Vaults and understanding them

MrIllustrator
MrIllustrator
Community Member

Hi, I'm having trouble understanding how Vaults work which has caused me some major problems.
I have 4 vaults:
1. Primary
2. Our shared vault
One divider and then below this it says:
Flag and then Admin Account
3. Private
4. Shared

Question 1. why doesn't my Primary and Our Shared Vaults appear under Admin Account, what does this mean in this context.

Question 2. I now have multiple copies of password details that are in different vaults now that are wrong and out of date because when I updated the details I didn't think I had to go to each individual Vault perform another search and update that one as well, this looks like a colossal waste of time. I thought they were linked otherwise what's the point, three four, five times as much work because they are not linked as far as I can see and what an admin problem!. Now I have about 100 duplicates in different vaults, half of which are correct and up to date and half are not because I may have been in a different vault when updating them. Am I right in thinking that they were one time copies and not linked in any way so if I put the account details for Adobe into three vaults and updated one, only that one would be updated. This seems to be what's happened but a very dumb way of handling the data.

Question 3. Which do I delete, is a "Primary" vault more important than a Private vault under the sub heading Admin Account. This is so confusing.

You can see how confused I am, is there any simple tutorial on exactly how Vaults work and I mean exactly.


1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
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Sync Type: Not Provided

Comments

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Hi, I'm having trouble understanding how Vaults work which has caused me some major problems.

    @MrIllustrator: Nothing insurmountable I'm sure. Happy to assist! :)

    I think it's helpful to think of a 1Password vault as a less-crappy safe or lockbox: you don't have to carry a vault around with you physically if you need to access it in different places, but it's secured for you using a "key" or "code". And since it's digital, using encryption, that allows for some neat tricks that won't work in the physical world: while you and your loved one(s) can each have your own Master Password for accessing your 1Password.com accounts, sharing with each other (through the magic of mathematics — not a phrase you hear often!) effectively allows each of you to use a different "key" to access the same secure container: the shared vault, which unlocks for each of you using your (presumably different) Master Passwords.

    I have 4 vaults:
    1. Primary
    2. Our shared vault
    One divider and then below this it says:
    Flag and then Admin Account
    3. Private
    4. Shared

    The problem I see here immediately is that your setup is a bit overcomplicated, with both local vaults and an account with its own vaults. More on that later.

    Question 1. why doesn't my Primary and Our Shared Vaults appear under Admin Account, what does this mean in this context.

    Local vaults (such as "1. Primary" and, I'm guessing, "2. Our shared vault") are not part of a 1Password.com account; they're only stored locally unless you manually sync them to other devices.

    Question 2. I now have multiple copies of password details that are in different vaults now that are wrong and out of date because when I updated the details I didn't think I had to go to each individual Vault perform another search and update that one as well, this looks like a colossal waste of time. I thought they were linked otherwise what's the point, three four, five times as much work because they are not linked as far as I can see and what an admin problem!.

    Nothing is "linked" between separate vaults, otherwise what would be the point of separating things into different vaults? For example, if stuff in your Private vault was also connected to the Shared vault, you might as well only have the Shared vault! It's important to keep some things separated. You probably don't want to share all the Private vault stuff, otherwise it would all be in the Shared vault!

    Now I have about 100 duplicates in different vaults, half of which are correct and up to date and half are not because I may have been in a different vault when updating them. Am I right in thinking that they were one time copies and not linked in any way so if I put the account details for Adobe into three vaults and updated one, only that one would be updated. This seems to be what's happened but a very dumb way of handling the data.

    Why not put things you want to share with your loved one only in the vault that's shared with them? Then you both not only have access to it, but also can make changes to it that the other can benefit from — like adding a note or updating a password for a login.

    Question 3. Which do I delete, is a "Primary" vault more important than a Private vault under the sub heading Admin Account. This is so confusing.

    It sounds like "Admin Account" is what you named your 1Password Families plan maybe. That is a bit confusing. I'd recommend verifying that you have everything in your 1Password.com account:

    https://start.1password.com/vaults/all

    If not, move any items that you need to over to either your Private or Shared vault in your account as desired.

    Once you're certain that your account has everything, you can remove the local vaults to simplify things, using only your account going forward. You'll need to manually remove "2. Our shared vault" from the 1Password menu ("Delete (name) vault") and then disable local vaults in Preferences > Advanced to remove "1. Primary" as well. Let me know how it goes! :)

    You can see how confused I am, is there any simple tutorial on exactly how Vaults work and I mean exactly.

    We have a guide here:

    Create and share vaults

    But that's generic, as your situation will be different from someone else's. So please let me know if you have any other questions. I'm glad to help in any way I can! :)

  • MrIllustrator
    MrIllustrator
    Community Member

    Thank you for your answers here, very helpful indeed.

    This is where some of my confusion has come from, I've added passwords in the past on my computer and could not understand why they weren't appearing on my iPhone it looks like the only Vault that is syncing is Private out of this list.

    Does this mean I've named it wrong and really this should read "Primary Vault" in stead of "Private"

    You can see I've set the Primary Vault to take all my new passwords so this is why it's not syncing with my phone.

    Do I take it that:
    Primary in the picture below and:
    Our shared vaults are not synced at all but local vaults and Admin Account isn't a vault but a sub heading of some sort
    and the only one I'd be interested in really is "Private" which I should re-name something more logical like Primary.

    I'm trying to simplify and then build up again afterwards

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @MrIllustrator: The Primary vault is a local vault which can never be part of your account, so anything you put there will not sync to your account, or to any other devices which depend on it.

    Private cannot be renamed, and it named that way to make it clear that only you can access that vault; it cannot be shared under any circumstances.

    I appreciate the additional details! My recommendation would to move any items you want to keep from your Primary vault (which are not already in your Private vault) to your Private vault.

    Also, it looks like you may have deleted (or at least removed yourself from) the default Shared vault of your 1Password Families account:

    Share passwords in 1Password Families

    You may want to create a new "Shared" vault there and move any items you want to keep from the "Our shared vault" to the "Shared" vault. That way it can be available to any loved ones you invite to the 1Password Families plan.

    I hope this helps. Be sure to let me know if you have any other questions! :)

  • MrIllustrator
    MrIllustrator
    Community Member

    Thank you brenty, thats helped me a great deal, I made assumptions and thought it worked in a slightly different way. I didn't know about local only vaults and I also didn't know the conventions of the "Private" vault and naming. Some of these names are hang overs from when I just had the App Store version and no family account.

    I've simplified things as you said, trashed many out of date duplicates and put everything into just the Private vault at the moment and deleted the other vaults, I will though re-instate a "Shared" vault at some point to put important passwords that I have to share with my family such as routers, personal I.Ds etc.

    Thanks for all your time and advise, it's much appreciated.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Thank you brenty, thats helped me a great deal, I made assumptions and thought it worked in a slightly different way. I didn't know about local only vaults and I also didn't know the conventions of the "Private" vault and naming. Some of these names are hang overs from when I just had the App Store version and no family account.

    @MrIllustrator: Yep! That's a tough one, and I'm sorry for the confusion it's caused you. It would have been simpler, in a sense, if we scrapped everything and started fresh with 1Password.com accounts, but a lot of people still depend on local vaults using the standalone app without an account, so it was important to us not to pull the rug out from under anyone — which of course would have included you, had you not made the switch!

    I've simplified things as you said, trashed many out of date duplicates and put everything into just the Private vault at the moment and deleted the other vaults, I will though re-instate a "Shared" vault at some point to put important passwords that I have to share with my family such as routers, personal I.Ds etc. Thanks for all your time and advise, it's much appreciated.

    You're totally welcome! It sounds like you're in better shape now, but please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions. For example, if you're using any other devices which still have local vaults, you'll probably want to get rid of those too, so you have the same account-only setup across all your devices. Happy to help in any way I can. :chuffed:

This discussion has been closed.