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Secretary, communications chair

File a document, set how long it is kept, and publish the ones the public should see

Put a document into the Records vault, set the period the board keeps it, and publish it on your PTO's own web page without exposing anything else.

When you are done

You will have one document filed in the Records vault with a retention period on it, and, if the public should see it, a link to it on a published page at ptohq.org/u/your-address.

Who else you need

Filing and publishing are two different permissions, so one person may not be able to do both halves. A secretary, treasurer, president or communications chair can add to the Records vault. Only a treasurer, president or communications chair can change the website. A membership chair, volunteer chair, auditor or viewer can do neither. If you hold one permission and need the other, ask your president to change your role on the Board tab in Settings; if you are the secretary and somebody else edits the site, file the document yourself and ask that person to publish it.

File a document in the Records vault

  1. Open Documents from the left sidebar.

    The form for adding a document sits above the list of what is already in the vault.

  2. Give the document the name you would say out loud.

    Bylaws. Adopted budget 2026-27.

  3. Pick the kind of document from the list of types.

  4. Set the document's date to the date printed on the document itself, not today's date.

    Retention counts forward from that date, so a wrong date here produces a wrong destruction date years later.

  5. Set how long the board keeps it.

    The choices are permanent, seven years, three years and one year. The form starts on seven years.

  6. Choose the file, then submit.

    A row for the document appears in the vault list.

Accepted
FormatsJPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, HEIF, PDF
Largest file10 MB. A photo taken on a phone is well under that.
Checked howPTO HQ reads the file's first bytes instead of trusting its name, so a file renamed from .doc to .pdf is refused.
What the file box accepts.
The form that files a documentThe add-document form takes the name you would say out loud, the kind of document, the date printed on the document itself, how long the board keeps it, and an optional file. The date box opens on today's date and has to be changed, because the retention clock runs forward from the document's own date rather than from today, so a wrong date here moves the earliest destruction date by years. The form starts on seven years, and the file may be JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, HEIF or PDF up to 10 MB.Add a documentWhat is itBylawsKindbylawsDatedThe printed dateKeep for7 yearsFile (optional)Choose a fileA document can be recorded without the file.Add to the vaultThe clock starts hereThe document's own dateThe box opens on today's date.Keep for: 7 yearsEarliest destructionA wrong date here moves thatdestruction date by years.The file may be JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, HEIF or PDF, up to 10 MB.

Record a document you cannot upload

  1. Put the location in the title, such as Minute book, filing cabinet, school front office.

    The vault has no separate field for it.

  2. Leave the file empty and submit the form.

    The row records that the document exists; nothing is uploaded. It is marked as a record with no file, in place of the control that would open one, and the count of record-only documents at the top of the page goes up by one.

  3. To attach the file later, delete the record-only row and file the document again with the file chosen.

    A vault row has no edit control. Each row offers one control to open the file, or the record-only marker, and one to delete the row.

A row that records a document without holding itSubmitting the form with the file left empty records that the document exists without uploading anything. A vault row shows the kind of document and, where there is one, the file name. A row with a file offers a control to open it; a row without one shows a Record only marker in that control's place, and the count of record-only documents at the top of the Documents page goes up by one. No row has an edit control, so attaching the file later means deleting the record-only row and filing the document again with the file chosen.Two rows in the vaultBylawsbylaws · bylaws.pdfOpenMinute book, front officeminutesRecord onlyNo edit controlA row shows the kind,and the file name whenthere is one.Each row has one controlto open the file, or theRecord only marker, andone to delete the row.Attaching the file later1Delete the rowNothing else edits it2File it againwith the file chosen3New row opens it

Keep each record for the period the schedule sets

Anything that establishes what the organization is, or what it told a government it did, is kept permanently. The financial trail behind it is kept seven years.

  • The vault offers three periods: permanent, seven years, and ten years. Ten years is the one for grant agreements and restricted gift documentation.
  • Seven years is the default, and it is the safe direction — keeping a record longer than the schedule requires harms nothing.
  • Basis: the National PTA records retention schedule, as PTO HQ ships it. Retention periods vary by state and by parent organization, and some records are governed by longer statutory periods. This isn't legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm filing dates, bonding conditions, and your state's requirements with your CPA, your state PTA, and your insurer.
Keep forWhat
ForeverArticles of incorporation, charter, IRS determination letter, EIN assignment
ForeverBylaws, standing rules, and every adopted amendment
ForeverMinutes of board and membership meetings
ForeverTax filings — 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, state returns and exemption applications
ForeverAnnual financial reconciliation and audit reports
ForeverInsurance policies, certificates and claims files
ForeverDeeds, titles, and records of property and equipment owned
10 yearsGrant agreements and restricted gift documentation
7 yearsBank statements, cancelled checks, deposit records and check registers
7 yearsPaid bills, invoices, itemized receipts and check requests
7 yearsAdopted budgets and amendments
7 yearsMembership rosters and dues remittance records
7 yearsContracts, leases and vendor agreements
7 yearsForm 1099 and W-9 files for paid individuals
7 yearsRoutine correspondence and working papers
The same schedule the Records vault uses. Texas PTA asks a board to review its retention policy every year, which is why the sheet in the app carries a review date. This isn't legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm filing dates, bonding conditions, and your state's requirements with your CPA, your state PTA, and your insurer.

Stop all destruction once a dispute is foreseeable

Destroy nothing, whatever the schedule says, once an audit, a claim, an investigation or a dispute is underway or reasonably foreseeable. The hold stays until the board is told in writing that it is lifted.

  • This overrides every line of the schedule above, including disposals already scheduled.
  • Having shredded something on schedule is not a defense once a hold should have been in place.
  • Basis: the litigation-hold notice PTO HQ prints above the retention schedule. This isn't legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm filing dates, bonding conditions, and your state's requirements with your CPA, your state PTA, and your insurer.

Claim your website address once

  1. Open Website in the left sidebar.

    Until an address is claimed there are no tabs and nothing to publish to, only the form that creates the site. If the subscription has lapsed, the page says instead that a site can be created once the organization subscribes.

  2. Choose the name the school community already uses.

    The address cannot be changed later without breaking links people have saved or printed.

  3. Enter 3 to 63 letters, numbers and hyphens, starting and ending with a letter or number, then submit.

    Your address is prefilled from your organization's name. Creating the site creates a home page that is not published, so nothing is public yet.

Claiming your website addressUntil an address is claimed the Website page shows only this form, with the address prefilled from your organization's name. It must be 3 to 63 letters, numbers and hyphens, starting and ending with a letter or number. Claiming it creates a home page that is not published, so nothing is public yet, and the address cannot be changed later without breaking links people have saved or printed. If the subscription has lapsed the form is not offered at all.Give your PTO a websiteYour addressptohq.org/u/oakridge-ptoLetters, numbers and hyphens.It cannot be changed later.Create my websiteRefused: fewer than 3 or more than 63 characters,anything but letters, numbers and hyphens, or ahyphen at either end.What creating it doesYour address is claimedptohq.org/u/oakridge-pto, for good.A home pageDraftNothing is public yet.If the subscription has lapsed there is no form: the page says a site can becreated once the organization subscribes.

Publish one document on your website

  1. File the file first.

    A record-only row can be published, and its control will say it is on the website, but nothing sits behind it: the document's own address on your site returns a not-found page.

  2. Open Website, then its documents tab.

    Every document in the vault is listed there with its kind and date.

  3. Press the publish control on the one row you want public.

    That row then shows the document as being on the website, and the vault list shows it as public rather than private.

  • There is no publish-all control. Each document is published on its own row, so a bank statement cannot reach the public as a side effect of publishing something else.
  • Bylaws and approved minutes are the usual ones. Nothing in the vault is public until somebody publishes its row.
  • Filing a bank statement here is not the monthly bank statement review. That review goes to a non-signer, somebody who cannot sign checks, and some fidelity bond issuers (source: AIM) require the non-signer to physically receive the statement before the treasurer does. PTO HQ can prompt that hand-off but cannot perform it, so PTO HQ does not satisfy that bonding condition on its own.
Publishing one document, and the record-only trapThe website page's documents tab lists every document in the vault with its kind and its date, and each one is published from its own row — there is no publish-all control, so a bank statement cannot reach the public as a side effect of publishing something else. Publishing does not check for a file, and nothing on this tab says which rows have one: a record-only row will report that it is on the website while its own public address returns a not-found page, so the file has to be filed first.Website · DocumentsBylawsbylaws · Sep 9, 2025On the websiteMarch bank statementstatement · Mar 31, 2026PublishMinute book, front officeminutes · Oct 8, 2025On the websiteIts public addressThe file opensA document with a filePublishing does notcheck for a file.Not foundA record-only rowWhat this tab does not doThere is no publish-all control: each document is published on its own row,so a bank statement cannot reach the public as a side effect. And no rowhere says whether a document has a file behind it.

Put the document where parents will see it

A published document is reachable at its own address whether or not a page displays it. For parents to see it listed, a page has to carry a documents block.

  1. Pick a page on the pages tab.

  2. Add a documents block in the editor below, then save.

    The block shows only the documents you marked public. Saving never publishes: the page stays a draft until you publish that row.

  3. Publish the page from its row.

  • Add another page by naming it. A site may have 12 pages.
  • Blocks available: a banner, text, a picture, a photo gallery, announcements, upcoming meeting dates, board names and roles, documents, a reimbursement link for teachers, one contact address and a shop link.
  • Pictures go on the pictures tab: JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and HEIF, up to 8 MB each. Describe each picture before uploading, because somebody using a screen reader hears that description instead of seeing the picture.
Marked public, and actually listed on a pageA published document is reachable at its own address whether or not any page displays it. For parents to see it listed, add a documents block to a page, save, and then publish that page from its row — saving never publishes, so the page stays a draft until somebody publishes it. The block shows only the documents you marked public. A site may have 12 pages, and pictures go on the pictures tab, where each one has to be described before it is uploaded because somebody using a screen reader hears that description instead of seeing the picture.Document marked publicalwaysIts own address worksWhether or not a pagedisplays it.For parents to see it listed1Add a documents blockto a page2Save the pageSaving never publishes3Publish the rowIt becomes PublicDocuments blockBylawsAdopted budget 2026-27Only the ones you marked public.A site may have 12 pages.Pictures tabJPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and HEIF,up to 8 MB each. Describe eachpicture before uploading:somebody using a screen readerhears that description insteadof seeing the picture.

Take something off the web

  1. Unpublish one page from its row on the pages tab.

    The page returns to draft and nothing is deleted.

  2. Unpublish a document from its row on the website page's documents tab.

    Do this before deleting the document, because deleting a published document is refused.

  3. Take the whole website offline with the one control that does it.

    The pages, pictures and announcements all stay where they are.

  • A published file is served with a five-minute public cache, so allow up to five minutes after unpublishing before the old link stops serving.
  • The home page has no delete control. Take it offline on its row, or take the whole website offline, when the site should not be reachable.
Three ways to take something off the webUnpublishing one page from its row on the pages tab returns that page to draft and deletes nothing; the control there reads Take offline. One separate control takes the whole website offline at once, leaving the pages, pictures and announcements where they are. A document is unpublished from its row on the website page's documents tab, where the control reads On the website, and this has to be done before deleting it, because deleting a published document is refused. A published file is served with a five-minute public cache, so allow up to five minutes before the old link stops serving.Three different controlsUnpublish one pageDraftIts control reads Take offline. Nothing is deleted.Take the whole website offlineOfflinePages, pictures and announcements all stay.Unpublish one documentPrivateIts control reads On the website.Before deletingThis is on your website.Take it off there first,then delete it.Five-minute cacheA published file is servedwith a five-minute publiccache. Allow up to fiveminutes after unpublishingbefore the old link stopsserving.The home page has no delete controlTake it offline on its row, or take the whole website offline, when the siteshould not be reachable.

How to check it worked

  • The new row appears in the vault list on the Documents page, showing the name, the kind and the retention period you chose.
  • A document with a file offers a control to open it; a document without one is marked as a record with no file.
  • After publishing, the vault list shows that document as public, and its row on the website page's documents tab shows it as being on the website.
  • Open the published document's own address, /u/your-address/documents/<document id>, while signed out. A document with a file opens in the browser; a record-only row returns a not-found page, which means the file still has to be filed.
  • After publishing a page, its row on the pages tab shows it as public rather than a draft.
  • Open ptohq.org/u/your-address in a private browser window while signed out. What loads there is exactly what a parent sees; anything missing from that window is not public.
  • The printed retention sheet shows your organization's name at the top and the litigation-hold box above the schedule.

If it did not work

What you seeWhat it meansWhat to do
The Documents page shows no form for adding a document and no delete control on any row.Your role cannot write to the Records vault. A membership chair, volunteer chair, auditor or viewer sees this, with no message explaining it.Ask your president to change your role on the Board tab in Settings, or send the document to your secretary to file.
The Website page shows a card telling you to ask a treasurer, president or communications chair, and no tabs at all.You can file documents but not publish them. A secretary sees this.File the document in the vault, then ask a treasurer, president or communications chair to publish it from the website page's documents tab.
The row says the document is on the website, but its public address returns a not-found page.You published a record-only row. Publishing does not check for a file, and the public route serves nothing when there is no file behind the record.Delete the record-only row, file the document again with the file chosen, then publish the new row.
"This is on your website. Take it off there first, then delete it."You tried to delete a document that is published. Deleting it would remove it from a public page without anyone deciding to.Open Website, then its documents tab, unpublish that row, then delete it from the Documents page.
"That does not look like a photo or a PDF. Receipts can be JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC or PDF."The file's contents are not one of the accepted formats, whatever its name says: a Word document, a spreadsheet, a ZIP, or a .doc renamed to .pdf. The message says receipts because the same check guards every upload.Export or print the document to PDF, or photograph the paper copy, then add it again.
The upload is refused for being larger than 10 MB.The file is over the vault limit, usually a high-resolution scan.Rescan at a lower resolution, or split a long document into two files and file them as two rows.
"This organization already has a website."Somebody on your board already claimed an address, and addresses cannot be changed after they are set.Open Website and work with the site already there. Take pages offline rather than trying to start over.
"Use 3 to 63 letters, numbers and hyphens, starting and ending with a letter or number."The address has a space, a punctuation mark, or a hyphen at one end.Replace spaces with hyphens, remove apostrophes and periods, and make sure the first and last characters are a letter or a number.
The address you asked for is refused as taken, or as a word PTO HQ reserves for its own pages.Another PTO already holds that address, or you asked for a word such as admin, app, billing, docs, help or support. The refusal repeats back the address you typed.Add your school or town to it and submit again, then check the result before printing anything with the link on it.
A document still opens minutes after you unpublished it.Published files are served with a five-minute public cache.Wait five minutes and load the link again in a private browser window. If it still serves after that, the document is still marked public; check the website page's documents tab.
A document is marked public but parents cannot find it on the site.Marking a document public does not place it on a page. A page needs a documents block, and that page has to be published.Open Website, add a documents block to the page, save, then publish that page row.
Every website edit is refused and the app says the organization is read-only.The subscription has lapsed. The site keeps serving; nothing can be edited, published or unpublished.Ask your treasurer or president to follow the subscription link in the read-only banner at the top of the app, which opens the Billing page. The site stays exactly as it is in the meantime.

This isn't legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm filing dates, bonding conditions, and your state's requirements with your CPA, your state PTA, and your insurer.