Force Sync
For the most part the Sync in 1password works really well - I get the updates almost instantly after a change is made.
But a tiny percent of the time, it doesn't work, I've updated a password in 1Password X and it's not showing up in 1Password for Windows.
When this happens, basically I have to close the entire app, login again, and that forces a sync which fixes the problem.
It would be really nice if there was just a button that I could press which forces the sync to occur
1Password Version: 7.3.657
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Windows 10
Sync Type: Not Provided
Comments
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Hi @cpmcgrath,
I am sorry to hear you are having troubles with sync!
The next time it happens, please try to lock/unlock 1Password 7 for Windows in order to sync changes you've made in 1Password X. Let me know if it works.
You can also try to use our standard extension, instead of 1Password X, and check, if it works better for you. Thanks! :+1:
Cheers,
Greg0 -
I've been getting this issue periodically since I signed up with the cloud service (and again today, on 7.3.684).
I don't consider locking and unlocking or creating a dummy secure note to be a user friendly way of forcing a sync. I don't know why you can't just add a menu option or button to force a sync if you can't guarantee sync reliability on Windows.
This issue is easily my number one gripe since you offered the subscription service. I've been using 1PW for years before the switch to the subscription model, and when I was using Dropbox sync, syncing was way more reliable than it is now.
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The reason we don't want too easy an option to force a sync is precisely because folks will choose to use that rather than reaching out to find the root cause, @slantyyz. We can't fix what we don't know about and we humans will near universally choose a quick fix over identifying the root of a problem. We're busy people, of course, so we understand sometimes a quick fix is needed and are more than happy to share options to do that when necessary, but ultimately it's really important to us to hear about and have a chance to look into any longstanding sync problem. We can't guarantee reliable sync without knowing what's causing sync issues folks are seeing in the first place. Without feedback from y'all, we're left with "Well, it works on my PC ..." and that's never a reliable measure of whether or not something is truly working as it should.
So, if you're seeing sync problems, let us know. Even if they're small. If it's an issue on our end, we want to fix it. If it's something not playing nice with your network configuration, we want to help you get things working more reliably and investigate what we can do to avoid such issues in the first place. To that end, it would be really great if you could create a diagnostics report from your Windows PC:
Sending Diagnostics Reports (Windows)
Attach the diagnostics to an email message addressed to
support+forum@agilebits.comand include a link to this thread in the body of your e-mail. You should receive an automated reply from our BitBot assistant with a Support ID number. For bonus points, post that number here so I can track down your diagnostics quickly and take a look.Once I see the diagnostics, I'll see if we can't put these sync troubles to bed once and for all. :+1:
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Listen, I get it. I write software and I want to know what bugs are in my software too.
But wow, your response is so patronizing.
It should be up to the customer to decide whether to report something or not. 1Password is not free software. I've been paying for licenses/renewals/subscription for a long time now. It's already frustrating enough to see how the Windows and Android clients are second class citizens compared the Mac/iOS versions.
I had to waste time during my work day googling "how to manually sync 1Password for Windows" and sift through results to find a workaround all while I had an immediate problem to solve. I am pretty sure that before you changed to a subscription model, there was a force sync button on the Windows and Android clients.
You're basically telling me you're OK inconveniencing a paying customer and making them do work for you (as though our time isn't worth anything). You make it sound like you couldn't find a compromise solution either. It's not as if you couldn't put a force sync button that pops up a modal that gives the user an option to submit additional info or not.
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Hi @slantyyz, it is Greg again. I am sorry for the miscommunication here.
I am sure Kate had no intention to sound patronising or condescending and I apologise if it looks like it.
We strive for the seamless sync for all of our customers, so if it doesn't behave correctly (and sync is very important), we want to learn more about those situations and investigate what is going south in order to improve 1Password.
I re-read your initial post and you say that you bump into this sync issue periodically. Is it possible that 1Password 7 doesn't sync your data after you wake up your computer from sleep? I can totally understand that you don't want to spend your own time troubleshooting these issues, but if you shared a Diagnostics Report, it would be really really helpful.
I will also pass your suggestion about adding sync button to our team, so we could have an internal discussion. Let us know if you have any other questions, we are always here for you. Thank you! :+1:
Cheers,
Greg0 -
I second the option to add a "Force Sync" capability. I just updated a key password on my Mac. It has not yet shown up on my iPhone. I've gone to Preferences:Sync and it tells me that the last sync was 23 minutes ago. I need the password now and I have no way, short of closing and reopening, to force it to update. For most updates, this is fine. Right now it is not.
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This topic is specifically discussing 1Password 7 for Windows, @jdhayes117. 1Password for iOS, specifically when using a standalone vault, does have an option to sync now. Tap Settings > Sync and you should see a "Sync now" option under each vault you have in your app. With standalone vaults, we don't control the sync service so it's a bit of a different animal in that respect.
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There is no "Sync Now" in the Mac version either. I assume that the iOS version is syncing with whichever Cloud Sync capability that is enabled (in my case, iCloud). If my Mac hasn't synced to iCloud, and I have no way to force it to do that, then having my phone sync with the cloud version does not help. Same for Windows or Mac.
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Much like 1Password for Windows, in 1Password for Mac you can also force a sync by locking and unlocking the password app, should you need that.
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Indeed, you can have 1Password send the data to iCloud...but it's entirely up to iCloud as far as when that is sync'd to other devices.
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Yes, you are correct, I could lock and unlock it. Or I could write it down and manually type it in, or I could take a screen shot and email it or I could or I could or I could. The point is, all of those actions are the equivalent of adding a “Sync now” capability to 1PW...as already exists in your mobile versions. And to brenty’s comment about the cloud service, when the cloud syncs it to my other devices is true whether that is iCloud, the 1 PW cloud, Google’s cloud, MSofts cloud, etc. The point is, until it gets to the cloud, I’m stuck. And the simplest solution is add a “Sync Now” function. Finally, if you are so concerned about not capturing a sync problem with 1PW, make the app report to the mothership every time someone hits “Sync Now”. You’ll get better data that way.
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@jdhayes117: For a 3rd party service, we don't have control over whether such a button would actually do anything. iCloud is a good example of that. :lol: Also,
if you are so concerned about not capturing a sync problem with 1PW, make the app report to the mothership every time someone hits “Sync Now”. You’ll get better data that way.
If sync isn't working, that's because the connection is failing, so we would actually get no data at all. if clicking a "sync" button worked to "report to the mothership", then 1Password could just sync the data anyway.
For our own 1Password service, while we could certainly add a button and some people who like buttons would be very happy with that, it's important to remember that most people want sync to actually just work without them having to even think about it, much less take an action. Adding a button would just be glossing over a problem that is either solvable by us and thus worthy of investigation, not ignoring it and making the user click; or it wold not help anyway, if the problem is something in the user's network environment (proxy, firewall, "security" software) -- you could click all day and it would still either work or it wouldn't, depending on factors entirely outside of 1Password.
All of that is to say, if you're actually having an issue with the 1Password service syncing, please let us know the specifics so we can see what we can do to improve it for you and for others. <3
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I am in China at current and my connection to the 1password server is extreme unstable. Unless you deploy a server in China, you cannot solve this problem (believe me you can't. As long as the server is located outside of China, even if a stable connection was achieved at that time, it was transient and unsustainable). Most of the time, I have to connect to a VPN located outside of China to sync my 1password account.
So, adding a sync button and letting me decide when to sync is the only reliable way to fix the problem. Without this button, 1password will not know when I open the VPN (so it can start syncing) and when I close the VPN (should stop trying to sync because it will almost never succeed).
On the Android client, I can simply pull down to trigger synchronization. It's very painless.
There is no similar easy way to do the same on Windows. I had to close 1password, reopen it, re-enter the master password, and wait. Sometimes, the VPN connection is also unstable, so the synchronization fails, I have to close it again, open it, enter the master password ... and so on.
As a software developer, I hate this kind of thing. The user's lack of control must be problematic, because you do not know what operating environment and network conditions the user is facing. Also, since you have implemented pull-down forced synchronization for Android, why don't Windows users deserve one?!
If you insist on not providing a manual sync button for Windows users, I think I can only switch to dropbox. For me, obviously the solution that can be synchronized manually is the only reliable synchronization solution.
Or you need a server in China. iCloud just did this recently because they finally realized that servers outside China could not provide stable and reliable online services to China.
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Is your connection universally unreliable in any country outside China, @SwimmingTiger? I ask because I can definitely see our US servers being a major struggle for you – the U.S. is lengthy hike from China with Canada being little better. But, we do have our EU servers located in Germany. Still outside China, of course, but a ton closer. I'll admit, I don't have a full understanding of precisely why being inside China is of such importance and could easily be overlooking considerations beyond distance, but I'd expect switching to 1Password.eu would be at least some help.
As for syncing now, we don't have manual sync right now and likely won't any time soon, but depending on your workflow here, there may be a better option than the typical lock/unlock. How often are you using this VPN and for how long? Is its sole purpose getting 1Password to sync? Give me a rundown and we'll see what I can think up. :chuffed:
Finally, I just wanted to mention that I asked about a server in China. I can't make any promises, of course, and deploying a new one is a sizable project so even if we do decide to have one down the road it'll be a process to get it up and running. But, for what it might be worth, I think it's a worthy idea for sure. Beyond y'all's struggles, China is becoming a powerhouse for technology and I feel like there's more new and interesting tech coming out of China than the Bay Area here in the U.S. these days. Plus, despite my general Apple ineptitude, we are generally pretty big fans of Apple around here and I think iCloud having a server there is a strong voice in favor of the idea. We'll see what the folks that can make it happen say, but I'd wager there are many who'd be happy to see us offer a server in China, so it's definitely worth exploring.
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I found this thread because I too am having sync problems. I added a new login/password in 1Password X in Chrome (oh how I dislike having two different 1password tools :( ) and saved it. I then needed to add a OTP and saw no way to do it, so I looked to do it in the desktop client (I'm on a Mac). Much to my dismay, there was no entry in the desktop client for the login I knew was in 1Password X. Not having any way to force a sync is really frustrating. I exited and re-started the Mac desktop client. No sync. I locked 1PasswordX in Chrome and unlocked it, hoping that would trigger a sync. Opened the desktop client again, no sync. Realized maybe I had to fully exit from the app running (exiting from the top toolbar area in macOS) and then finally upon restarting it synced.
There's nothing convenient about this for a customer - why not have a sync button? :|
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I added a new login/password in 1Password X in Chrome (oh how I dislike having two different 1password tools
Can you please elaborate on this a little bit? Which two password tools are you referring to? Do you mean that you would like 1Password to work without a browser extension?
Realized maybe I had to fully exit from the app running (exiting from the top toolbar area in macOS) and then finally upon restarting it synced.
Locking and unlocking the app should be enough, but a full restart should definitely help in case this doesn't work for you for some reason.
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I second to the wishes of having a sync button on the macOS version. I have an excellent internet connection and sometimes it takes ages to sync between the clients, even on the same network. I can see the new password online immediately after adding on both devices but they never pick the changes from each other up. Locking and unlocking is not a good solution imo.
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Thank you for the feedback on this as well @danilo404 :+1:
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Hi, just ran into the same issue. Added two items to a Vault via 1P v 7.6.778 on Windows. Seconds later it was on the iPhone but when my Dad looked for it, also a windows version, it was not there. As always, when we share info it is pretty urgent and this is no exception.
It just was not there. Log out, log in.. nope.. He looked on his iPhone, it was there. He finally went via login in on the website to download it.
As already stated above, the solution is really a simple button that forces a sync. We are using your servers, so that should not be a problem.
Compared to the inconvenience everybody is being put through, a little button is really not much to ask for... I think.
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I just had multiple hours lag (all while on a good connection) between my coworker updating a password and me being able to see it. Would have been nice for us to force the sync. (Both of us are on macOS, my version is 7.6 (70600005), OS version 10.15.5)
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I also experienced a slow sync when I was extremely pressed for time, also searched for an option to force it or at least see it fail, also landed here.
Perhaps instead of the 1Password devs leaving patronizing responses in this thread they could provide users some notification that sync is failing instead of failing silently? "We're going to let our software do this frustrating thing silently until you come to us with a bug report" is an absurd approach to developing software for consumers. Your reasons against a sync button are sound but I hope you'll stop thinking about how you want to solve the problem as engineers, and think instead about what you can do to improve the experience of your customers, even if it's not giving them precisely what they ask for.
I've been an engineer for 15 years, I know software is hard, but ya'll need to step it up on the customer empathy front. My goodness.
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Hey @mattbaker -- I definitely apologize for the frustrating experience with the slow sync situation there, which ended up ultimately leading you here.
I don't think any of our responses here were ever intentionally written to seem like they were patronizing legitimate feedback -- We really do want to make 1Password be the best it can be, so per @Ben's response above, we have filed this as an issue with our development team so we can take things back to the drawing board and see what we can do to make things better for everyone here.
I know this isn't a definitive answer as to what will happen in the future, as potential changes like this do generally take time -- but we try to be as transparent as possible when we receive feature requests such as these instead of simply throwing things in the "we hear you" bucket and moving on. We totally agree that there is room for improvement here, so we're going to take a hard look at what can be done and put our development team on the case to see what the best solution would be here.
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Hey guys - first of all great job on 1Password.
Like everyone in this thread (I expect) I've been using and loving 1Password for quite a while now. So I really appreciate the work you guys are doing. Top-notch.
Like everyone in this thread, I'm a software developer so I know the struggle. You have to find bugs to fix bugs. I'm also a product owner so I understand the need to say "no" to feature requests.
Like everyone in this thread though, I think you guys are wrong on this one. And hope you'll be open-minded about this and maybe change your mind.
Here's the way I see it:
- Argument 1 - That you can't add a Sync button because then people won't submit diagnostics. There's a great suggestion here, to also ask for reason/diagnostics when someone force syncs.
- Argument 2 - That you're not in control of the sync process when using a third-party syncing service (like iCloud, my case). I get that, it's a use case where you can't do anything to fix it, but you CAN do something to save the user some frustration. Let the user at least try to force sync, let him push a button, and tell him if he doesn't see the change he wants it's because of this 3rd party. You can surely do that, and this will certainly at least make the experience a bit less miserable for those people in this situation.
- If there's a solution that will work, most of the time (logging out and logging in again), for 3rd parties (assuming the sync has been made but 1Password hasn't picked it up), that's what that button can do! It doesn't actually have to be called Sync, or Force Sync, or anything like that. Call it Refresh. Call it Restart. Whatever.
- If it's a UI problem, don't put a button at all. Make it a menu option. Or make it a shortcut-only. Cmd+R (or Ctrl+R) does nothing right now afaik and it's perfect for this. It's a refresh after all.
- Please don't think that because only this amount of people speak out, only this amount of people are having this problem. I've been using 1Password for YEARS and just now I've been frustrated enough to actually write you. I've taken half an hour of my time, to write this. Until now I've copy-pasted the password from one device to another, which defeats the purpose of having a password manager. I expect A LOT of people are doing that, because they're busy and just don't have time to help fix the software the use (and like). But that doesn't mean they don't expect it to be fixed. They do! All those people like me, have been waiting for YEARS for you to provide a solution for this.
Sorry for the rant. As I said, I really do like your software a lot, and this really is the only problem I have with it. Hopefully you'll find my opinions or ideas useful and do something with them.
Cheers!
PS. My issue was with changing something on the iPhone, then it didn't sync on my Mac. Restarting 1Password fixed it. I just wish there was an option to do that faster. Like Cmd+R, which I find very intuitive, it's a refresh after all, and I don't mind being asked for the password/fingerprint again.
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@tabacitu: We are open to feedback regarding this design decision and I will make sure to pass your suggestions to our team. Thank you for taking time to write it down. :+1:
As for the sync issues, I am sorry to hear you bumped into them. Do you see this behaviour a lot? If you do, please tell me if you use 1Password account or local vault synced via iCloud/Dropbox.
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Greg0 -
Thanks. I don’t get this problem a lot - maybe a few times a year. But then again, I rarely edit my passwords on iPhone/iPad - since I know this is a problem, I’ve kind of always treated those as read-only. I use iCloud for sync. I’d migrate to a better sync option if it had a better experience.
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Hi @tabacitu, thank you for the info!
With third-party sync we can't be 100% sure what is happening on Dropbox or iCloud side. The unreliability of a third-party sync is one of the reasons why we introduced 1Password accounts. With them we have control over everything and are able to make the sync seamless and more reliable.
Have you tried 1Password accounts? Does it work better? Please let me know.
Thanks!
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Greg0 -
I just had the sync problem again with 1Password on my Mac (Big Sur). It's very annoying, for gods sake: Please give us an easy force sync possibility. Look at the length of this thread and how many of your customers are suffering of this.
For the records:
I change the password within the 1Password X extension in chrome.
1Password on Mac did not get the sync.
Locking and unlocking 1Password did not help.
I had to quit 1Password and additionally quit 1Password Mini to enforce a sync.0 -
Hi @sahlbach, I am sorry to hear that you bumped into sync issues!
I will make sure to share your feedback with our team, but if you see such issues on your side often, it is possible that there is something else going on and the simple "Sync Now" button will not suffice.
Could you please share a Diagnostics Report from your device, where you see these issues? Here is how you can do it:
Sending Diagnostics Reports
Attach the Diagnostics Report to an email message addressed to support@1password.com and we will take a closer look at what is going on. Please do not post your Diagnostic Report in the forums, but please do include a link to this thread in your email, along with your forum handle so that we can "connect the dots" when we see your report in our inbox.
Thank you!
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Greg0 -
I too just had problems. I spent a half-hour last night changing all the passwords that Watchtower said were weak (good feature, btw, although I wish I could shut it off for some items that I know are actually okay). This was done on a Macbook running Big Sur using the 1Passwd app. Then I read some email for about 30 min and closed the laptop.
This morning, I checked my email on my desktop machine (Mac OS Catalina) and went to 1Passwd to get one of the passwords I changed last night. No sign of the changes -- all the old passwords there.
I just opened the laptop. The passwords still haven't updated to the desktop. Locked and unlocked the app on the MacBook. It shows the changes but the desktop doesn't -- and it has been 15 minutes.
This is the 3rd time this has happened to me since I switched over to 1Passwd for Family with an account. I have used 1Passwd for years with Dropbox as the sharing mechanism with nary a problem. This is extremely annoying. I would appreciate a force sync button. I may discontinue the family account and go back to Dropbox as it seems to keep in sync.
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