How do I get started with my SDS library?

Getting started is a guided, six-step process. From the moment you log in, a progress tracker on your dashboard names every step and tracks how many you've finished — walk through it in order and you'll have a working SDS library, employee access, and a live subscription by the end. Here's exactly what each step looks like today.

1 Create Locations

The first step is Locations — how SDS Manager matches your organization's real structure. A location can be a site, a building, a department, or a single storage area; for a large single-site operation, we recommend creating sub-locations based on where chemicals are physically stored, since that's what makes ongoing maintenance easier. Every product, every SDS, and every QR code you create later gets tied to a location — you can scope employee access to just one, or grant access across all of them.

Click Add location 1 to create your first one. Most small teams only ever need the single default location created for you at signup; larger teams add more as soon as they need per-department admin roles or a QR poster scoped to a specific area.

• 1 Add location

2 Add Products

With at least one location in place, step 2 is where you actually populate your library. Five ways to do it live together as tabs on the same dashboard panel 1:

• Search SDS Database — search our database of 18 million+ SDSs by product, supplier, CAS#, UFI#, or EU number; picking a result adds the product and its matching SDS in one step
• Scan Barcode — the fastest way to build a large list without knowing the SDS upfront. Scan a container's barcode with your phone (open the scanner instantly by scanning the in-panel QR code 1 below — no app install needed) or use a laptop/tablet camera via Use this device. Most teams add 100+ products in under an hour this way; SDS Manager records the product immediately and you match its SDS afterward (Step 3)
• Scan Paper Binder — if your chemical list only exists as a printed SDS binder, scan its pages and SDS Manager extracts the product list from them
• Import Product List / Import SDS Files — upload a spreadsheet of what you already track, or upload SDS PDFs you already have on file, and either gets matched or filed automatically

• 1 Five ways to add products, as tabs

• 1 Scan with your phone — no app needed

Full detail on all five methods, including spreadsheet format requirements, is in How do I add Safety Data Sheets to my library? below.

3 Find SDS for Products

Not every product added in Step 2 already has a confirmed SDS attached. Direct search results come with their SDS already matched, but barcode scans and paper-binder scans identify the product first — picking the exact right safety data sheet (correct manufacturer, correct revision) still needs a person to confirm it. Step 3 is where you close that gap: any product still missing a confirmed match shows up in your outdated/missing-SDS queue, where you — or a QR code user, if you've turned that permission on (Step 4) — search and attach the correct SDS using the same search tool from Step 2.

4 Employee Access & QR Posters

Step 4 is where the library actually reaches your employees. QR codes give anyone immediate, read-only access by scanning a poster with their phone or clicking a link from your intranet — no login required. You can use one QR code for your entire library or create one per location to scope access. Each printed poster carries two codes: a small one that optionally offers the SDS Manager app download, and a larger one that opens the library directly (with offline access if the app is installed).

From the QR Access page, click print QR poster 1 to generate a ready-to-print poster for a location, or grab the URL to add straight to your intranet instead.

• 1 Print QR poster

Once you have at least one QR code, Create QR poster 1 adds another — useful for a second location or a different language — and View QR poster 2 opens the printable version of an existing one.

• 1 Create QR poster
• 2 View QR poster

The same page covers adding admin users and sending a pre-written go-live email — see Step 5. Full depth on QR settings, custom fields, and SSO is in the questions below.

5 Go Live

Step 5 is a checkpoint rather than a page of its own — confirmation that Steps 1–4 are genuinely done: locations exist, products and their SDSs are in the library, and at least one QR poster or intranet link is live for employees. The QR Access page includes a ready-made suggested go-live email you can send straight to your organization once you're ready, so rolling out to your team takes one email rather than a training session.

6 Start Subscription

Step 6 is the Billing page. Every account starts on a free trial (yours shows the exact end date top-right), and you choose a permanent plan — Free, Basic, Premium, or Pro — based on how many SDSs you need and which features matter. Risk assessment and hazardous-substance alerts 1 both unlock on Premium (risk assessment once your library reaches 5 SDSs — see the note on the plan-comparison page); Job Procedure Builder (COSHH) is the one that's genuinely Pro-only. All are covered in their own questions below, so it's worth checking whether you'll need any of them before you lock in a plan.

• 1 Premium+: risk assessment and hazardous-substance alerts (the SDS Compliance page) — see the plan-comparison page for details

Deeper optional topics — risk assessment, job procedures, all five import methods, full QR/SSO administration — each have their own dedicated question elsewhere in this category.