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How to export Documents?

I want to export a few Documents from a vault to an encrypted Mac USB drive for emergency use. The docs are PDFs and Jpegs. The Export file type options are .csv, tab-delimited .txt, and .1pif. I don't want to use .1pif because I will need a computer with 1Password to read it. Neither of the other options makes sense for PDFs or jpegs. I've tried to export anyway, and a file is created, but it's useless.


1Password Version: 6.8.4
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Mac OS 10.12.6
Sync Type: Not Provided

Comments

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited November 2017

    @Nemo1Password: 1PIF is plaintext, so you don't actually need 1Password to use it. It's designed for interoperability, and many other apps can read it. Or you can view it in any text editor. However, if you just want to export the files, can just download them and save them to disk. Just keep in mind that anything you export in this fashion is unencrypted.

  • Nemo1Password
    Nemo1Password
    Community Member

    Thanks. I assumed that 1PIF was a binary format.

    As a feature suggestion, adding an option to export Documents would make Export more useful. Perhaps they could be in a zip. A use case is mine in which every week on "backup day", I export the 1Password vault to an encrypted USB drive on my (physical) keychain. If in an emergency evacuation, I forget or lose my phone/computer, there's a chance I can still get to my important info if I can find a Mac computer. It would be nice if the current Documents automatically exported with the rest of the data. They could go in a zip file called Documents, for instance.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Thanks. I assumed that 1PIF was a binary format.

    @Nemo1Password: Ah, sorry about that. While our vault formats are, 1PIF is an open export format designed for interoperability.

    As a feature suggestion, adding an option to export Documents would make Export more useful. Perhaps they could be in a zip. A use case is mine in which every week on "backup day", I export the 1Password vault to an encrypted USB drive on my (physical) keychain. If in an emergency evacuation, I forget or lose my phone/computer, there's a chance I can still get to my important info if I can find a Mac computer. It would be nice if the current Documents automatically exported with the rest of the data. They could go in a zip file called Documents, for instance.

    Totally. We do want to make it easier to export files in bulk. I can't say when we'll be able to do this, as currently they are stored only on the server unless they are downloaded by the user, but this is definitely on our radar.

    But at the risk of making it sound like I don't think that matters (it does for a number of reasons), I do want to mention that with a 1Password.com account all you need is your Emergency Kit to sign in on a new device to get to your data. That's not much help for archival purposes, but it is incredibly useful in many situations. Cheers! :)

  • Nemo1Password
    Nemo1Password
    Community Member

    Understand the Emergency Kit, and appreciate the effort to export Documents in the future. The case I'm thinking about is an earthquake that takes out the Internet and cell service in the region for days. That's when I want my entire vault on an encrypted USB drive.

  • @Nemo1Password: That's a most excellent use-case. You get extra points for being much more prepared than I am. For what it's worth in the meantime, your devices do have an offline cache so as long as they maintain a charge, you'll have access to your vault there. The exception, as it sounds like you've realized already, would be documents as they would need to be downloaded to be previewed. We're not quite there with making paper or local copies obsolete, but hopefully one day soon. :chuffed:

  • william9
    william9
    Community Member
    edited November 2017

    I would also like to see 1Password.com manage documents better. What I mean by that is (1) to be able to preview docs without having to download first. And (2) having a local cache so that they can be viewed without an Internet connection e.g. on an airplane, etc. (3) Include documents in the vault if a user wants to leave 1Password.com. If I would have realized how 1Password.com manages documents, I may have been hesitant to convert from my Dropbox synching. If I ever want to go back to that method, it sounds like that I will have to manually download and re-attach 100's of docs -- one at a time :'(

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    I would also like to see 1Password.com manage documents better.

    @william9: We're in agreement there. We've got some things in the works. ;)

    However...

    What I mean by that is (1) to be able to preview docs without having to download first.

    That isn't possible. Until the data is downloaded to your device it isn't there to be previewed.

    And (2) having a local cache so that they can be viewed without an Internet connection e.g. on an airplane, etc.

    1Password does cache downloaded data locally, so that it can be accessed without an internet connection.

    (3) Include documents in the vault if a user wants to leave 1Password.com.

    If you cancel your subscription (or never subscribe), you can still access your data — including Documents — to export it.

    If I would have realized how 1Password.com manages documents, I may have been hesitant to convert from my Dropbox synching. If I ever want to go back to that method, it sounds like that I will have to manually download and re-attach 100's of docs -- one at a time :'(

    That's true. Local vaults do not support Documents, so it isn't possible to simply copy the data there. Just like when we moved from the OS X (yep) Keychain to AgileKeychain to OPVault, 1Password.com is designed primarily for moving forward and not backward. You can always use your original vault if needed (since you hopefully backed it up as we suggest), which would mean you'd just have to migrate some new data back to that if you'd made changes, rather than redoing the whole thing. I hope that helps. Thanks for your feedback on this! :)

  • william9
    william9
    Community Member

    We'll I've found that the Mac application allows the user to view a document in a vault that is in his 1Password account -- apparently without downloading outside of the application, so it does not leave decrypted copies laying around. Am I correct?

    However, when using a browser to access a 1Password.com account to view a document, 1Password downloads a decrypted copy of the document to your machine. You have to remember to delete those decrypted downloaded copies.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    We'll I've found that the Mac application allows the user to view a document in a vault that is in his 1Password account -- apparently without downloading outside of the application, so it does not leave decrypted copies laying around. Am I correct?

    @william9: The files do need to be decrypted in order for any app (or you) to read them, but these are stored temporarily and purged when you quit 1Password or it is locked.

    However, when using a browser to access a 1Password.com account to view a document, 1Password downloads a decrypted copy of the document to your machine. You have to remember to delete those decrypted downloaded copies.

    Correct. There is no way to open files in the browser from a temporal folder the way you can with a native app. Generally we'd recommend the native apps for a number of reasons, but that's another to recommend them.

  • ajh0912
    ajh0912
    Community Member

    I'd love to see a 'cache all documents locally' toggle, which would request all documents from the server and store them locally (in encrypted form), and then another option to generate a zip file with all those documents in it (optionally - prompt to set a password for the zip file). I think that would be the best solution for offline documents and for exporting in bulk

  • @ajh0912: That's something to consider, at least on the desktop side of things. The mobile apps are a stickier due to storage limitations. Especially with all of using our mobile devices as camera replacements these days, those with less storage fill quickly. I know I have to unload my iPad constantly for exactly this reason and doubt I'm alone here. All the same, we hear y'all on local copies of documents and it's something we'll continue to think about. Thanks for the feedback and for sharing your ideas. :chuffed:

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @ajh0912: You can always select multiple Documents (or all of them) in 1Password for Mac and right-click to "Download Local Copy". Cheers! :)

  • dorringtonsteve
    dorringtonsteve
    Community Member

    Thanks for this string. I just want to make sure I understand. All my .pdf and .jpg documents are available to me on my 1Password 7 for Mac app even without an internet connection, right? I don't have to do anything special to make sure that copies are kept locally on my computer, right?
    We have a place in San Francisco and in the Sierras where big earthquakes in SF and huge fires in the Sierra are a real threat. Large earthquakes and fire (where we live in the Sierra) are real threats that over many years approach likelihood of 100%, and in any particular year are a real if much smaller possibility. Much less likely, but also possible, is some catastrophic failure of the internet for a period of time, caused for example by a solar flare that takes down the grid.
    1) my .pdf's and .jpg's are stored locally on my computer, right?
    2) are these documents also stored on my iPhone 1Password app?
    Finally, now that I know there is no way to download in bulk all the hundreds of documents that I have attached to Secure Notes and Logins, etc, I reailze that I should have been saving these .pdfs and .jpgs to a secure location outside of 1Password. I endorse 1Password working on some way of making bulk downloads of these .pdfs and .jpgs possible. Going forward I'll store new ones that I attach to 1Password on a backup disc that I keep secure, but it would be nice to download the ones that are currently in Password for backup. Does this make sense?

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni

    @dorringtonsteve:

    1) my .pdf's and .jpg's are stored locally on my computer, right?
    2) are these documents also stored on my iPhone 1Password app?

    Yes, provided that you have downloaded an offline copy as per brenty's instructions.

    Going forward I'll store new ones that I attach to 1Password on a backup disc that I keep secure, but it would be nice to download the ones that are currently in Password for backup.

    Because 1Password is a password manager first and foremost, if you use it a lot as a document manager application, perhaps it makes sense to keep the less sensitive documents stored on a backup disk.

    If you are comfortable with programming, however, you could create your own CLI script to download the documents in bulk.

  • dorringtonsteve
    dorringtonsteve
    Community Member

    Hi ag_ana,
    Thanks so much for your reply. I'll take your recommendation to heart and not store documents that don't really need the protection of 1Password in a secure folder outside 1Password.
    On the second point, I am not a programmer. I would appreciate if 1Password could use the CLI script to incorporate that bulk download into a couple of clicks under one of the items 1Password 7 menu bar. Something for the future? Always good to have to-do projects?
    Thanks for considering this request,
    Steve

  • Thanks for the suggestion @dorringtonsteve. :) Perhaps something we can consider for the future.

    Ben

  • akH4nw3N
    akH4nw3N
    Community Member

    +1 for this. If an attacker got access to my 1Password account, they could sign into my iCloud account and wipe all my devices, obliterating any local cache that may have existed.

    If they were to do that, and change my 1Password Master Password, I would no longer have access to anything stored inside of 1Password, including decryption keys to offline storage drives.

    Having a offline backup that includes attached documents would prevent this from happening.

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni

    Thank you for chiming in on this too :+1:

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @akH4nw3N: That's why we recommend not giving someone else access to your 1Password data, and using a long, strong, unique Master Password will prevent anyone from guessing it to be able to get in otherwise.

  • klaas
    klaas
    Community Member

    @akH4nw3N @brenty as I posted here I'm quite scared of someone wiping all my data as well.

    I really do not understand why 1Password has no bulk export of all data after all these years. Is this even still considered?

    On the other hand I really like 1Password as a company and as a product.

  • ag_carlos
    ag_carlos
    1Password Alumni

    Hi there @klaas

    Thank you for your kind words! 🙂

    We appreciate the feedback and we’ll make sure to pass it along to our team. At this time documents do need to be downloaded individually but we appreciate the interest in a bulk download feature.

This discussion has been closed.