When is a spreadsheet still a fine choice for property documents?

If you have one or two properties, the documents rarely change, and you only ever need to find them by filename — a spreadsheet with a hyperlink column is fine. The break-even is roughly when you have to answer cross-property questions or when the document set updates often enough that re-keying values into cells becomes the bottleneck.

What does Proppi do that a spreadsheet cannot?

Proppi reads each document on upload and extracts dates, amounts, parties, and clauses linked back to the source page. A spreadsheet only stores values you typed in. When a document is replaced, Proppi re-extracts; a spreadsheet keeps whatever the cell said until someone notices.

Can I keep my spreadsheet alongside Proppi?

Yes. Proppi does not require you to throw out your spreadsheet. Many landlords keep a high-level summary spreadsheet for their accountant and use Proppi as the source-of-truth document library underneath it.

Positioning

Proppi vs spreadsheet for property documents

Most landlords start with a spreadsheet — one row per property, columns for the lease end date, insurance renewal, last inspection. It works until it doesn’t. Here is exactly where Proppi is different and where a spreadsheet is still fine.

8 jobs compared Free for first three properties

Job	In a spreadsheet	In Proppi
Where the data lives	Cell values you typed in by hand. The lease PDF, insurance certificate, and inspection report still live in email and Google Drive — the spreadsheet just refers to them.	The actual lease, insurance certificate, and inspection report file. Proppi reads them and keeps the structured fields linked back to the source page.
How a date gets in	You open the document, find the date, type it into a cell. If the document is replaced, you have to remember to update the cell.	Proppi extracts the date on upload — lease end, insurance renewal, Healthy Homes deadline, Compliance Schedule expiry — and re-extracts when the document is replaced.
Asking a question	Filter, sort, and search by column. Cross-property questions need a pivot table or a new tab.	Plain English. Ask 'which leases expire in the next 90 days?' and get a list with a citation to the lease page that says so.
Audit trail	Whatever the cell value says today. The version that proved compliance last year is gone unless you saved a snapshot.	Source documents are immutable; every extraction points back to the page that proves the answer. The IRD or ATO position you took two years ago is still recoverable.
Mistakes	Silent. A typo in a date column does not raise an error; it just produces wrong output until someone notices.	Surfaces the document the answer came from on every reply. If the source says something different from the extraction, you see it immediately.
Adding a new property	Copy the row from another property. Hope the formulas updated correctly. Re-key every document field.	Drag the documents in. Classification, extraction, and indexing happen on upload. No row to copy, no formulas to update.
Multiple users	Hope nobody overwrites a cell. Real-time edits work, but conflict resolution is manual and the change history is shallow.	Team workspaces with per-action audit history. Every read and write is attributable.
Backup and continuity	Whatever your cloud-storage provider does. If the spreadsheet corrupts, the document references inside it corrupt with it.	Documents are stored separately from the structured index. The index can be rebuilt from the documents.

A spreadsheet is fine if…

You manage one or two properties and the document set is small.
You only need the headline number — rent, lease end, insurance expiry — and you re-key it each time the document changes.
You never need to prove what the document said two years ago.

Proppi is the better fit if…

You hold five or more properties and the document set is growing.
You need to answer questions across the portfolio — "which leases expire in 90 days?" — without rebuilding pivot tables.
You will be asked to prove the source for a tax position, a Healthy Homes claim, or an Australian Taxation Office deduction.

Honest caveat

Proppi does not replace a spreadsheet that does cash-flow modelling or net-yield calculations — for that, see the ROI calculator and the rental yield calculator. Proppi replaces the spreadsheet you're using to track documents and deadlines, not the spreadsheet you're using to model returns.

Try it free

Free for your first three properties

Drag in the leases, insurance certificates, and inspection reports for one property. Proppi will classify them, extract the key dates, and show you the cited answers — in under five minutes.

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