Important Documents Register

Who this is for

One list of where every important document is. Passports, deeds, certificates, policies and wills each get a line with the type, the physical place it lives, a tick for a digital copy and the date it runs out, so nobody has to search a house for it.

Anyone who has ever missed a renewal because the document was in a drawer, and families who want one person's knowledge of where things are written down.

What this helps you track

• Where the original of each document physically is
• Which documents have a scanned or photographed copy, and which do not
• Which ones expire, and when, so renewals are not a surprise
• What a partner, executor or attorney would need to find without you

How to use it

1. List each document as you come across it — a room at a time is the easiest way.
2. Choose a type from the list so the register can be sorted or read by kind.
3. Write exactly where the paper copy is: which room, which drawer, which folder.
4. Tick the digital copy column only when a copy actually exists somewhere you could reach.
5. Add the expiry date where the document has one and leave it blank where it does not.
6. Keep the register somewhere the household knows about, and update it when a document moves.

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

Should I write document numbers on it?

There is no column for them, deliberately. A register of where things are is useful to a burglar only if it also carries the numbers. Keep numbers on the documents themselves or in a password manager.

What counts as an important document?

Anything that would be slow, costly or impossible to replace, or that someone else would need in an emergency: identity, property, money, insurance, vehicles, medical, legal and qualifications. If you would be upset to lose it, list it.

Where should the register itself be kept?

Somewhere the people who might need it know about, and not in the same place as every document it lists. Many people keep the paper copy with the emergency folder and the browser version on their own device.

Does the browser version store my list online?

No. It saves in your own browser on your own device. Nothing is sent anywhere, and there is no account.