How can I set 1PW to save email address?

Hello!

1PW X saves a username field and a password field by default. Most sites today use email address and pw for login, instead of a different username. Yet 1PW never saves the email address I provide, into the username field. Every password I have ever saved in 1PW I have had to go back and correct. It's the only password manager I've used which works this way.

In the attached screenshot, I would expect 1PW to save the provided email into the username field, but for some reason it chose "Last Name." What's the thinking behind this? How can I set up 1PW default save mechanism to always use the "email address" field unless there is a "username" field? Can I change the 1PW core template from "username" to "email address"?

Thanks!


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Comments

  • kaitlyn
    kaitlyn
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @brucebc! Thanks for getting this on our radar. I've seen this happen from time to time on registration forms, but I agree that 1Password should have picked up the email address as the username in this case. To its defense, I believe the reasoning comes from the last name being the field prior to the password field, which is typically where the username lives. I did try saving a Login item from the login form rather than the registration form, and the email was correctly saved as the username when using that method. I'll go ahead and get it on our developers' radar so we can work on improving the experience down the road.

    As far as fixing your current Login item, you can edit the item and change your username to reflect your email address. If you see this on other websites, letting us know will be the best way to help us make saving more consistent across the entire internet. :)

    ref: xplatform/xplatform#214

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member
    edited October 2019

    Hi @kaitlyn Thank you for the tips. Yep, I know how to fix them, in fact it's why I wrote: cause I have to do it pretty much every time I create a new password. 1PW seems to most always fail on this type of new account form. So I think I understand that I can't do anything about this at my end, but that they may fix it at some point. Looking forward to it!

    But also, I wonder why 1PW has only a username field? Most of the other password managers I've used have both an email address and a username field, and (perhaps not coincidentally?) seem to do a better job of saving the right info in the right place.

    But with 1PW, I have a 50% chance of getting the right info in the right field. And in all such cases I have to make a custom field to hold the other piece. Why not have both common fields by default? Thx again.

  • kaitlyn
    kaitlyn
    1Password Alumni

    @brucebc – No problem at all! I'll keep an eye out for this specific behavior next time I sign up for an account, but if you happen to have any website URLs where you remember 1Password saving your username incorrectly, feel free to share them with me so I can add them to the issue I opened.

    1Password does save additional fields if there are more than only a username and password field on a page, but they aren't visible until you click the Show Web Form Details. That's where your email was likely saved when you originally created the ActiveChat item. You can also add custom fields if you wish to save more information inside a Login item. I'd guess that our developers made the username and password fields the main fields on a Login item for the sake of simplicity since a username and password is what the majority of websites use to sign in.

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member
    edited October 2019

    @kaitlyn Show Web Form Details is interesting, the password we were talking about had saved my email address in the last name field and the last name in the username field.

    Per adding custom fields, I know how to after the fact. But was wondering about how to have them there in advance. Is this possible, to customize the standard fields? Or do I always have to manually recreate a password field?

    Or perhaps you mean that the fields inside Show Web Form Details will work? That has not been my experience. When something non-email is saved to the Username field by accident, on next login that info is pasted into the form's email address field, even if 1PW has an email address in the web form details area.

    Re: your last comment: I have very few actual usernames, it seems to me that most sites save and use email address for login these days.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited October 2019

    Per adding custom fields, I know how to after the fact. But was wondering about how to have them there in advance. Is this possible, to customize the standard fields? Or do I always have to manually recreate a password field?

    @brucebc: The best thing to do is saving the login for the site on the page where you actually intend to use it -- i.e. the login page. That will allow 1Password to save additional information from that form to fill it better in the future. Just try these steps to save the login and fill it:

    1. Navigate to the website
    2. Enter your login credentials
    3. Click the 'keyhole' icon to bring up the extension
    4. Click the 'gear' icon for Settings
    5. Click Save New Login
    6. Give it a name and Save
    7. Close the webpage and select your new login in 1Password to press Return (or double click) to Open & Fill
    8. Submit the form

    Re: your last comment: I have very few actual usernames, it seems to me that most sites save and use email address for login these days.

    It really depends on which websites you happen to frequent. The opposite is true for me. :)

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member

    Hi @brenty I understand your point, and agree that that is most efficient when it is possible, but typically we don't get to choose our sign-up URL. 1PW frequently ends up saving a registration URL instead of the login URL, because they are different forms with different addresses. See the URL in the screenshot I sent earlier for example, it is typical for me.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @brucebc: it's entirely up to you, but I personally find it useful to save on the login page, not only because that helps 1Password fill better, but so 1Password had that URL to take me right there. Otherwise when I Open & Fill that Login, it takes me to the signup page again, which is not generally what I want. :)

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member

    Hi again @brenty I still don't follow. In the screenshot above, or any other new sign-up situation, I fill in my email address, ask 1PW for a generated password, then 1PW offers to save a new login, and I accept (in order to save the just-generated pw). Then I submit the registration form, then finally I go back int the new PW login and fix errors, like wrong or missed username, or wrong URL. I do this all the time. And if it's wrong, I'd love to know a better way! Can you explain the steps you mean? Thanks!

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member

    Thanks @brenty I think I finally got what you were trying to teach me. I had to look at this thread and the support doc a few times :)

    You mean that instead of a normal registration process, we pretend we have an account, find the registered user login page, fill in our email, get 1pw to generate a pw, accept creation of a new login record, ditch the login process, find the new-account registration page again, let 1pw fill, then register.

    It's an interesting workaround, with counter intuitive extra steps. I'll try it next time and see if it's any less work than just editing the record later.

    Thanks!

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @brucebc: Hmm. That's not quite what I meant. This is how I approach it, in case it helps you.

    Like you're describing, sometimes it's just convenient to save a Login item when signing up for a site. It's good to not have to worry about losing the credentials, after all. In probably a lot of cases, I leave it at that, because it's either not a site I visit often, or that Login-saved-at-the-signup-page works just fine at their login page too. But sometimes it doesn't, or I just want to streamline things for myself if it's a site I go to a lot, so then I save a new Login item for the site at the actual login page. That way 1Password both knows all it can about the page in order to fill it correctly, but also can take me right there just by me typing a few characters into the search box in 1Password mini.

    Does that make more sense?

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member
    edited October 2019

    Thanks @kaitlyn @brenty for all the info. Here is a followup question, closely related I think to this discussion:

    In the attached screenshot, I have saved an email field and a username field, but 1. I can't get 1PW to fill the login form at all (button on form does nothing in either email or pw fields) and 2. if I use chrome extension, find the login, click Autofill, 1PW just overwrites the email field on the main form, not the login form, with the username, even though the field is an email field and the login has an email field.

    What is the right way to set up 1PW, to deal with this type of situation correctly?

    Thanks,

    Bruce

    [removed for privacy]

  • kaitlyn
    kaitlyn
    1Password Alumni

    Hey @brucebc! I love that you pointed this out. Strangely enough, the sign in form on the "Submit a request" page is powered by ZenDesk. In short, the prompt in the middle of the page is an iframe with a completely different URL than the website URL (buddyboss.com). 1Password will only fill if the website URL matches what you have stored inside your item, and it refuses to fill when the URLs don't match. This is extremely important when it comes to preventing phishing attempts. That said, this is one of those rare situations where it doesn't work out in our favor. Go ahead and add https://buddyboss.zendesk.com as an additional website URL in your BuddyBoss Login item.

    Next, since it seems like this website asks for your email in place of a username, I'd save your email address as the username in the Login item. You're welcome to include your username as an additional section in the item in case you need it in the future. If you save an item using the sign in form, then it would save the email as the username for you.

    In the end, the item should look something like this (with your real credentials, of course):

    Side note: I've removed the screenshot in your last comment since this is a public forum.

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member

    Thank you @kaitlyn ! And thank you for removing the screenshot; I did blur anything I thought was private, do you think there was still too much?

    Please bear with me with me while I run over a couple of things I was confused about:

    it seems like this website asks for your email in place of a username.>

    This is sort of the core of my question: it's just asking for an email address, the field is labeled email address . 1PW has _email address _ and _username _fields . I was wondering why 1PW doesn't use the _email address _ data in _email address _ fields.

    I'd save your email address as the username in the Login item. You're welcome to include your username as an additional section in the item in case you need it in the future.>

    But if I do that, will 1PW use the second username field when a particular site needs a username instead of an email address? How does it distinguish between the two fields it then would have internally, both labeled username?

    This seems very similar to another question I had for you:

    When I sign up for 1PW it sets up an identity "card" for me. By default it has both username and email fields. But whenever I use this identity, as I fill a registration form at a new site, it always fill its username data into the form's email field.

    So it's essentially the same issue as above. Is it the case that 1PW can't ever recognize the label email or email address and apply its own email or email address fields?

    That was what I was writing about before: is there a way to force 1PW to use username data in a username field, but use email data in an email field? Both in a saved password record, and with saved identity records?

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member

    Thank you @kaitlyn ! And thank you for removing the screenshot; I did blur anything I thought was private, do you think there was still too much?

    Please bear with me with me while I run over a couple of things I was confused about:

    it seems like this website asks for your email in place of a username.>

    This is the core of my question: it's just asking for an email address; the field is labeled email address . 1PW has email address and username fields. I was wondering: why doesn't 1PW use the email address data in email address fields?

    I'd save your email address as the username in the Login item. You're welcome to include your username as an additional section in the item in case you need it in the future.>

    But if I do that, will 1PW use the second username field when a particular site needs a username instead of an email address? How does it distinguish between the two fields it then would have internally, both labeled username ?

    This is related to an identity fill question I had for you:

    When I sign up for 1PW it sets up an identity "card" for me. By default it has both username and email fields. But whenever I use this identity, as for example I fill a registration form at a new site, it always fill its username data into the form's email field.

    So it's essentially the same issue as the other one we're talking about. Is it the case that 1PW can't ever recognize the label email or email address and apply its own email or email address fields?

    Which brings us back to my original question: is there any way for me to force 1PW to use username data in a username field, but use email data in an email field? Both in a saved password record, and with saved identity records?

  • kaitlyn
    kaitlyn
    1Password Alumni

    @brucebc – There was just your email address and username in the screenshot, which isn't something I'd want floating on a public forum. Then again, I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to that.

    This is the core of my question: it's just asking for an email address; the field is labeled email address . 1PW has email address and username fields. I was wondering: why doesn't 1PW use the email address data in email address fields?

    Great question. Emails and usernames are used almost interchangeably on what I'd call the majority of websites, but correct me if you disagree. 1Password looks at the code to determine what field is what. We'll stick with the BuddyBoss example for now. The HTML name of the "email address" field on this page is user[email]. The HTML name of the email address field on the main sign in page is log.

    Sure, you saved your email address with the label of email which makes perfect sense to the naked eye, but 1Password is looking at things from a back end perspective and solely based on code. You likely originally saved this Login on a completely different page with a username field, so that's why 1Password is searching where it makes most sense to fill it. If you save the Login again using your email address, then that's what'll get filled in the future.

    But if I do that, will 1PW use the second username field when a particular site needs a username instead of an email address? How does it distinguish between the two fields it then would have internally, both labeled username ?

    It's based on the code, so I can't say for certain. For BuddyBoss, I can't find a way this wouldn't work. On the main sign in page, it asks for "username or email address,"

    When I sign up for 1PW it sets up an identity "card" for me. By default it has both username and email fields. But whenever I use this identity, as for example I fill a registration form at a new site, it always fill its username data into the form's email field.

    Do you happen to have a website URL for me? I'm happy to test it out myself and take a look at the site's code to look into how we can fill better there.

    So it's essentially the same issue as the other one we're talking about. Is it the case that 1PW can't ever recognize the label email or email address and apply its own email or email address fields?

    You'd be very surprised how differently each website is coded. There are best practices, of course, but it seems like the problem sites rarely follow them. Labels simply aren't enough to go off of – they can be for the field before, after, to the right, to the left. Filling based on labels alone (looking at only the code and not the design on the page) would lead to an extremely unreliable filling experience.

    Which brings us back to my original question: is there any way for me to force 1PW to use username data in a username field, but use email data in an email field? Both in a saved password record, and with saved identity records?

    It seems like you're doing the best you can with this. I'm happy to take a look at more websites and figure out how to get 1Password filling correctly or pass it along to our developers so we can improve our filling algorithm if you report them to us.

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member

    That is an awesome reply, thank you for the behind the scenes detail, I think I understand a little better now what may be going on, and how I should think about the labels under the UI. Per your question about errors using the identity card to fill: if I can figure out some sort of 1PW list view sortable by history, I'll be able to quickly find a few for you, and will come back here and share.

    I think related to that topic is the screenshot I started this thread with, which saved last name as username, even though there was an email field already filled. But, now that you have given me a few clues about labels behind the UI, I'll see if I have enough skills to examine code on a tripped-up interaction and see what you mean. I'm guessing I might find the same type of difference you described, when I look at pages where the ID card doesn't work, too. If I do, I'll pass them on for possible future tweaks. Thanks again!

  • kaitlyn
    kaitlyn
    1Password Alumni

    @brucebc – I'm glad that was helpful. If you screenshot the HTML of the field that things are going wrong with, I should have an idea of what's going wrong with 1Password. Feel free to share those with me any time you run into such issue. :)

  • brucebc
    brucebc
    Community Member
    edited October 2019

    Hi Kaitlyn, I think it must have been cached (by that I mean old draft) content getting (re)posted when I restored some tabs on browser restart, sorry about that! Can you delete it to keep this thread more useful to others and make me look less weird? :)

  • kaitlyn
    kaitlyn
    1Password Alumni

    @brucebc – Of course. I deleted the duplicate post and my response to you, so now it's like it never even happened. Have a good one! :chuffed:

This discussion has been closed.