Every certificate,
and when it ends

The vendor is the thing you track, so the vendor is the folder. One folder for each subcontractor, supplier or service company, named the way your team says it, like Apex-Roofing, not the legal name on the policy.

Keep every certificate that vendor has ever sent in that one folder, old and new together. A renewal sitting next to the expired one tells you the history, and it saves you from guessing whether a newer one exists somewhere else.

Start the file name with the expiration date, year first, then COI and the vendor, like 2026-10-28-COI-Apex-Roofing.pdf. When you sort a folder by name, the certificates closest to lapsing sit together, and the ones already past are easy to spot.

Use the expiration date printed on the certificate, not the date it was issued or the date it reached you. Those are different days, and only the expiration date answers the question you are actually asking.

A single certificate often lists more than one line of cover, such as general liability, workers’ compensation and auto, each with its own expiration date. Decide up front which date your team tracks. Many teams file by the earliest date on the page, so the certificate comes up the moment any one line is about to end.

On an ACORD 25, each line of cover has its own row with a policy effective date and a policy expiration date side by side. Read the expiration column, not the effective one, and do not confuse either with the date at the top right, which is when the form was issued.

Also watch for a vendor who sends a new certificate for one policy and keeps the older one for the rest. Keep both in the folder, and make clear in the name or a note which line each one covers.

Most contractors and property managers start with a vendor sheet: one row per sub, an expiry column, and a calendar alert someone set by hand. It holds up while one person keeps it current. The weak point is that the sheet is only as right as the last date somebody typed in from an ACORD 25.

Bigger teams often push this onto a vendor-compliance platform where subs upload their own certificates. That suits a long vendor list, but it is another system to roll out. A lighter route is to describe the rule in plain words and let Filex read each certificate and file it with the expiration date up front.

Filex reads and files certificates, and it reminds you of the dates on them. It does not decide whether the limits meet your contract, whether the additional insured wording is right, or whether the policy is valid. It does not contact vendors to ask for renewals either; the reminder is for you to act on.

It also needs the insured name and the expiration date to be readable on the page, so a blurry photo may need a quick look from you. It files certificates from the day you turn it on; tidying older ones is a separate job.