What to do first
Not everything about digital legacy is equally urgent. This guide ranks every action from critical to optional so you can focus your time where it matters most. The most important actions are the ones only you can do while you are alive, because a will cannot make a platform cooperate after your death.
Critical
Do todaySet legacy contacts on all major platforms
⏱ 5–10 minutesWithout a legacy contact, your accounts may be locked permanently when you die, with no one able to access, memoralise, or close them. This is the single most impactful action you can take.
- →Facebook: Settings & privacy → Settings → Accounts Centre → Profiles and personal details → Account ownership and control → Memorialisation
- →Apple: Settings → [your name] → Sign-In & Security → Legacy Contact
- →Google: go to myaccount.google.com/inactive (Inactive Account Manager)
- →For step-by-step instructions, see the Platform Guides.
Make sure your executor can find your accounts and passwords
⏱ 30–60 minutesMany accounts can only be found, cancelled, or closed by someone who can get into them, and many platforms have no process for executors at all. Without planned access, subscriptions keep charging and sentimental content can be lost for good.
- →Use a password manager with an emergency access feature: a person you nominate can request access to your vault, and is let in automatically if you do not decline within a waiting period you choose. Bitwarden (Emergency Access, on its paid plans) is widely recommended. LastPass offers a similar feature, but its 2022 data breaches are worth weighing if you are choosing a password manager for the first time.
- →If you already use 1Password: it has no emergency access feature. Instead, print your Emergency Kit, write your account password on it, and store it securely with your will.
- →Alternatively: write passwords in a secure physical document stored alongside your will, not written into the will itself, because a will becomes a public document after probate. Update it annually.
- →Having your passwords does not give your executor the right to use them. Many platforms' terms forbid anyone else signing in as you, and under Irish law signing in to someone else's account without lawful authority can be a criminal offence. Whether that applies to an executor is not settled. Your executor should use each platform's own process where there is one, use your passwords mainly to see which accounts exist, and take advice from your solicitor before signing in to anything.
- →Tell your executor where to find it, and ask your solicitor whether your will should mention where it is kept.
- →Do not email passwords to anyone or store them in a notes app.
High
This weekWrite down what you want to happen to each account
⏱ 1–2 hoursYour executor cannot honour wishes you have not expressed. Without written instructions, people may disagree, platforms may default to deletion, and accounts you wanted preserved may be lost.
- →For each major account, decide: (1) Memoralise and keep accessible, (2) Delete immediately, (3) Transfer content to a family member, (4) Donate to an archive or institution.
- →Write your decisions in a document titled "Digital Wishes" and keep it alongside your will.
- →Tell your solicitor and executor where this document is.
- →Review it every two years or when you add a major new account.
Include digital assets in your will
⏱ 1–3 hours (with solicitor)Irish law gives your executor no specific rights over digital accounts, and a will cannot make a platform cooperate. What a clause can do is record your wishes, name who should deal with your digital assets, and point to your "Digital Wishes" document, so your executor is not left guessing. The platform tools in the Critical section are what actually give someone access.
- →Ask your solicitor to add a "digital assets" clause to your will.
- →Name a digital executor. This can be the same person as your general executor or someone more technically comfortable.
- →Reference your Digital Wishes document and password access method by name.
- →Ask your solicitor how to word your permission for your executor to deal with your digital accounts, bearing in mind that a platform may still refuse.
Medium
This monthCreate an account inventory
⏱ 1–2 hoursMost people underestimate how many accounts they have. Without an inventory, your executor will waste weeks tracking down accounts, or simply miss them. An inventory also helps you identify accounts you can close now.
- →List every online account you have: social media, email, banking, streaming, subscriptions, shopping, creative platforms, cloud storage.
- →For each: record the platform name, your username/email, what it contains, and your wishes for it.
- →Store the list with your will. Update it annually.
Back up your photos to a non-platform storage
⏱ 2–4 hours (plus ongoing)Photos stored only on Facebook, Instagram, or your phone are at risk. Platforms change, get acquired, or get shut down. Your phone can be stolen. An external backup means your photos survive platform changes and the people you choose can access them without needing your login.
- →Download your Facebook photos: Settings & privacy → Settings → Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Export your information.
- →Download all your Google Photos: takeout.google.com.
- →Back up your phone photos to iCloud, Google Photos, or an external hard drive, ideally more than one.
- →Organise backed-up photos into folders by year or event so they are useful to whoever receives them, not just a pile of files.
Lower
When you have timeCurate and organise your photos
⏱ Several hours to ongoingA curated, labelled photo collection is a meaningful gift to anyone you choose to leave it to. Unlabelled photos of strangers at a party are not. This is valuable but lower priority, because it is meaningless if the photos are not backed up first.
- →Label important photos with names and dates if your software supports it.
- →Delete duplicates and low-quality photos to make the collection manageable.
- →Create albums for major life events.
- →Consider writing captions for the most important images, because context is lost quickly after death.
Write letters or messages for the people who matter to you
⏱ VariableMany people wish they had one more message from someone they have lost. A letter, video, or voice message can be an extraordinary gift. This is personal rather than administrative. Do it when you feel moved to, not as a task.
- →Write a letter to each person you want to reach. Store physical letters with your will.
- →Record a video or voice message and store it on a backed-up drive or cloud folder.
- →Some password managers and services allow you to schedule digital messages to be sent after a trigger event. Explore this if it appeals.
- →Tell your executor these letters exist and where to find them.
Optional
For enthusiastsCreate a digital archive for long-term preservation
⏱ Full day or longerIf you want your archive to last decades, not just years, a formal digital archive, with redundant copies, format migration, and institutional-quality metadata, is the gold standard. This is beyond what most people need but appropriate for those with significant creative, professional, or historical content.
- →Services like Permanent.org (nonprofit, endowment-funded) offer genuine long-term preservation with multiple backup copies.
- →For physical items: scan documents and photos at 600 DPI minimum. Consider professional scanning services for irreplaceable items.
- →Store copies in at least three locations: home drive, cloud, and physical media.
- →Consider donating relevant materials to an institutional archive (National Library, university, local county archive).
Ready to tick these off?
Use the interactive checklist to track your progress through every action in this guide.
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