Handover Note: What It Is, How to Write One, and a Free Template

What Is a Handover Note?

A handover note is a short written guide that lets someone else take over a task or role. It records what the work is, where everything is kept, the steps to follow and who to ask when something is unclear.

When You Need One and Who Reads It

You need a handover note when work changes hands. That might be leave, a new job, a sick day that runs long, or a task you are sharing with a part-time helper.

The reader is someone who knows the office but not your work. They cannot read your mind and they cannot ask you, because you are away. Write for that person, on their first morning with the task.

What Goes in a Handover Note

1. The Task in One Line. What it is and why it matters.
2. How Often and by When. The schedule, and any deadline that cannot slip.
3. Where Things Are Kept. Files, folders, links and who holds the keys.
4. The Steps. In order, one action each, with how to tell it worked.
5. What Goes Wrong. The traps and the fixes you already know.
6. Who to Contact. Names and roles, plus the person to ask about anything missing.
7. What Not to Touch. Parts that need your judgment or someone's permission.
8. Where to Ask for Access. Never the passwords themselves.

How to Write a Handover Note, Step by Step

1. Say the Task Out Loud. Describe how you do it, in any order, and write it down.
2. Sort the Pieces. Mark each as something to hand over, something to keep, or something to decide first.
3. List What the Reader Needs. Files, contacts, examples of a good result.
4. Write the Steps. Number them. Add a short "Watch for" line wherever a trap hides.
5. Remove Anything Private. Passwords, personal details and account numbers do not belong in a note that gets forwarded.
6. Read It As a Newcomer. Mark every spot where you would have to ask a question.
7. Close the Gaps. Answer those questions in the note.

A Short Example

Here is the opening of a handover note for a weekly supplies order. It is invented.

Task: Send the weekly supplies order to the supplier.

When: Every Monday, before 11 am. A later order means delivery slips a day.

Where things are: The stock sheet is "Supplies tracker" on the shared drive. The last order email is in the Orders folder.

Steps:

1. Open the stock sheet and find rows marked "low."
2. Copy the last order email and change the items.
3. Send it to the supplier contact the office manager gives you.
4. Reply "ordered" in the team chat. That is how you know it is done.

Watch for: If paper is low, order two boxes, not one. The price is better.

Stop and ask if: An item costs more than usual, or the supplier does not confirm by noon.

Access: Ask the office manager for the shared drive and the supplier contact. Do not ask for passwords.

Common Mistakes

• Writing for Yourself. Steps that make sense to you skip the parts you do without thinking.
• Leaving Out the Why. A reader who knows why a deadline matters will protect it.
• Pasting in Passwords. Notes get forwarded. Say who grants access instead.
• No Stop-and-Ask List. The reader needs to know which decisions are theirs and which are not.
• Never Testing It. Hand it to someone new before you leave, or at least read it as they would.

How to Do It with AI Using the Template

The Logic Lab template, "Hand Off a Task to Someone Else," takes your rough description of the task and who is taking over. It works through a short chain of steps. It sorts the pieces, lists what the person needs, writes the plain steps, sweeps for sensitive details, and then reads the result as a newcomer would.

Checks are built in. The template confirms that every piece is sorted as hand over, keep or decide first. It confirms that the list of removed sensitive items is there. It asks you to confirm that nothing private is left in and that a fresh reader could follow the note. Where a detail is missing, the note says "ASK" rather than inventing one.

The template runs in your own AI tool. Logic Lab runs no AI and never sees what you paste. You copy the template, paste in your task, and the tool you already use does the work. Read the final note yourself before you send it.