1Password X usability issues

paulwithonep

I didn't want to create multiple threads for each of these, and trying to search for some of them on here is difficult so I apologize if these have been posted before. But compared to LastPass, I'm having a really tough time recommending 1Password X to friends, family, and coworkers because of the usability issues. Note that I'm using the Firefox version. They include:

• When it prompts you to save a login, it doesn't give you the ability to edit or confirm the username. Often it ends up saving just a password with no username at all, so I have to always go search for the login to see if it saved correctly, find that it didn't, click edit, which opens up a new tab and you have to wait for it to load, etc. Not allowing me to confirm or modify the information when saving a login is by far the #1 thing that might cause me to switch back to LastPass. Also the prompt in LastPass is less intrusive, just tucked away in the top right corner.
• Speaking of editing, it's painful to edit in the web browser tab instead of directly in the extension. I know you have to do this with LastPass as well, but with them the editor loads right away. With 1Password, you have to wait on all the spinning bits to load. When editing a login, I don't need all of that stuff on the left. And on a large screen, the Save button being in the bottom right of the browser window is always hard to find, and with just a pale blue outline, it is hard to see and differentiate as well. The LastPass editor, while not as "pretty" and certainly not perfect, is much easier to use.
• In QuickBooks, if you are creating an invoice and click CC to carbon copy email someone, you can't get to that box easily because 1Password sign in drop-down pops up when the CC email box focuses, which causes the dialog to close. This was not a problem for me in LastPass. The annoying workaround is to quickly type a character after clicking CC, so that you beat 1Password in the race to control of the text box, which still closes the dialog, but when you open it again it stays open.
• When clicking New Login in the extension, it opens up an editor tab but it doesn't fill in the URL of the page you're on to the Website field. So you have to either remember to copy that first, or switch tabs back and copy the URL. LastPass fills in the URL, name, and even assumed category. Also when LastPass confirms your username to save a login, it gives you an autocomplete based on username/emails you've used in the past. That would be helpful on the editor to not have to type that out in full over and over again.
• Many times, there will be overlapping drop-downs on input fields, one from Firefox and the other from 1Password. Worse, they conflict with each other, like if you press the down key it closes or one takes over the other, or you can't select the option you want. I don't really want to disable Firefox autofill to work around this problem.
• This is a problem in LastPass as well, but it is very annoying to have to type in my long and secure master password every time it auto-locks. Windows Hello support like in the desktop app, or at least the option of having a secure PIN, would be far preferable. I know I can disable the auto-lock but this would be a good nice-to-have for usability and security.

I really hope you guys can work on fixing these serious usability issues. Even though 1Password looks nice, it is definitely harder to use.

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1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: 1.15.2 for Firefox
OS Version: Windows 10
Sync Type: Not Provided

cecelia

Hey @paulwithonep! Thank you so much for taking the time to share all this fantastic feedback with us. Your enthusiasm for a better 1Password is genuinely appreciated. I’d like to make sure I don’t miss anything, so I’ll reply to each issue one at a time. I apologize in advance for the super long post.

When it prompts you to save a Login, it doesn’t give you the ability to edit or confirm the username.

This is true since when using 1Password X, unless you Autofill a password from the Password Generator, you get to choose when 1Password X offers to save a Login by selecting the option from within the inline menu. That being said, I’m not sure what our developers’ stance is on that feature, so I’ve gone ahead and filed a feature request with them so we’ll see where that takes us! :)

ref: x/b5x-1306

Often it ends up saving just a password with no username at all.

Filling and saving are my favorite parts of 1Password and I’m very passionate about doing my part to make sure it works. What you’ve described is certainly not intended behavior and I can totally understand why that obstruction to your workflow would be so frustrating. If you’re comfortable sharing any sites you’ve experienced this on I’d love to test them out and file an issue with my team so we can get to work on a fix right away.

Speaking of editing, it’s painful to edit in the web browser tab instead of directly in the extension.

I’m really glad you brought this up. Just a couple months ago we released a new feature on macOS to be tested in the 1Password X beta for Chrome; It’s called Desktop App Integration. Desktop App Integration allows 1Password X to connect with the 1Password desktop app, leveraging it for its locking and unlocking capabilities, item editing features and more. This means while using Desktop App Integration, not only will the desktop app and 1Password X lock and unlock each other, but also clicking the “Edit” button in 1Password X results in a 1Password Mini modal opening up with full item editing capabilities (instead of having to edit on 1Password.com in a new web page). The team is working hard to tune Desktop App Integration up for use in Firefox, Windows, and the stable 1Password X builds. If this is something you’re interested in learning more about it, the following 1Password Forum post by my buddy Mitch explains how it works - 1Password Discussion Forum : Desktop App Integration - Please stay tuned for Desktop App Integration on Windows and in Firefox; It’s worth it. :)

And on a large screen, the Save button being in the bottom right of the browser window is always hard to find

I can see that. I almost exclusively work on a laptop and the Save button isn't too out of the way for me, so I'd love to know where you believe a more convenient place for the Save button would be while using a large screen so I can file an issue with the 1Password.com team to see if we can get that Save button in a better place for everyone. :)

In QuickBooks, if you are creating an invoice and click CC to carbon copy email someone, you can’t get to that box easily because 1Password sign in drop-down pops up when the CC email box focuses, which causes the dialog to close.

I’m sorry to hear you ran into trouble with the inline menu being intrusive here. I just dug around trying to test this on the Quickbooks site and wasn’t able to find a CC button when creating an invoice. Can you send over steps to reproduce this so I can file an issue with my team?

When clicking New Login in the extension, it opens up an editor tab but it doesn’t fill in the URL of the page you’re on to the Website field. So you have to either remember to copy that first, or switch tabs back and copy the URL.

I know this isn’t always the case but normally if you’re on the site already, the quickest and safest way to make sure all the necessary data for future filling makes it into your Login item is by saving the Login from the inline menu. I might be overly paranoid here, but from where I’m standing, the URL for the website you’re on making it into a Login created by clicking the New Login button in the popup seems presumptuous and potentially dangerous in some circumstances. I’d love to pick our developers’ brains on this one. Can you let me know what workflow/websites might require you to use the New Login button instead of saving a new Login from the inline menu so I can forward the information to them?

Many times, there will be overlapping drop-downs on input fields, one from Firefox and the other from 1Password. […] I don’t really want to disable Firefox autofill to work around this problem.

1Password is indeed a selfish app and having any other password managers enabled in your browser will interfere with 1Password and likely vice versa. To be candid, I’m not personally fond of Firefox’s (or any browser's) autofill features because the data you save using that feature is unencrypted and they do employ automatic autofill (instantaneously filling your credentials when you navigate to a site you have passwords stored for) once you’ve allowed it to autofill a field once. For those reasons I adamantly recommend switching off Firefox autofill as it is dangerous and is actively exploited using malicious attacks like sweep attacks. "The malicious form could be designed to reload itself spoofing a different password each time. So that is, a single malicious injection point could trick your automatically auto-filling password manager into giving up your passwords for many different sites. David Silver referred to these as "sweep attacks", and that is what it appears that these advert trackers are doing." - Quoted from this blog post written by our very own security master Jeffrey Goldberg

Instead, 1Password uses manual autofill (invoking the autofill with a keyboard shortcut or push of the “Go” or “Autofill” button) rather than automatic autofill for one very important reason — To preserve your security. 1Password using manual autofill allows something we call execute fill script to perform some checks before filling to make sure the website is safe and hasn’t been compromised as well as make sure everything on the page and in the sign in form matches what was on it when we saved the Login item.

We’ve been asked about built in browser password managers and automatic autofill quite a few times over the past few years and have some more extensive answers. Here’s one if you’re interested in learning more about the history of 1Password and autofill : - Quora - 1Password autofill -

Windows Hello support like in the desktop app, or at least the option of having a secure PIN, would be far preferable.

My thoughts here circle back to Desktop App Integration. Our developers are currently working to bring Desktop App Integration to Windows, but we’re not there just yet. In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to not need to unlock as frequently:

Keep your browser open – closing Firefox doesn’t technically result in 1Password X locking, but the next time you open your browser 1Password X will be locked due to it being reinitialized.

Increase your auto-lock time – 1Password X by default locks after your system has been locked for 10 minutes. However, you can increase this time from the 1Password X settings page.

Disable “Lock when device goes to sleep” – This setting will lock 1Password X often, for example, if you use a laptop and your device goes to sleep when you close the lid.

As I previously mentioned, we are currently working to bring Windows Hello support to 1Password X. We’ve wanted this feature for quite a while, but we weren’t willing to add it until we could do so in a well designed and secure way. Desktop App Integration has gone really well so far for macOS, so Windows shouldn’t be far behind.

I hope this was helpful and I'm sorry again for the long winded response. Please let me know if you'd like any clarification on any of these topics or if I missed something. :)

paulwithonep

Thanks for the detailed response! It certainly is encouraging to see that.

As for the sites that save a password with no username, I know it at least happens on sites where you're creating an account, you get an email confirmation link, and from that confirmation link you have to input your new password. I think it doesn't save the username in this case because the username is not part of the form, which is fine. I just want the ability to type it into 1Password X before it saves.

Desktop app integration sounds awesome, can't wait for that!

For the save button on large screens, LastPass solves this by putting the form in a smaller panel so it doesn't take up the whole vertical height of the browser window. Also making the save button more prominently colored than a white background and pale blue outline would probably make it easier to see.

As for the New Login question, sometimes the 1Password X prompt doesn't fire. I've seen this happen on shopping carts where it asks you to put in a password to create a new account while checking out. I accept that no password manager plugin will get to 100% perfect usability here of popping up exactly when needed on every site, so being able to create a new login for the current site you're on (i.e. if you have a generated password in your clipboard) is very handy in LastPass.

Thanks for the info on Firefox autofill, I'll disable it and see how it goes.

As for Quickbooks Online, here's the steps to reproduce (Firefox):
1. Make sure 1Password X is unlocked, and has logins saved for Quickbooks
2. Go to Sales / Invoices / New invoice
3. Under Customer Email, type in something (aside: it's also annoying that 1Password X pops up here, I'm fine with having to click the icon if needed)
4. Below that field, click Cc/Bcc
5. The Cc/Bcc dialog appears, 1Password X pops up on the CC field, then the dialog closes leaving the 1Password X prompt open. The only way to get around this is to quickly type a key into the CC field after clicking the Cc/Bcc link.

kaitlyn

@paulwithonep – Absolutely! This is exactly what we're here for, and it really does mean a lot that you'd take the time to share your feedback with us. I'll do the same as Cecelia and reply to everything in line to make sure nothing gets missed. :)

As for the sites that save a password with no username, I know it at least happens on sites where you're creating an account, you get an email confirmation link, and from that confirmation link you have to input your new password. I think it doesn't save the username in this case because the username is not part of the form, which is fine. I just want the ability to type it into 1Password X before it saves.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I've also seen the same thing happen in the rare case that I've saved a Login on a password change form, since often times, the username isn't a part of that form. It sounds like you understand that part, but you're not the first one to request the ability to include a username if one isn't saved automatically. As Cecelia mentioned, she's passed it along to the rest of the team as well.

ref: x/b5x#708

Desktop app integration sounds awesome, can't wait for that!

Awesome is a perfect word for it. I can't wait for it to come to Windows either!

For the save button on large screens, LastPass solves this by putting the form in a smaller panel so it doesn't take up the whole vertical height of the browser window. Also making the save button more prominently colored than a white background and pale blue outline would probably make it easier to see.

I second what Cecelia said, but I do see where you're coming from. Thank you for sharing your use case with us so we can consider it when building future versions of the 1Password web app.

As for the New Login question, sometimes the 1Password X prompt doesn't fire. I've seen this happen on shopping carts where it asks you to put in a password to create a new account while checking out. I accept that no password manager plugin will get to 100% perfect usability here of popping up exactly when needed on every site, so being able to create a new login for the current site you're on (i.e. if you have a generated password in your clipboard) is very handy in LastPass.

When filling the Suggested Password in the inline menu, 1Password X should always prompt to save (or update) a Login. If you happen to have a website where you noticed this wasn't working as expected, please do let me know so I can get it reported to our developers. That's definitely something we'd want to know about.

Thanks for the info on Firefox autofill, I'll disable it and see how it goes.

Sweet – let us know how it goes!

As for Quickbooks Online, here's the steps to reproduce (Firefox):
1. Make sure 1Password X is unlocked, and has logins saved for Quickbooks
2. Go to Sales / Invoices / New invoice
3. Under Customer Email, type in something (aside: it's also annoying that 1Password X pops up here, I'm fine with having to click the icon if needed)
4. Below that field, click Cc/Bcc
5. The Cc/Bcc dialog appears, 1Password X pops up on the CC field, then the dialog closes leaving the 1Password X prompt open. The only way to get around this is to quickly type a key into the CC field after clicking the Cc/Bcc link.

Thanks so much for pointing this out. I was able to create a Quickbooks Online free trial and reproduce the issue you're seeing. I've got it reported to our developers, so they're aware of it now. I really appreciate you supplying the exact steps to reproduce – that helped me out quite a bit!

ref: xplatform/filling-issues#585

[Deleted User]

"Desktop App Integration"

Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

<3

kaitlyn

@smnstrk – You're so welcome! I passed the message along to the rest of the team as well. :) We're stoked to have brought this to 1Password for Mac/1Password X, and we're looking forward to what the future holds.