from risk assessment, machine profile and declaration of conformity, exported as PDF and Word.
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