Best Mac-friendly software to organize personal info for my spouse

I would add one additional suggestion to the great ones already given.

If you don't already do this, sit down with your spouse once a month, once every couple of months, whatever seems reasonable and review the financial stuff, what the accounts are, what's in them, what your debts are, how to access them. Lots of couples divvy up responsibilities and finances often seems to get delegated to one person. But the other person should always have a basic idea of what's going on. Having to learn everything while in pain and under a great deal of stress won't be easy, even with written instructions. Also keep in mind that, should you became ill and incapacitated, they will need to deal with health insurance, long term care insurance and possibly Medicare even while you are still alive.

I've also reached the age where I'm starting to think very hard about this.

Re: “… It's difficult enough these days to prove you're a human, let alone proving you are who you are … “

True words. 👏

Especially given the multiple implementations of 2FA which we all must constantly juggle managing our own accounts.

Trying to convey the many nuances to our survivors would be challenging.

Dos un wrote:

Idris, Yes!

It could be a date night topic.

An advantage would be that we'd become accustomed to discussing it. And identifying others who could/should be appraised of the state of affairs. And raising questions such as, Are the executors that we chose when we made our wills 15 years ago still suitable?

How you know your old - talking about finances is a "date night." But seriously, great idea!

Dos un wrote:

And raising questions such as, Are the executors that we chose when we made our wills 15 years ago still suitable?

Those are questions that need to be addressed periodically. People change. Changes in technology render things obsolete even faster than that.

I try to future-proof any important data I keep. I store it in the simplest formats possible, of which plain text is the simplest. I have files I wrote back in 1986 that I can still read today. They may not be have a nice font or special characters, but I can still open them 40 years later and 98% of the effort in something written is the actual content. I can't say that's the same for the files I wrote in Multimate (yeah, not many remember that). So now I may keep information in two formats, one as plain text—even "tables" can be made in plain text if you use a tab to space information. The plain text is for future-proofing. The other format may be in something such as a spreadsheet. Even then you may find certain formats have better longevity.

For plain text I just use TextEdit.

Providing my sister with the password to my master file but keeping the file itself here is my home-made two-factor authentication to getting access to the file. ;-)

Read about disk images here:

Create a disk image using Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

The sparse feature lets you create an image that can change in size as you need it. Select the encrypt button if you want it password protected.

Yes, it is a delicate topic but a worthwhile one (and a lot more interesting than 90% of the topics here which are the same questions I saw asked and answered 20 years ago. ;-) )

You’ve got some great foresight planning that out! If you want something simple and Apple-friendly, try Numbers — it’s like Excel but cleaner and easier to update on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. You could also move the info into Apple Notes and lock it with a password so it’s secure but still super easy to read and search.

If you’d like something a bit more powerful, FileMaker Pro can handle organized, searchable databases. And if security’s a top priority, a password manager like 1Password is perfect — you can store documents, logins, and notes all in one safe, easy-to-navigate place for your spouse.

Dos un wrote:

Is there such a thing as plain text in a spreadsheet?

In Excel (and probably Numbers but I don’t use it), you can save files in .csv format. That’s comma-separated values and is the spreadsheet equivalent of plain text.

Dos un wrote:

I’m making a folder for my spouse in the event of my unexpected death. It contains identity and documents; subscriptions; financial details. It’s in an Excel spreadsheet. It’s messy/awkward/clumsy. I’d like to make it easy to (1) update; (2) display; (3) interrogate. The end user is less tech savvy than I. Ours is an Apple-only household.

What software might I look at?

If I get this right I would make a file for the spouse for me to use!

I have read all the replies and comments related to this post. It's a serious topic. Here are my thoughts:

• I have seen this happen with elderly family members, one left the computer all "set up" with information for the other not-very-computer-savvy spouse. What actually happened in this recent case (involving my parents) is that the surviving one was able to access everything needed via paper records stored with a trusted accountant and law firm, and was never able to utilize what was on the Mac, despite assistance from me and my brother and sister and others. She found the computer confusing and could not follow even simple instructions. But the paper records (stored securely) solved everything that needed solving. In the end, she continued using the computer only for email via a browser interface and never used it for anything else.
• With deserved respect to John Galt, if one is going to use a file to store information, an Excel file does make some sense because MS-Excel is universally used by all law firms, banks, accounting firms, etc. It is cross platform, they will be able to open it. I would guess for some decades into the future. It can be password protected with the password conveyed to the trustee, executor, and trusted family members. The password to get into the computer also needs to be safely stored with trusted people. The surviving person may be too distraught to remember anything pertaining to computer access, however.
• My spouse can log into my computer, can log into my account, and knows the password to that special file I have set up with all that important info. But I don't expect her to remember these steps, I see that she forgets simple things I have showed her in the past, so I have other "backup" approaches that will work even if she never touches my computer. When people get older, some become completely unable to use a computer. You don't appreciate this until you see it happen. So rather than focusing on organizing the information on a computer for your spouse, organize it for other capable family members who will step in and for the law firm that will be handling things.