People and things
A document answers two questions: what kind of paper is this, and who or what is it about. Harbor keeps them separate.
What kind of paper is this? is the category. Who or what is it about? is the item: a person, a property, a vehicle, an account. A hosted vault that only asks the first question makes you file the boiler invoice as either a receipt or a house document. Asking both keeps each answer honest.
Kinds#
| Kind | Examples |
|---|---|
| Person | Each member of the household |
| Property | The house, the flat, the cabin |
| Vehicle | The car, the boat, the trailer |
| Account | The joint current account, the pension |
Boats and campers are vehicles; the category tree already separates them.
Things inside things#
A thing can sit inside another thing: the boiler inside the house, the engine inside the boat. You can change where a thing sits at any time from its page. Two rules follow, so a document is filed once and found everywhere: filing something to the boiler also files it to the house, visibly, as both chips land; and the house's page lists the boiler's documents without a second link. A person is never inside anything.
Key documents#
Each item has a short list of key documents, seeded by kind: Passport, Deed, Title, Latest statement. A slot with nothing in it reads Not on file. Absence is visible from day one, which is the point. The slots are editable.
Deleting a thing#
Deleting a thing removes exactly its label and its links. Documents are never deleted with it. They keep their bytes, their category and their other links; they are simply no longer marked as being about it. Things inside it move up a level rather than vanishing. The confirmation states both counts before you agree.
The FOR control#
When you file, one control finds everything: a single searchable list grouped by kind, with things-inside-a-thing sorted under their parent. Type "boil" and the boiler comes up; type "mus" and the house does. You never choose a kind of picker first.
Where they appear#
Home shows a Family row and a Property and things row. Each item has a page with its key documents, the things inside it, and every record about it. The Library filters by item, and item names are searchable.