The parties directory
Store a landlord, an employer or a bank account once, with the document and date each value was read from, and fill the next document from it.
Stop retyping the same people
The same landlord, the same employer, the same bank details, typed again for every deal. The Parties directory stores a party once, and stores with each value the document it was read from and the day it was read.
Saving a party
Once a document is made, the Document ready screen shows Save the party to the directory. Check the card's name and press Save this party. The card is built from the confirmed values, with their sources, so nothing is retyped and nothing loses its provenance. The block appears for templates whose fields come from scans (a passport, a registry extract): those fields make up the card, even when you typed them in by hand this time.
You choose whether it is a person or a company, because the two are searched differently: a person's name matches by initials, a company's ignores the legal form and the quotation marks.
Filling from a party
Pick a party when you prepare the next document and its fields are filled in. Only fields your template reads from a scan are touched, and only where you have not corrected the value yourself: the directory is a starting point, never a correction of your decision.
Why every value carries a date
A stored bank account is useful. A stored bank account that says "read on 3 March" is useful and honest. Anything older than six months is marked "please re-check" on the card and wherever it is offered. It is still offered: you are better placed than we are to know whether it is still true.
Changing a value does not overwrite the old one. The previous value is kept as history, so "what did the card say when that document was generated" has an answer.
Archiving
A party that is no longer current is archived, not deleted: documents you have already generated point back at the card, and that link is worth keeping. An archived card disappears from the picker and stays in the record.
Which plan
The directory is part of the Pro plan and above. If your workspace moves to a plan without it, you keep what you have and keep filling documents from it; only adding and changing cards stops. Compare plans on the pricing page.