Everything you keep in your vault is a record — a set of fields describing one real-world thing, with the document attached alongside. A bank account, a passport, your will, the dog's care instructions: each is a record, and each has a form built specifically for it.
This article explains how the forms work in general. The others in this folder cover the actual fields, category by category.
Why fields, not just files
A photo of a life insurance policy is better than nothing, but your family still has to squint at it to find the policy number. A record puts the carrier, the number, the coverage, and the beneficiary right on the screen — and keeps the document attached underneath for when the company asks for proof.
The fields are what turn a pile of documents into something your family can actually use in the first difficult days.
Three field labels worth knowing
Most fields are self-explanatory. Three carry a small tag, because they do something beyond just storing what you typed:
Required — a red asterisk
The one field you can't skip. Usually just a name or an institution — enough to save something useful in seconds. Everything else can wait for later.
drives reminders
A date field that, once filled in, brings this record back around in your weekly digest before the date matters — a passport expiry, a policy renewal, an annual review. Fill these in and the vault does the remembering for you.
checked against your Will
The beneficiary an institution has on file — the name the bank or insurer will actually pay. That designation legally overrides your will, so it's worth recording and worth checking. See Beneficiary Designations vs. Your Will.
Attaching a document
Under Supporting document, you can attach the original file — one per record. It's optional. A record with its fields filled in and no attachment is still genuinely useful; you can always add the file later.
Photos are the exception. In Personal › Photos you can paste a link to a whole album — Google Photos, iCloud, Dropbox — instead of uploading files one at a time.
Assigning and saving
Above the document upload is the Assign to vault picker. Ticking a vault here is what sends the record to that vault's people — a record assigned to nothing is stored but reaches no one. Then click Save & encrypt to vault, and it's encrypted with your own keys before it's stored.
Full detail on that step is in Assigning Records to Vaults.
Changing a record later
Every saved record has a ⋮ menu in its top-right corner: Edit details loads it back into the form, Assign to vault changes who receives it, Rename changes the card title, and for records with a file you'll also see Download and File preview.
When something's updated — a renewed policy, a re-signed will — edit the existing record and use Replace on the attached document rather than creating a second record. One record per real thing, kept current, so your family never has to work out which of three is live.
The sections, one by one
- What Goes in Personal — IDs, dependents, photos, online accounts
- What Goes in Assets — financial, property, insurance, crypto, vehicles, business, valuables
- What Goes in Debts — credit cards, mortgages, obligations
- What Goes in Legal — will, trusts, power of attorney, directives, guardianship
- What Goes in Health — insurance, medical history, wallet card, pets, elderly care
- What Goes in Funeral — funeral instructions, burial plots
- What Goes in Personal Wishes — messages to specific people
- What Goes in Recipients — the people who receive your vaults
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