1Password, 2 macs, 2 people, 1 dropbox

pokrface

My wife & I both use 1Password with a family license, and we both keep our 1Password databases in the single Dropbox account we share. Today on 3.8, this works fine, since each file lives in its own directory.



If I purchase 3.9 from the MAS, how do I continue to have my wife use her database for her computer and me use my database for my computer? On one hand, there's never a time when my Mac would need to open her database or vice-versa, so each computer still would only have one database it needs to open. On the other hand, if the only place in the Dropbox directory that 3.9 can store the database file is at the root, how would that work with two databases?



Merging into one database is not an acceptable option.



I suppose the easiest way forward would be to switch her database to local, since she doesn't use the iOS app and I do, but that's kind of the nuclear option. I would prefer both databases to be in the dropbox.

Ben

Hi pokrface,



Do you ever need access to each other's keychains?



Brant and I are working on a solution for you.



Edit:



Okay, here's what we've got!



Sorry this isn't as seamless as it could be. We'll see if we can improve that. For now...



I take it you each only need access to your own data, but need it on either computer.

You and your wife will each need your own Dropbox account and your own OS X accounts on each computer.

Once setup, you'll place your respective Agile Keychain files in the root folder of your respective Dropbox accounts, on your respective OS X accounts.

Any other files / folders that reside within Dropbox that you need to share will need to be shared using Dropbox's sharing feature. Note that this will count against the quota of each account (but if it all fits in one account now, in theory it should all fit in two accounts).



Once you each have 1Password 3.8 working using this setup the upgrade to 3.9 should be seamless. Just be sure to check the instructions in the FAQ! <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

pokrface

Hi Ben--



Thanks for the quick reply. Your workaround definitely gets me closer, but we regularly use dropbox to quickly exchange files between each others' computers as well, so having multiple dropbox accounts becomes complex.



Some more details:



* Wife has her own account on her Mac

* I have my own account on my Mac

* We don't ever need to access each others' 1password data

* Further, wife only needs to get to her 1password data on her Mac, and I only need to get to my 1password data on my Mac (if we need a password from the other's computer, we just walk across the room <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> )

* Wife's local account on her computer & my local account on my computer need to share a dropbox account for syncing files



Again, the solution with 3.8 was just to stash my 1P database in one directory in the dropbox and wife's in another directory, but I understand that's not an option now because of the MAS restrictions. Question: if you guys are limited in the data areas you can access, is it possible that you can at least allow the user to specify the name of the database file?



The reason we're keeping both 1Password databases in the dropbox instead of locally, even though I'm the only iOS user, is for recoverability--in case of a house fire or other catastrophe, we'd both still be able to log into the bank and so on.



Is there any other solution at all? If I need to change wife's database to local and then just do a nightly rsync it into the dropbox folder for a manual backup, then I can live with that, but it's a hell of a lot less convenient!!

brenty

Hey there, pokrface! I apologize that it has taken us so long to get back to you on this.



While you likely have your reasons for sharing files this way (using a single Dropbox account), I just wanted to mention that if you are both using 1Password 3.9 from the Mac App Store, you're both on Lion and maybe [url="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4783"]AirDrop[/url] could serve this function, freeing you to use your own separate Dropbox accounts. Just a thought. (Incidentally, I didn't realize originally that AirDrop only works on certain models...)



The main concern here (and this is a big one) is getting 1Password data mixed up. Officially, we only support a single data file in a single Dropbox account because of the way that sync'ing and how the main 1Password application handles the database. However, if you are talking rsync you likely have a pretty good handle on what you are doing. And if you aren't using Dropbox to sync your data with any of the mobile apps, this is less of an issue.



The reason for the limitation for the Mac App Store version is that 1Password operates in its own sandbox, so literally everything we access outside of that needs to be approved, from the path down to the filename. We are looking into supporting a subfolder in a future update, but again, this will need to be specified upfront to the letter, so without customization I am not sure this would help in your case either.



I am sorry that I don't have a solid answer for you, but it really depends on how exactly you need to share files. I think that something like AirDrop or a shared local network resource (if you don't need to specifically share over the internet) may be a good place to start.



Let me know what you think. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Jac Cottrell

I am also in the same situation. Dropbox and 1P are two of the cornerstones of our business and the inability to use two separate 1P in a single dropbox is a very big problem. My wife and I 100% rely on 1P to store and sync our data across multiple devices, we need your help!



I pay for a 50G Dropbox that my wife and I share, as well as certain folders with clients. This has been a solid solution, AirDrop does not replace this because of the client shares, and logging in and out of a second dropbox account really cuts down on the 'ease of use' factor.



The setup I have in 1P 3.8 (which I have rolled back to in order to keep things working) is separate folders for my wife and I inside of our main dropbox account. Each person's folder contains their 1P data file. We each have a laptop, a desktop, an iPhone and an iPad that all happily sync to the correct file.



Please inform us as to what the plan is to correct this moving forward in 3.9+. I work for a software company - I understand that Apple has changed the game a bit with the App Store and the challenges that poses. Even if you have to specify to Apple the subfolders that can be used with this (1P_subfolder1, 1P_subfolder2....) - whatever, at least it would be a functional solution.



We appreciate your help with this and look forward to a solution!





Thanks!



- Jac

khad

Hey Jac,



Unfortunately, 1Password has never supported multiple data files in a single Dropbox account. There have been different "hacks" to make this work in the past, but they were not without peril. The Mac App Store has not changed much in this regard. The scenario you describe may work well for syncing between Macs, but it can wreak havoc if you attempt to sync with iOS. Please do keep that in mind.



We are working on improving this in the future. I'm sorry I can't share any more details at the moment, but this is definitely on our radar.



Cheers,