Properly syncing windows/mac/all versions to one keychain file

4EverMaAT

I recently decided it was time to implement syncing of the keychain for my devices. What was happening is that I will switch between different laptops and realize that some passwords are saved on one device, and others saved on another. I first "moved to dropbox" on my mac. No problems there. But then I went to my windows 7 laptop, installed dropbox, closed down all browsers, and went into 1Password settings. The "move to dropbox' option was grey-ed out <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> I attempted to manually select the 1password keychain folder on the dropbox, but got errors. I restarted the computer and it seemed that did the trick. Now my windows version is pointing to dropbox location. But what about all my passwords that were in the windows keychain that were never saved (merged) to the dropbox prior to this save?



I ended up opening a backup keychain file on windows, EXPORTING the passwords into a 1Password interchange file and then importing them into the dropbox version. Then I ran into a new problem. I was prompted to add each password one by one. I selected "yes to all" thinking that the next screen would prompt me "Would you like to ignore duplicates?" But instead, over 200 passwords were just added, appx 200 were duplicates!!! So my point is that there needs to be a straight-forward method to merge passwords from 2 or more keychain files. Yes, the dropbox solves this AFTER the fact,once we got the one file with all the passwords ok. But merging is not handled well for people wanting to setup the initial sync. Unless there is a method I do not know about.



edit: there is no method to customize the columns. I am currently deleting the duplicates manually, but it would help if the "last modified" column could be moved next to the "title" column. I can quickly see which row needs to be selected and deleted. Is there a way to customize the order of the columns?



mini question: was that safe? is the 1password interchange file encrypted? Did duplicate passwords get overwritten?



I'm surprised that exporting/importing was not recommended in any of your syncing guides as a method to ensure that no passwords are lost. The guides assume someone is syncing from the very start of using the program. By adding a mini guide on ensuring.the passwords are all migrated properly to the single sync file, this eliminates confusion. Honestly, having your application take care of the syncing natively would have eliminated the need for all these extra steps, but that's another thread.



Comments/suggestions please.

Stefan von Dutch

[quote name='4EverMaAT' timestamp='1334073648' post='59409']

I recently decided it was time to implement syncing of the keychain for my devices. What was happening is that I will switch between different laptops and realize that some passwords are saved on one device, and others saved on another. I first "moved to dropbox" on my mac. No problems there. But then I went to my windows 7 laptop, installed dropbox, closed down all browsers, and went into 1Password settings. The "move to dropbox' option was grey-ed out

[/quote]



This makes sense, because another keychain was already there (in your Dropbox) and we do not want to overwrite an existing keychain in your Dropbox.



[quote name='4EverMaAT' timestamp='1334073648' post='59409']

I attempted to manually select the 1password keychain folder on the dropbox, but got errors.

[/quote]



What errors? Please be more specific.



[quote name='4EverMaAT' timestamp='1334073648' post='59409']

I restarted the computer and it seemed that did the trick. Now my windows version is pointing to dropbox location. But what about all my passwords that were in the windows keychain that were never saved (merged) to the dropbox prior to this save?

[/quote]



We have a Dropbox tutorial (http://help.agilebits.com/1Password_Windows/setting-up-Dropbox-sync.html) but I think at this point your best bet is to export your Windows keychain to a 1PIF document, and then import this 1PIF document into your Dropbox keychain.



[quote name='4EverMaAT' timestamp='1334073648' post='59409']

I ended up opening a backup keychain file on windows, EXPORTING the passwords into a 1Password interchange file and then importing them into the dropbox version. Then I ran into a new problem. I was prompted to add each password one by one. I selected "yes to all" thinking that the next screen would prompt me "Would you like to ignore duplicates?" But instead, over 200 passwords were just added, appx 200 were duplicates!!! So my point is that there needs to be a straight-forward method to merge passwords from 2 or more keychain files. Yes, the dropbox solves this AFTER the fact,once we got the one file with all the passwords ok. But merging is not handled well for people wanting to setup the initial sync. Unless there is a method I do not know about.



edit: there is no method to customize the columns. I am currently deleting the duplicates manually, but it would help if the "last modified" column could be moved next to the "title" column. I can quickly see which row needs to be selected and deleted. Is there a way to customize the order of the columns?



mini question: was that safe? is the 1password interchange file encrypted? Did duplicate passwords get overwritten?

[/quote]



Yes, it is safe but you might want to delete the 1PIF document. It is unencrypted.



[quote name='4EverMaAT' timestamp='1334073648' post='59409']

I'm surprised that exporting/importing was not recommended in any of your syncing guides as a method to ensure that no passwords are lost. The guides assume someone is syncing from the very start of using the program. By adding a mini guide on ensuring.the passwords are all migrated properly to the single sync file, this eliminates confusion. Honestly, having your application take care of the syncing natively would have eliminated the need for all these extra steps, but that's another thread.

[/quote]



We have a "setting up Dropbox" tutorial that covers most (if not all) of the scenarios here: http://help.agilebits.com/1Password_Windows/setting-up-Dropbox-sync.html

4EverMaAT

[quote name='Stefan von Dutch' timestamp='1334129583' post='59420']

What errors? Please be more specific.

[/quote]

I did not take screenshots, but the reboot apparently fixed it.



[quote name='Stefan von Dutch' timestamp='1334129583' post='59420']

We have a Dropbox tutorial ([url="http://help.agilebits.com/1Password_Windows/setting-up-Dropbox-sync.html"]http://help.agilebit...opbox-sync.html[/url]) but I think at this point your best bet is to export your Windows keychain to a 1PIF document, and then import this 1PIF document into your Dropbox keychain.

..........

Yes, it is safe but you might want to delete the 1PIF document. It is unencrypted.

[/quote]



You should also prompt the user that the data will be unencrypted, and to consider deleting/wiping the file when they are finished using it.



I think that you should have an encrypted version of an export file. the unencrypted options can be there, but the whole point of encryption is to keep the data safe if the end goal is to keep the data within the 1Password family. Kind of like a mini-version of the keychain file? then have an option to merge data OR allow the import process to check for duplicates and prompt how to handle duplicates?



All in all, I had to import the whole list and manually delete the duplicates. This was a bit tedious, but it got done. And now with dropbox, I no longer have to worry about it happening again.

khad

I'm glad everything is working well now.



[quote]You should also prompt the user that the data will be unencrypted, and to consider deleting/wiping the file when they are finished using it.[/quote]

Agreed. We have a warning in 1Password for Mac and should also include it in 1Password for Windows.



[quote]I think that you should have an encrypted version of an export file. the unencrypted options can be there, but the whole point of encryption is to keep the data safe if the end goal is to keep the data within the 1Password family. Kind of like a mini-version of the keychain file? then have an option to merge data OR allow the import process to check for duplicates and prompt how to handle duplicates?[/quote]

The ability to merge two data files obviates the need for this. Again, 1Password for Mac already has this feature and we are looking at bringing this capability to 1Password for Windows as well.



If you have any further trouble, please don't hesitate to let us know.



Cheers,