Proper procedure for creating new logins (w/ password generator)

elvaen

I've been using 1Password for over a year and in all that time I haven't figured out a very elegant way of creating new logins for various websites. I had kinda forgotten the hassle until I sat down to teach my girlfriend (computer savvy score of 2 on a scale of 1-10) how to use 1Password and heard myself giving her a ridiculous set of instructions. Once the logins are setup they work great... but maybe I'm missing something to make this process a bit easier, especially for those 1-3s in your life.



The 1Password guide online ([url="http://help.agilebits.com/1Password3/3min_password_manager.html"]http://help.agilebit...rd_manager.html[/url]) works great when you already know your username/password, but if you want to use 1password to generate the password all these extra steps seem to be required to get a consistent and reliable result.



Here's the steps I follow whenever I setup a new website for 1Password:



New web login:[list=1]

[*]Browse to website

[*]Fill in registration form.

[*]Use 1Password Generator to generate a password

[list]

[*]Copy the generated password to the clipboard

[/list]

[/list]

[list]

[*]Submit registration form.

[list]

[*]Click "Not now" when 1Password prompts to save the registration form as a new login.

[/list] [*]Log out

[*]Immediately log back in and fill in my username and paste in the password.

[*]Accept the 1password prompt to save the new login.

[*]Log out.

[*]Log back in with 1password to confirm everything works as expected.

Changing password for a web login:

[/list][list=1]

[*]Browse to website, login with 1password (or manually if not stored in 1password yet)

[*]Find Change Password link/menu/button/etc and copy/paste password from 1Password to "current password"

[*]Use 1Password generator to generate new password

[list]

[*]Copy the generated password to the clipboard

[/list]

[/list]

[list]

[*]Submit change password form.

[list]

[*]Click "Not now" when 1Password prompts to save the registration form as a new or updated login.

[/list] [*]Log out.

[*]Immediately log back in and fill in my username and paste in the password

[*]Accept the 1password prompt to save the new/updated login.

[*]Log out.

[*]Log back in with 1password to confirm everything works as expected.

[/list][list]

This isn't a terrible process, but it's not a particularly good one either. Steps 5-9 make me feel like I'm using 1Password wrong, but I haven't figured out a better way to do it and have it work reliably and consistently.

[/list]





Anyone have any suggestions?

khad

Hey elvaen,



The workflows you describe are similar to my own. The simplest way to use 1Password is obviously with autosave for existing passwords:



1. Log into website

2. Save the Login when prompted



Things get increasingly complex as we begin to make use of more of 1Password's power. We've tried to minimize this where possible, but there are some limitations.



Some sites use the same form for registration and login which reduces the steps since you don't have to skip saving a Login for the registration page, go to the Login page, and then save a Login there. You can simply save the Login when you register. Of course, for many sites, even saving a Login for the registration page will work just fine on the site's Login page. It just depends on the way the site is coded. The more complex they make it, the more points of possible failure. Simple input fields with no JavaScript/AJAX yield the best results, but it is becoming increasingly less common to see things so simple. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />



One small but perhaps powerful tip is that you can access your generated password(s) from the "View password history" button when you access the Login page for a site after generating a password. This will allow you to skip the copying to the clipboard step because your generated password(s) for the site will be listed and available for filling directly from the password history in the extension:

[img]https://img.skitch.com/20111007-n2i7cts7t7dwsed6jph96xspi8.png[/img]

Some of the shortcuts I described can save a few seconds here and there, but there really isn't currently a way to save a Login in a more reliable way than directly from the Login page where 1Password can "see" the code of the page and "learn" the form field names for the most precise form filling possible. It would be awesome if there was some way around this, but I don't see how it would be feasible.



With trillions of sites on the web, we are presented with a pretty big challenge. However, we are always working to improve 1Password including the workflow for saving and updating Logins. Specifically, we are working on improving the "update password" workflow so that you don't have to save a whole new Login if you are only changing the password to an existing Login which is already working well.



I hope that helps, if even a little bit. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. And if [i]you[/i] have any suggestions on how we could improve this process, we would love to know them!



Cheers,

elvaen

Thank you for your reply Khad! I'll keep your suggestions in mind.

khad

No problem at all. It is my pleasure. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />



Cheers,