Is it possible to change the display font of secure notes?
I have a secure note that contains some passwords for work. On my Mac (El Capitan), 1Password 6 appears to display secure notes using Arial or Helvetica, some clean sans-serif font. This is a real problem because the font displays the capital I, lowercase l identically (that's capital "eye" and lowercase "ell"), and of course, one of the passwords has both. I can edit the note and use the font inspector to set the note to a better font (source code pro), but as soon as I leave edit mode, the note reverts to the original font. Sure would be nice to set the note font globally via a preference. I've moved the passwords into a regular login, and this does use a serif-font with clear distinctions between I and l, but since I created the login after creating the secure note, I entered the wrong password into the login initially.
Thanks.
1Password Version: 6.3.1
Extension Version: N/A
OS Version: OS X 10.11.6
Sync Type: Dropbox
Referrer: forum-search:font
Comments
-
Hi @John_Endahl,
It is not possible to change the font of Secure Notes, but I have a few suggestions that can make this easier for you.
First of all, as you seem to have discovered, Login items are the ideal place for passwords. The custom field will ensure that these are concealed if you prefer, and the item can be filled in directly on websites, which is pretty awesome and a big timesaver.
The other option is to use custom fields inside your Secure Notes. Beyond the standard note section, you can add as many other sections as you need, and all kinds of custom fields (including a password type field) can exist in those sections. The password field provides you the opportunity to conceal the data in the field, and ensures that it will be displayed in a font that makes it easy to differentiate between similar characters.
I hope this helps!
0 -
Megan,
Thanks for the reply. I've found a workaround. However, it does seem VERY strange that 1) you've selected a default font that does not distinguish between upper eye and lower l. I mean, being able to make that differentiation is pretty critical, where exactness is so critical... and 2) the fact that the note field DOES allow font changes through the inspector, but then reverts back upon save...this lack of attention to important details is very unusual for AgileBits.
Respectfully,
--> John
0 -
Hi @John_Endahl ,
I'm one of the developers of the 1Password for Mac application. Please allow me to clear up a few things.
They font was selected by Apple for large text boxes. Basically in almost every app that has these fields will have that font. Now we can certainly look at changing the font there, but it would have to be something that is included on all systems, so something like Source Code Pro would likely not be a good fit. Also, the notes field is intended for free-form text as opposed to passwords, so it likely wouldn't be something we use in our password fields. It would have to be something optimized for reading text passages.
The ability to change the font actually "came free" from Apple - it is a standard OS X-provided text box, so it comes with the ability to change the font. We can look at offering more functionality here in the future, but recall that the data needs to be able to sync to multiple platforms as well, that may not support the standard formatting data that OS X and iOS have. It doesn't make the job impossible, it just means there's a little more consideration and work to do.
For now, as Megan said, if you are storing passwords, we recommend using a password field for those, where it is formatted specifically to distinguish upper/lowercase, numeric digits, and symbols. Password fields also come with the "Large Type" feature, that is helpful for entering passwords elsewhere, e.g. on an AppleTV.
If you have any questions regarding this or more feedback, please feel free to reply.
Cheers,
Kevin0 -
Hi @johnkzin ,
I'm sorry that you are frustrated by the formatting options (or lack thereof). As I mentioned in the post above, the notes field in the Secure Note item is intended for longer text passages, names, etc, and not passwords. Password fields were made explicitly for the reasons you say. The font and colouring in password fields distinguishes upper/lowercase, numeric digits, and symbols. There is also the large type feature for precisely the reason you mentioned - entering a password on another device.
To address your second concern, while we would like to be able to auto-populate passwords wherever we can (and can do it securely) we do recognize that that's not possible everywhere. That's why we include features like the large type option on password fields, and the word list option in the password generator, as opposed to random characters. Were we to assume that we can auto-fill everywhere, we wouldn't have a different font for password fields, we wouldn't colour the digits and symbols separately, and we wouldn't offer large type. So, putting the password into a login, does give auto-fill capabilities if it's for a website, but it also offers the custom formatting and large type of a password field. Or if you want to leave it in a Secure Note item, you can add a custom password field there.
I hope that clears it up. If you have any further questions or concerns, please reply.
Cheers,
Kevin0 -
Kevin,
Thank you for your thorough and thoughtful response. While large type does address the issue for a standard password/login, it is not available in secure notes (at least, not that I can find). I had not thought of the font cross-platform issues (although if the secure note text were stored as plain-text on the backend, and we had the ability to define a default font for secure notes in text fields in the application preferences on each platform...).
1Password integrates so well with so many things, it was just jarring to find that something as basic (in my mind) as a font choice for secure notes was unavailable. Whilst I appreciate that Source Code Pro is not available on all systems (and needs to installed on a Mac), there ARE mono-spaced font options available by default that include a clear differentiation of an I and an l. (eye and ell), and shame on Apple for not providing an easy way to adjust this. (I'm old enough to remember the original "ransom note" San Francisco font).
At any rate, you are aware of the difficulty and the use case, and I'm probably the only person in your userbase where it is a problem. Thanks for listening, consider this an enhancement request.
Sincerely,
--> John
0 -
Hi John ( @John_Endahl ),
I’m glad that Kevin’s reply helped!
While large type does address the issue for a standard password/login, it is not available in secure notes (at least, not that I can find).
Custom fields and sections are available in all Categories in the Mac app. Simply switch to edit mode and you can add fields of a variety of type (including passwords!) to any item.
I hope this helps! :)
0 -
I would like to chime in with a reminder that many of us 1Password users don't need fancy fonts per se in secure notes, but an option for a (just one!) fixed width font would be tremendously useful (e.g. for pasting in column oriented data).
This feature request has arisen several times over the past 3 years, including from me :-) so it obviously never makes the cut, but I remain optimistic that one day it will appear! :-)
Dave Ings
0 -
Thank you so much for your feedback about that, @ings!
Although we're not able to add every feature request we receive, it's always possible we'll be able to add an option like that at some point in the future. I can't make any promises one way or the other of course, but I can forward your comments to our developers to let them know you're interested in that.
If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to let us know. Cheers! :)
0 -
+1, I would like to be able to do a fixed width font for text files that are already formatted that way.
0 -
Thank you for letting us know, @jaimecham!
You may already know this, but I wanted to mention that instead of copying/pasting text from a text file into a Secure Note or other notes field in 1Password, you can add the entire text file itself as an attachment (in local vaults) or as a Document item (in 1Password.com account vaults). The copy of the text file saved in 1Password will retain all of the same formatting, although it won't be as easy to edit as a notes field.
Thanks again for taking the time to let us know you'd like some options for the font used in 1Password. Cheers! :)
0 -
@jaimecham, that's correct: you would need to save the attachment/Document somewhere first before editing it, then reattach the edited copy once you're done. So it's definitely not as convenient as being able to edit text directly in a notes field of an item in 1Password, but something I wanted to mention in case it helped.
Markdown would be nice! I'm sure we'll at least consider that if we add the ability to format text in notes fields. Thanks again for your feedback! :)
0 -
I asked about a fixed width font in secure note years ago and would still REALLY appreciate having one. I understand that the notes are meant to be used for longer drafts, but I don't think you should limit your users there. I use it as a scratch pad for some linux servers I need to log into at work, and really don't want to have to put in all the server names as actually 1Password entries. Here is a case where having the login passwords in a single secure note works just great. A fixed with serif font would really be nice to have. Fortunately you guys did at least provide a serif font a few iterations back! That was a HUGE help - it used to stink not knowing a letter "I" from a number "1"
0 -
Thank you for your feedback and for sharing your thoughts with us about that, we really appreciate it! :)
0 -
Please add my vote for supporting fixed width font in secure notes. I have a "password matrix" (letters arranged in rows and columns) which I need to store. I plan to use 1password on Android. Btw: I couldn't find an option to attach documents as described above. Thanks, Thomas
0 -
I am pretty confident that I am not to unusual in what I use Secure Notes for. I store all sorts of sensitive information that cannot be used for logging into a website. For example, I store all sorts of travel information such as frequent flier numbers for myself and many family members that I often purchase tickets for, hotel and car rental information, known traveler #'s, etc. I also store email addresses with their passwords, user ID's, mail server info, etc. I also store the combinations for numerous electronic door locks that I use for locker rooms, call rooms, and doctor lounges at the hospitals I go to. I store passwords for several wifi networks that I use on a regular basis, such as my office, the hospitals I use, even my home network, including the passwords to the modem and the routers. I store the user ID's and passwords for my logins at the electronic medical records systems at the hospitals I use. I store sensitive information for several companies I own, which often includes passwords and secure pins. In summary, there is a ton of stuff that I store in Secure Notes that would benefit greatly from a fixed width, non-ambiguous font. I don't even care what it looks like. This is for function only, not for beauty.
Thanks, Dave0 -
@Big Dave Thanks for weighing in. I'm glad to hear you're making such robust use of Secure Notes! We don't have anything to share at this time regarding this request, but we're definitely looking at ways Secure Notes can be enhanced. One of the unspoken uses for it is as that "catch all" for items that you want to keep secure, private and encrypted but which don't fit neatly into any of the other categories. I've heard of people using Secure Notes for all sorts of things. However, I did notice in your post that a couple of the things you mentioned actually DO have their own categories already. There are existing categories for wireless routers, servers, email accounts and databases, which might make your organization a little easier to navigate than putting all of those into a Secure Note. Up to you of course, just thought I'd remind you. :)
0 -
I know you have those other fields, but they are way less efficient to use than Secure Notes. With Secure Notes, I can see everything in one place. I guess we all just don't quite understand why you can't give us an option of a fixed width non-ambiguous font in Secure Notes.
0 -
It isn’t that we can’t do that in particular. We get a huge number of requests, and we try to accommodate them as we can. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to accommodate every request. But just because we aren’t doing something now doesn’t mean we can’t re-evaluate in the future as other tasks get completed and more time becomes available.
Ben
0 -
Hello there,
Im really not sure if this might be relevant to anyone still, but I had the same need
for monospaced fonts in Secure Notes.
Even though you can not really change the font of a Secure Note, you are able to use Markdown Syntax.
That includes the three backticks "" used to display code in markdown. This works perfectly well in 1Password. I went ahead and just wrapped my entire note in these ->...here goes my multi-line
note.... It works the same as marking bold text withtext```, and more importantly, allows multiline text. Now, while editing the note you will still get text displayed in the sans-serif font. But, upon saving, the markdown syntax gets applied and we see
well formatted, monospaced font.
If you feel like it, you could even add syntax-highlighting for whatever purpose!I hope this helps someone with a similar need!
Regards,
Felix0 -
Hello there,
Im really not sure if this might be relevant to anyone still, but I had the same need
for monospaced fonts in Secure Notes.
Even though you can not really change the font of a Secure Note, you are able to use Markdown Syntax.
That includes the three backticks "```" used to display code in markdown. This works perfectly well in 1Password.
I went ahead and just wrapped my entire note in these. It works the same as marking bold text with "text", and more importantly, allows multiline text.
More details: https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet#code-and-syntax-highlighting
Now, while editing the note you will still get text displayed in the sans-serif font. But, upon saving, the markdown syntax gets applied and we see
well formatted, monospaced font.
If you feel like it, you could even add syntax-highlighting for whatever purpose!I hope this helps someone with a similar need!
Regards,
Felix0 -
@slimsmearlapp - thanks for the tips for other users, Felix! :)
0
