Accounts and Logins Record

Who this is for

A list of the accounts, without the passwords. Each line records the service, the username or email it is under, a hint that means something only to you, where the actual password is kept, how the two-step check works and which phone or address recovers it. There is no password column, and there is not going to be one.

Households where one person set up every account, anyone putting their affairs in order for whoever comes after them, and people who have locked themselves out once and would rather not do it again.

What this helps you track

• Every account the household holds, with the service and the login name
• A hint in your own words — never the password itself
• Where the password actually lives: a manager, a notebook, a safe
• How the second step works, and which phone or email it goes to
• The recovery address or number the service will use if you are locked out

How to use it

1. Write whose record it is, the date and where the sheet itself is kept at the top.
2. Add a line per account: the service, and the username or email address it is registered to.
3. Write a hint that would jog your memory and nobody else's — the name of the system you use, not the password.
4. Say where the password is kept: a password manager, a particular notebook, a sealed envelope, a safe.
5. Record the two-step method and the device or address it goes to, because that is what fails when a phone is lost.
6. Note the recovery email or number the service holds, and keep the sheet somewhere as safe as the passwords.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Why is there no password column?

Because a sheet of passwords is the thing you least want lying about, and we will not print one. A hint and a note of where the password is kept lets the right person get in and tells the wrong person nothing.

What is a good hint?

One that points to a system rather than a word: 'usual pattern, the long version', 'in the blue notebook, page for banks'. If a stranger could guess the password from the hint, it is not a hint.

Where should the sheet itself be kept?

With the other things you would not leave on the kitchen table. It is the map to the accounts, so it deserves the same care as the accounts. The browser version saves in your own browser on the device you used and sends nothing anywhere.

Is this the same as the Wi-Fi and devices register?

No. That sheet is about the hardware in the house — router, devices, who uses what. This one is about online accounts and how to get back into them.

Should I include bank accounts?

You can list the service and the login name, with the hint and where the password is kept, like any other line. Never write account credentials in full on paper or on screen here.