How to wi-fi sync between my Mac Mini and my Macbook Air?
I still haven't committed to 1Password yet (doesn't pay to rush these things...) but I'm trying to figure out how to best set up for my particular circumstances. In particular, how to wi-fi sync between my Mac Mini and my Macbook Air? I get the wi-fi syncing with iOS devices but find it hard to believe that such an advanced piece of software can't sync Mac to Macbook? Any suggestions guys? Thanks.
Comments
-
You cannot currently use wifi sync to sync between two Macs—but only between a Mac and iOS devices. (There is an inelegant, and deprecated, way of using an iOS device as a bridge between two Macs but you really don't want to go there. :) )
Take a look at folder sync and see if that might help. Alternatively you could use Dropbox or even iCloud (so long as, in the latter case, both Macs use the same Apple ID—and you have the Mac App Store version of 1P on them, as opposed to the AgileBits store version).
Stephen
0 -
Hi @1passG,
Stephen's answer is spot-on, Wi-Fi sync works between a computer and iOS device, but not directly between two computers. Sorry for any confusion about that!
To sync 1Password data between multiple Macs, you can use Dropbox or iCloud sync (as Stephen mentioned, iCloud sync requires the Mac App Store version of 1Password 5 for Mac). Or you can keep syncing your iOS device(s) with one Mac via Wi-Fi, and keep the Macs in sync with each other using the Folder sync option with another sync service.
Please let us know if you have more questions about that or need anything else. We're always glad to help!
0 -
Black market advice to 1passG - warning, this may not work for you.
I am a semi-novice 1Password user. I don't know much, but I have found a few things that work for me. I have never gotten into trouble on the Forum yet, but I imagine this post could get me on the enemies list.
Stephen_C and Drew_AG have both suggested you might want to try Folder sync, but if you go to that link you'll see it strongly advises that you only use a folder located right on the computer you are using or on a removable drive, like a USB flash drive. I have no idea if there is any software that will keep five local folders in sync across my three Macs and my wife's two PCs. I also can't imagine using a flash drive and moving it among each of our five computers to keep them in sync. What I can imagine, and what I have done for the year since we began using 1Password, is to locate our 1Password sync folder on a flash drive plugged into our Time Capsule (or into an Airport Extreme). For me, this has worked without a hitch with 1P4 and now with 1P5 - your mileage may vary.
The Folder sync link says not to do this and that you may encounter problems if your Time Capsule, Airport Extreme, or NAS (which I don't have) goes down. In fact, my Time Capsule has gone down - once, when I unplugged it to see what would happen - and the horrible outcome was a repeated message on my iMac that said 1Password could not find the sync folder. When I plugged my Time Capsule back in 1Password became happy again.
The advantage of using a flash drive or an SSD with a Sata to USB adapter (which I now use) is that it leaves the Time Capsule available for Time Machine. Also, unlike the Time Capsule's HDD, flash drives and SSDs mount almost instantly when I open 1Password.
If you have a non-Apple router I imagine it may also have some way to create a network drive where you can locate your sync folder. If you have a NAS it should also work. How's that for advice from someone who has neither!
0 -
Hi @fourwheelcycle,
Thank you very much for taking the time to share & explain your sync setup! That certainly won't get you into any trouble here, we love to hear helpful suggestions like this from our users, especially when it helps other users. :)
Just to give some additional information for anyone else who is reading this and looking into using Folder sync:
Folder sync works well with various cloud sync services that are similar to Dropbox, and we mention some of those in this User Guide article. In that situation, Folder sync points to a sync file somewhere locally on the computer, and the cloud sync service copies that data to/from the cloud and your other devices.
You can also have Folder sync point to a sync file stored on a removable drive (flash/USB drive). 1Password can detect when that drive is connected to the computer, and will sync with it. This doesn't use a cloud sync service at all, but you need to remember to connect the drive to each computer when you want to sync 1Password.
As for setting up Folder sync to point to a sync file stored on a network volume / NAS, we generally discourage doing this because 1Password gets upset when it encounters latency or other network issues when it's trying to read/write to a sync folder. To be clear, a sync setup like that is certainly possible, but often problematic. My understanding is that there's no Apple API to notify 1Password when a network drive is no longer available like there is for removable (USB) drives.
If you want/need to sync over a NAS, the best way to do this is to set up Folder sync to point to a local folder on the Mac, and then use a tool such as rsync (or another file copy tool) to copy the contents of the folder to the NAS. Then, on the other Mac, use the same tool to copy the files back out of the NAS and into 1Password's local sync folder. Now, I should mention that this can be a bit fragile and not really supported by us. However, it has worked for some users in the past so I thought it was worth mentioning here. Your mileage may vary. :)
Hopefully this information is useful, but if you have questions about that, please let us know - we're always happy to help!
0 -
Jeez! Really appreciate all the time you guys have devoted to answering this question and you have provided me with a few workarounds. And I thank you sincerely for that.
BUT, and this is specifically for the AgileBits team, why is a workaround necessary? As you can see from other responses, and other queries, not only is it not unusual for a household to have more than one Mac (in addition to a range of iOS devices) but it may even be the norm. Whether it's a desktop/laptop combo or a husband/wife/whatever set-up, it is extremely common to have a range of computers and devices that would benefit from Wi-Fi syncing. Clearly we could go Dropbox/iCloud but many of us are uneasy about our security floating around in cyberspace, rightly or wrongly, so the Wi-Fi sync option for ALL of our devices, without workarounds, looks like a no-brainer to me. So why is it not offered? If I'm missing something and this functionality is hugely complex or something then maybe an AgileBits friend can tell me why - in simple terms, obviously...
Also, even if it is really complex, is it in the pipeline? I love software that makes my life easy, and I want to love 1Password, but this issue is looking like a sticking point for me.0 -
Hi @1passG,
I'm glad to read in your first post about how you're taking the time to evaluate 1Password. That's exactly what the trial period is for :smile:
To answer your query, I would say it's mostly a historical issue. If we were implementing 'Wi-Fi' Sync now I don't imagine the devs would choose the approach that we currently have. Now a more distributed system is a bit more complex than the simple client server approach but not massively so. We're already using Bonjour for discovery which takes care of that aspect. The current setup was created at a different time and probably with different user expectations too.
We have an open feature request for this but unfortunately that's all I can say. I'm not in a position where I can promise when or if such a feature will be added. Don't get me wrong, it has been raised and has support but it also has to contend for precious developer time with all the other feature requests and bugs to fix. Regardless of whether you decide to go with 1Password or not I'm adding your voice to the request to help show the demand.
I know it isn't quite the answer you were probably hoping for but I do want to thank you for posting and explaining about your needs in a password manager. Every post can help shape future versions.
ref: OPM-2091
0 -
Thanks for taking the time to answer so fully. One of the big things in favour of 1Password is the level of support from enthusiasts and staff. Customers need to know they're being listened to and supported and, to be fair, you guys do this very well. The fact that it's a 'possibility' may be enough to get me onboard!
Now the big decision is webstore v AppStore? Tending towards webstore for updates etc, and not particularly interested in iCloud sync so... Anybody any thoughts on that?
Cheers.
0 -
Now the big decision is webstore v AppStore? Tending towards webstore for updates etc, and not particularly interested in iCloud sync so... Anybody any thoughts on that?
Take a look at this knowledge base article:
Should I buy 1Password from the AgileBits Store or the Mac App Store?
Stephen
0
