Understanding categories
How categories work, and how to use them well.
3 min read · Updated June 28, 2026
Categories are the top-level buckets your documents are filed under, chosen to match the real paperwork of adult life. Stoatify seeds a starter set based on the persona you pick at setup, and you can rename, recolor, add, or remove them to fit how you think. Keeping the set small and stable is what keeps your vault navigable for years instead of sprawling into hundreds of one-off folders.
A typical starter set
- Taxes, returns, W-2s, 1099s, receipts you'll deduct.
- Identity, passports, driver's licenses, birth certificates, visas.
- Insurance, policies, cards, claims.
- Medical, records, prescriptions, lab results.
- Financial, bank and brokerage statements, loans.
- Home, leases, mortgage, utilities, appliance manuals.
- Vehicle, titles, registration, service records.
- Receipts, purchases and warranties.
- Legal, contracts, wills, agreements.
- Other, the catch-all, and the default when nothing else fits.
For the finer distinctions inside a category, reach for tags. Categories answer *what kind of thing is this*; tags answer *which project, year, or person does it belong to*.
Good to know
Every document belongs to exactly one category. To rename, recolor, add, or remove them, see Manage your categories.