Password generator functionality has changed and I can't figure out how to use it correctly
I can tell from other posts that 1P 7.3 has changed the way the password generator works. Unfortunately, I can't figure it out.
Where is it, now? When I open 1P 7.3 (desktop), I can't find it in the interface at all. Is it only available in 1P Mini and the Safari extension? If it's in the desktop app, where is it? And I can't find it in 1PX in Chrome, either.
In 1PX in Chrome, I could only access the password generator when on a page that wanted a password, but it didn't work for me when trying to change my password on the Citi site.
[Don't worry...I didn't end up using the password in the screenshot...it didn't accept it!]. In the screenshot you can see that the password 1P suggested meets the conditions Citi has set. Now, the next screenshot shows that Citi has rejected the 1P-generated password, because it ostensibly lacks a digit, which it obviously does not! 
Unless I'm missing something, the password generator via 1PX no longer permits the generated password to be copied to the clipboard (if it does, I don't know how to enable that in 1P 7.3). This is problematical because there are times that a given website rejects a generated password due to some factor or another (e.g., in the case of Citi, one of 1P's generated passwords was rejected because it had 3 consecutive identical characters, which is a no-no for them, and then rejected passwords for lack of a digit, though that was wrong...see #2). In the past, I could paste the generated password into TextEdit and manually edit it to conform to the site's requirements. Is Agile's expectation now that one will just keep generating new passwords until 1P randomly generates a password that the site will accept, or am I missing something in the interface I should have noticed?
I don't know if this is specific to the Citi site, but 1P not only filled in the password 1P generated, but it submitted it for me as well, which put me in the position of not being able to do anything other than to manually create a password that Citi would accept. That password isn't nearly as good as one that 1P's generator creates, but 1P's generated passwords are being rejected by the site.
I wasn't sure if I understood correctly what I read on another post, but is 1P now automatically updating a changed password without asking me if I want to save it? I hope that isn't correct. I would be really upset to learn that a password stored in 1P was overwritten by a newly generated password which was then rejected by the site. Yes, I could dig around for older passwords, but that's a pain. There are sites where I have to futz around with 1P-generated passwords several times to get the length and/or composition correct, and if 1P is going to save each attempt automatically, figuring out which of the older passwords was the correct one could be confusing. I hope I'm misunderstanding...
Sorry if I'm being a bit peevish, but what I thought would be a quick process of getting a new password for a site and updating the password in 1P for future use turned into a nearly 1-hour long wrestling match with 1P, trying to use a function that I was sure I had mastered in the past with little difficulty.
For the record: 10.14.5, 1P 7.3, 1PX 1.15.2.
1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided
Comments
-
@camner: Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry for the confusion!
In 1Password for Mac, mini, and using the desktop extension in the browser, it's here:
In 1Password X, it's here:
And you can also make changes to the password and copy it right from the generator as well:
And 1Password never makes changes to an item in your vault without asking you first and you confirming it in a prompt.
I hope this helps. Be sure to let me know if you have any other questions! :)
0 -
Thanks for this question, @camner. And thanks for the good, detailed reply, @Brenty! I too could not figure out intuitively where to locate the password generator after the upgrade. Without this forum and this response, I'd have become quite disenchanted with 1PW.
But why hide such an important feature this way? I spent several minutes clicking around and finally created my own (lame) password just so I could continue doing what I was originally attempting to accomplish. And then I spent another 10-15 minutes searching around the 1PW support web pages and this forum before finally seeing this explanation. I don't think that I am that boneheaded as to be really unusual, so multiply the 30 minutes I wasted by thousands of 1PW users and consider the collective cost that this change has imposed on the universe!
0 -
@LeighW: I'm sorry for the confusion there. Glad that helped! We're not 100% sure about "+ New Password" either, so we're trying "+ Generate Password" in 1Password for Mac beta at the moment.
As far as "why"... Honestly, I think the former is better, in that a human who wants a new password could easily see that as the obvious solution. Most don't have any sense of what "generate" is...but it gets more complicated since many 1Password users -- like you -- are used to looking for "password generator".
While I'm glad you're so heavily invested in 1Password that you "speak our language", not everyone does. It's a tough thing to balance. We'll keep working on it. :)
0 -
Thanks for this response, Brenty. Moving forward while still bringing existing users (like me) along is tricky business! I certainly appreciate 1PW and will continue to enjoy using it. Please keep working on it!! ;)
0 -
I just wanted to add my two cents. I have use 1Password since the first version and this is the first time I have had to criticize something you have done. I hate the new password generator in 7.3! I just spent six minutes trying to generate a password per the requirements of the web site. It required a certain number of mixed case letters, a certain number of numbers, and a symbol from a small set of five which they allowed. What a royal pain! Please bring back the old functionality, at least make it an option.
0 -
I was changing my login password on franklintempleton.com
The password I had was not secure enough.0 -
@dfuerpo – Thanks for sharing the URL with us! I took a look myself, and the password requirements are as follows:
- 8-30 characters
- At least 2 numbers
- 2 letters
- one of special characters @#$%^&+=-,!_
The suggested password I was given in 1Password X is as follows:
I was able to get through using the above inline suggested password, and I didn't have the need to use the Password Generator in the 1Password X popup. I'm curious what wasn't working for you. Let us know!
0 -
It's possible that the first Suggested Password included only 1 number. But odds are much higher of getting more than that.
0 -
OK, I think I see why it was difficult for me. I was generating a 10 character password. It looks like if I had tried to generate a 20 character password, your algorithm would have given me more special characters. At least three of the passwords I got had a single period, which is not in the list of acceptable characters. I still like having it all under my control.
0 -
@dfuerpo: While I get the intellectual appeal of "control", that's the opposite of randomness, and makes for worse passwords. That sounds like you weren't even using the Suggested Password feature, which could have worked, and you were instead setting your own criteria in the password generator. If you got a
.you would of course needed to try again anyway, but that's not something we've changed; 1Password has always included that in its symbols list. But we're hoping to be able to make 1Password smarter in the future so it can avoid characters that aren't allowed if possible. Thanks for sharing this so we can use it as a test case! :)0 -
Thanks for the suggestions. 1Password is still the most useful program I use.
0 -
Likewise, thanks for the kind words, and your feedback! There's always room for improvement with software, and especially in 1Password's case as the landscape (websites, browsers, security in general) shifts around it we will continue to make adjustments. Cheers! :)
0 -
I have a related problem. When generating a new password for a site using 1pw mini in 1pw X, the generated password does not save into that 1PW Login. I have to manually go find the file and then enter it into the Login file. Before in earlier versions when you generated a new password for a site from from within the Login it would be saved into the file in 1PW.
I have been a 1PW user since 1Password version 10 -
@nonniem: When you use a password you created with the Password Generator in 1Password X, it saves it to "generator history" at the bottom there:
That way, you don't lose it if you forget to save it in a Login.
No version of 1Password ever saves Logins for you without your consent, so if you didn't save one, none will be saved. You can do that from the inline 1Password menu though:
I hope this helps. Be sure to let me know if you have any other questions! :)
0
