Leave the next person a clear starting point
A free, printable website handoff worksheet: account ownership, routine edits, verification, open work and support.
The download is a plain-text Markdown file you can open in any text editor. Print a blank copy, or adapt it to your own document.
Record how access works. Keep secrets elsewhere.
Use account-owner names and access instructions. Keep passwords, private keys, recovery codes and customer information out of this worksheet.
How to use it
Complete this together with the person who will maintain the site. Start with one real change they expect to make. Write the steps, let them try, then improve the instructions at the point where they get stuck.
Separate what has been checked from what remains open. A successful preview does not tell the next person who renews the domain, where an inquiry arrives or how to recover an accidental edit.
01 / Website
Identify the site and its owner
- Public website URL
- Preview or editor location
- Last reviewed version and date
- Website owner
- Person responsible for routine updates
02 / Accounts
Make ownership explicit
Record who owns each account, how the right person obtains access, and who handles renewal. “Access method” can point to an approved password manager or account invitation; it should never contain a password.
| Service | Account owner | Access method | Renewal owner / date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain registrar | |||
| Hosting / platform | |||
| Form / booking | |||
| Analytics, if used |
03 / Routine work
Explain the next ordinary change
Choose up to five likely tasks. Examples include changing a headline, replacing an image, updating opening hours, checking an inquiry or restoring an earlier version. These are examples, not claims about a particular platform.
- Task 1
- Task 2
- Task 3
- Task 4
- Task 5
For each task, use this small instruction card. Repeat it in your document for the other tasks.
- Task and starting point
- Steps to complete it
- How to check the public result
- How to recover an unwanted change
04 / Verification
Write down what was actually checked
Include the date and result. Leave an item open if you could not verify it.
- Important links and buttons
- Inquiry submission and its destination
- Phone-sized layout
- Keyboard route through the main task
- Unchecked items and the reason
05 / Open work
Give unfinished work an owner
| Item | Responsible person | Next action | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
06 / Support
Agree on where help begins and ends
- Support contact
- Agreed scope and response terms
- Work outside that scope
07 / Practice
Let the owner try one task
- Task attempted
- Where the instructions were unclear
- What was changed in the instructions
- Result when the task was repeated
This is a general working template. It is not an accessibility, security or legal certification, and does not describe a completed client project.