Password history for PW fields other than primary

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cyberzeus
cyberzeus
Community Member

NOTE: This likely applies to all platforms, not just Mac.

One of 1PW's features that I simply love is the auto-generated password history. This simple feature has saved my bacon more times than I can count --- the whole "If I only had a nickel for every time..." definitely applies here.

However, it appears this truly wonderful feature is only available for the primary password field which is a real bummer because not having it for all password fields is a barrier of sorts to me using another killer 1PW feature --- multiple passwords per entry.

My profession requires that I often have multiple accounts on a given host, network device, etc. and being able to save all of those credentials into a single 1PW entry is incredibly useful especially when one is engaged in troubleshooting a server or network issue. And while definitely possible to manually create the PW history by just adding another PW field when needed, that really isn't the most efficient nor reliable method to achieve that goal. Having the PW history auto-generate is the real power here and as I mentioned above, having a reliable PW history has saved me numerous times but as is often the case with humans, going the manual route has bitten me a few times as well.

So, with all that said, I'm wondering if extending the password history function to all password fields is (a) possible; (b) something of which others users have asked; and (c) being considered (or even planned) as a feature add?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read all this and infinite thanks for producing such an indispensible product for 1PW is truly one of those apps I cannot live without. Well, OK --- I probably could "live" without it but like bacon and ice cream, why even consider having to endure such an atrocious situation??? :=)

All the best...


1Password Version: 7.5
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS High Sierra 10.13.6
Sync Type: Not Provided

Comments

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
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    Hi @cyberzeus!

    So, with all that said, I'm wondering if extending the password history function to all password fields is (a) possible;

    Technically speaking, I think this can be done. But we will have to consider whether this actually would be a good solution.

    (b) something of which others users have asked;

    Personally, this is the first time I have heard this request, so it's definitely new to me :)

    and (c) being considered (or even planned) as a feature add?

    Not at the moment. I have a question for you however, to help us understand better how you use 1Password. You wrote:

    My profession requires that I often have multiple accounts on a given host, network device, etc. and being able to save all of those credentials into a single 1PW entry is incredibly useful especially when one is engaged in troubleshooting a server or network issue.

    If you have multiple accounts on a website, the typical solution is to use multiple 1Password login items for the website. This is how you get password history for each of these items. Are you saying that you have all of the credentials stored inside the same 1Password item, with the same username, but all different passwords in the same item?

    Thanks in advance for taking the time to read all this and infinite thanks for producing such an indispensible product for 1PW is truly one of those apps I cannot live without.

    Thank you for the kind words! They are really appreciated :)

  • cyberzeus
    cyberzeus
    Community Member
    edited July 2020
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    Hi @ag_ana --- answering your question re: multiple accounts, this does not relate to a web accounts per se but more like a server, network device, etc. On those type of devices, it is more than common, for a network professional like myself, to have a user level account and then a super user account --- and possibly even add'l accounts with different purposes and privileges. With these situations, I can definitely have additional 1PW entries to ensure having an auto-gen'd PW history but there's no real reason to not consolidate these accounts under a single entry for that device. 1PW already has the PW field (along with PW generator) available in the supplemental sections but it does lack history.

    This is what I am suggesting be chg'd --- basically extend the same PW history auto-generation to the PW fields in the supplemental sections.

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
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    @cyberzeus:

    Thank you for the clarification. There is still one more thing that I don't understand, related to this part that you wrote:

    On those type of devices, it is more than common, for a network professional like myself, to have a user level account and then a super user account --- and possibly even add'l accounts with different purposes and privileges. With these situations, I can definitely have additional 1PW entries to ensure having an auto-gen'd PW history but there's no real reason to not consolidate these accounts under a single entry for that device.

    Do all of these entries have the same username then? Otherwise, if they all have different usernames, it means that you are losing the possibility to autofill your information with 1Password, correct? Are you copying and pasting your credentials on the site?

  • cyberzeus
    cyberzeus
    Community Member
    edited July 2020
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    Hi @ag_ana --- So these are not accounts that would be used to access a website. Think more SSH or other terminal access type applications. Also, another similar use might be something like IRC accounts. It is somewhat common to have multiple nicknames (essentially an 'account' on an IRC host) for a given IRC network and it is definitely beneficial to have auto-gen'd PW histories for these as well.

    Also, I presume that web access was probably the primary 1PW design goal but that leads me to ask why would Agile add the PW field to the supplemental sections if not actually expecting users to use it in the same way that they use primary PW field?

    I think it's a fair expectation that there would be functional parity between all PW fields...not a functional delta...

  • Ben
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    @cyberzeus

    I don't think we planned for people to attempt storing multple separate accounts for one service on a single 1Password item. Perhaps as we move forward that is a use case we can consider building for, but at present I would not expect that to work well.

    I think it's a fair expectation that there would be functional parity between all PW fields...not a functional delta...

    On the surface I don't think that is unreasonable, but I can quickly imagine the difficulty in building a UI that accounts for that. I'll take these thoughts back to the team for additional brainstorming. Thanks for sharing!

    Ben

  • cyberzeus
    cyberzeus
    Community Member
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    Thanks @Ben --- The only situations where I can see where having multiple credentials would be an issue is for those who rely on 1PW to populate the credentials into the app they are using which of course is most often a web browser. That said, trust me when I say that there is no shortage of folks who use 1PW the way I do which is to say I manually copy & paste all credential information into whatever app requires the credentials. In fact, in 7+ years of using 1PW, I have never used the browser extensions basically because I have never really had a need to do so.

    I need to add that I was truly overjoyed when the PW functionality was extended into the section-areas of the entry. Prior to that feature add, 1PW was still very useful but that addition made it even better so I really hope I haven't kicked a hornet's nest here and triggered a feature removal... :=)

    In any event, if nothing changes from what 1PW does right now, there is no real issue. What I have discussed above is the gravy...not a feature requirement...not by a long shot. I have already crafted a workable PW history for all passwords in a given entry so again, if nothing changes, I can go without the gravy...no big deal on my end.

    Thanks again to everyone for the taking the time to discuss...it is very much appreciated. And as always, thanks a zillion for making such an indispensable application.

    Stay safe and healthy --- and all the best...

    Tony

  • Ben
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    The only situations where I can see where having multiple credentials would be an issue is for those who rely on 1PW to populate the credentials into the app they are using which of course is most often a web browser. That said, trust me when I say that there is no shortage of folks who use 1PW the way I do which is to say I manually copy & paste all credential information into whatever app requires the credentials. In fact, in 7+ years of using 1PW, I have never used the browser extensions basically because I have never really had a need to do so.

    I don't doubt it, though in the 10+ years I've been here I've only run into a handful. The browser extensions are incredibly handy; I can't personally imagine not using them.

    I need to add that I was truly overjoyed when the PW functionality was extended into the section-areas of the entry. Prior to that feature add, 1PW was still very useful but that addition made it even better so I really hope I haven't kicked a hornet's nest here and triggered a feature removal... :=)

    Thanks for the kind words. I doubt that we'd go back and remove this.

    In any event, if nothing changes from what 1PW does right now, there is no real issue. What I have discussed above is the gravy...not a feature requirement...not by a long shot. I have already crafted a workable PW history for all passwords in a given entry so again, if nothing changes, I can go without the gravy...no big deal on my end.

    Fair enough. Thanks again for the feedback.

    Thanks again to everyone for the taking the time to discuss...it is very much appreciated. And as always, thanks a zillion for making such an indispensable application.

    Our pleasure. It is always interesting to hear about the various ways in which people are using 1Password. :+1:

    Stay safe and healthy --- and all the best...

    Same to you. Thank you. :)

    Ben

This discussion has been closed.