This is a continually updated list of what the Sonic Screwdriver is capable of doing and the serial/story in which it performed such an action.
- Unscrew screws. (Fury from the Deep / The Monster of Peladon / The Android Invasion)
- Cut through things. (The Dominators / The War Games / The Mutants / The Android Invasion)
- Scan things. (Colony in Space / The Three Doctors / The End of the World / The Doctor Dances / Bad Wolf / The Girl in the Fireplace / Rise of the Cybermen / The Idiot’s Lantern / Army of Ghosts / Doomsday / The Runaway Bride / Evolution of the Daleks / The Lazarus Experiment)
- Detonate mines. (The Sea Devils)
- Generate high pitched sounds. (The Sea Devils / The Green Death / Death to the Daleks)
- Detonate swamp gas. (Carnival of Monsters)
- Unbolt bolts. (Frontier in Space / Evolution of the Daleks)
- Seal or lock doors. (Planet of the Daleks / Rose / Father’s Day / The Doctor Dances / Tooth and Claw / School Reunion / Doomsday)
- Check for electric floor plates. (Death to the Daleks)
- Screw in screws. (The Monster of Peladon)
- Open doors. (Revenge of the Cybermen / Planet of Evil / The Robots of Death / The Ribos Operation / City of Death / The Horns of Nimon / Full Circle / The End of the World / Doomsday / The Lazarus Experiment)
- Heat up things. (Terror of the Zygons)
- Bust through invisible barriers. (Pyramids of Mars)
- Unknown purpose. (The Face of Evil / Nightmare of Eden / The Horns of Nimon / The Unquiet Dead / Daleks in Manhattan / The Lazarus Experiment)
- Open safes. (The Sun Makers)
- Unlock locks. (The Stones of Blood / The Empty Child)
- Blow up bolts. (The Armageddon Factor / Nightmare of Eden)
- Blow up bombs. (Destiny of the Daleks)
- Convince people that escape is possible. (City of Death)
- Open drawers. (Nightmare of Eden)
- Escape Rooms. (The Leisure Hive)
- Unscrew hinges. (Castrovalva)
- Generate delta waves. (Kinda)
- Dismantle energy barriers. (The Visitation)
- Lock urns. (The TV Movie)
- Deactivate Autons. (Rose)
- Reverse a sun filter’s motion. (The End of the World)
- Unlock doors. (Aliens of London / Bad Wolf / School Reunion / The Runaway Bride / Gridlock)
- Operate a lift. (World War Three / The Long Game / Evolution of the Daleks)
- “Triplicate the flammability of port” (but in reality just bluffing). (World War Three)
- Hack an ATM. (The Long Game / The Runaway Bride)
- Blow up an answering machine. (The Long Game)
- Charge a battery. (Father’s Day)
- Just for holding. (The Empty Child)
- Scan bodies. (The Empty Child)
- Try to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete. (The Doctor Dances)
- Unlock handcuffs. (The Doctor Dances / Tooth and Claw)
- Reattach barbwire. (The Doctor Dances)
- Reverse a teleport. (Boom Town)
- Blow up a camera. (Bad Wolf)
- Activate the TARDIS. (The Parting of the Ways)
- End a transmission. (Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways)
- Blow up a Christmas tree. (The Christmas Invasion)
- Fix K9. (School Reunion)
- Light a candle. (The Girl in the Fireplace)
- Fix loose connection. (The Girl in the Fireplace)
- Blow up earpods. (Rise of the Cybermen)
- Unlock trapdoor. (The Age of Steel)
- Lock trapdoor. (The Age of Steel)
- Open a Cyberman. (The Age of Steel)
- Activate the emotions of a Cyberman (thus killing them). (The Age of Steel)
- Break rope. (The Age of Steel)
- Scan for electrical impulses. (The Idiot’s Lantern)
- Unlock a vent. (The Idiot’s Lantern)
- Unlock a gate. (The Idiot’s Lantern)
- Flashlight. (The Idiot’s Lantern)
- Key into the absorption matrix and separate the last victim of the Absorbaloff. (Love and Monsters)
- Turn a scribble monster into a ball of graphite. I think. (Fear Her)
- Setting 15B. (Army of Ghosts)
- Crack glass. (Army of Ghosts)
- Improve image quality. (Doomsday)
- Kill a roboform. (The Runaway Bride)
- Hack an elevator. (The Runaway Bride)
- Break web. (The Runaway Bride)
- Modify a pay phone. (The Runaway Bride)
- Unlock a car door. (The Runaway Bride / Gridlock)
- Boost a cellphone. (The Runaway Bride)
- Increase the radiation by 500%. (Smith and Jones)
- Fix a TV. (Gridlock)
- Hack a car. (Gridlock)
- Shift a fuse. (Gridlock)
- Unlock a manhole cover. (Daleks in Manhattan)
- Unlock a capacitor. (Daleks in Manhattan)
- Create noise. (Evolution of the Daleks)
- Try to stop an elevator. (Evolution of the Daleks)
- Signal Daleks. (Evolution of the Daleks)
- Light a fire. (Evolution of the Daleks)
- Override security. (The Lazarus Experiment)
- Open floor panels. (The Lazarus Experiment)
- Generate hypersonic sound waves to set up a resonance pattern in a church bell. (The Lazarus Experiment)