Use three Keychains (for three vaults) in three separate Dropbox folders?

nokin50

I am uncertain about setting up three vaults that are sync'ed via dropbox. I originally created my second keychain (SHARED) in the same folder as my PRIMARY keychain, but found that it simply merged all items from the two vaults. There were two separate vaults, but they contained the same items. If an item was deleted from the PRIMARY vault, it was also deleted from the SHARED vault. This was unexpected behavior (why have two vaults that behave as one vault?), so I tried creating a separate folder for each keychain on Dropbox. It seems to work, but I am concerned if this may create other problems (I assume I can only access the multiple vaults on my Mac and only the PRIMARY on my iOS devices).

I now have one PRIMARY vault, one ARCHIVE vault and one SHARED vault and use three separate folders at the top level of dropbox to store the keychains.

My PRIMARY keychain is located at:
Dropbox -> 1Password -> 1Password.agilekeychain
My ARCHIVE keychain is located at:
Dropbox -> 1Password Archive -> Archive.agilekeychain
My SHARED keychain is located at:
Dropbox -> 1Password Share -> Share.agilekeychain

I am looking for confirmation that this is a valid setup (or not). Also are there any special consideration for the SHARED keychain? I haven't actually "shared" it yet. I am using v. 4.1.2 (Apple App Store) and OS X 10.9.2.

Thanks,
Dave

Megan

Hi Dave ( @nokin50 ),

Thanks so much for writing such a detailed description of your set-up here. You're right, using separate folders for each of your vaults is the preferred practice to keep 1Password from getting confused. For instructions on how to share your 'Share' vault with others, please see our article here: share a non-primary vault.

I assume I can only access the multiple vaults on my Mac and only the PRIMARY on my iOS devices

Please note that we do recommend (in our Known Issues) not to enable sync for multiple vaults if you currently use 1Password 4 for iOS. The iOS app is not yet smart enough to differentiate between keychains, so there is a chance that the iOS app could notice one of your secondary vaults instead of your primary and you could end up with merged data.

Our developers are working hard to make multiple vaults available for the iOS app as soon as possible, but until they do, if you want to continue to sync multiple vaults via Dropbox, please be careful when opening the iOS app: if you see a notification asking you to merge databases, do not accept it.

I hope this helps to explain things, but we're here if you have any further questions!

nokin50

Thanks Megan,
Sorry, but I now have a barrage of related questions since I do use the iOS versions on an iPad and iPhone (plus two laptops and a desktop Macs). I gather that I should stop syncing the two secondary vaults, delete the keychains from dropbox and use the two secondary vaults on a single computer (?). btw... when I read the known issues, I just assumed that multiple vaults just weren't accessible with iOS devices, not that it could cause problems. It seems odd since the iOS device is directed to a specific folder on Dropbox.

Alternatively, can I sync my Primary vault with iCloud (with my iOS devices and laptops), then sync the secondary vaults with my laptops through Dropbox (but not the iOS devices)?

A related question, can you sync multiple vaults through iCloud (for computers, not iOS devices)?

... and last (a distantly related) question regarding shared vaults. When I share a vault with my daughter, will it automatically unlock (for her) when she opens her primary vault (like when my secondary vaults unlock when I open my primary vault)? In other words, if she shares my vault, does it behave exactly like a secondary vault?

Dave

Jasper

Hi @nokin50,

Alternatively, can I sync my Primary vault with iCloud (with my iOS devices and laptops), then sync the secondary vaults with my laptops through Dropbox (but not the iOS devices)?

That's an excellent option. I would recommend doing this. :)

A related question, can you sync multiple vaults through iCloud (for computers, not iOS devices)?

Only your Primary Vault may be synced via iCloud.

When I share a vault with my daughter, will it automatically unlock (for her) when she opens her primary vault (like when my secondary vaults unlock when I open my primary vault)? In other words, if she shares my vault, does it behave exactly like a secondary vault?

She will need to enter the shared vault's password once during setup, then it will behave exactly like a secondary vault and unlock with the primary vault.

Let us know if you have any other questions! :)

nokin50

Excellent!
Thanks for your input!

Dave

Jasper

You're welcome, Dave! :)