Why 1Password mini needs serious work.

Jedis
Jedis
Community Member
edited March 2020 in 1Password 7 for Windows

Hello,

Let me prefix this post by saying I've been a long-time user of 1Password, going back to version 4. I recently took the plunge and updated to the latest version, after the browser extension stopped working. My frustrations began shortly after updating. I can only guess that no one actually uses Mini, and I'm overlooking something simple to disable or turn it off as being the default.

The app is not intuitive to use. I work with user experience flows pretty regularly with my job, so while I am offering some critical feedback, I'm also offering some suggestions on how to improve the experience.

  1. The "hamburger menu" doesn't do anything. You can click it once, twice, or many times, and it does not bring up any sort of menu like you'd expect. You can click on it and hold to drag the window around, but this works from mostly anywhere on the popup. I can only assume that it's just serving some aesthetic purpose. It should be given a purpose or removed altogether.

  2. The icons in the menu are not obvious in their function. I spent around 10 minutes trying to figure out what each icon was showing me on the right side. Hoping for a tooltip to show. Finally, I realized that you have to hover precisely on the icon itself, and not any of the square underlay highlight to get the tooltip to show.

  3. There is no obvious way to add a new credential via the mini app. I left and right clicked on everything I could find with no luck. I searched for something to ensure it wasn't already there, and it just shows a "no items" message. I suggest a link or button to click to add a new item, even if it does just spawn the main 1Password window.

  4. This. one. drove. me. nuts. I got all the way through typing everything above, when I was clicking around to document the annoyances with the app. I clicked on a credential to open it, and instead of opening it into a new window/tab, it opened it in this way, navigating away to another site and autofilled the credentials and logged me in. This wasn't the worse thing, until I realized that going back in my browser had completely wiped out this post and I had to start over. I didn't follow my own personal rule to copy the text in a textbox to the clipboard on anything that takes longer than a minute to type up. I seriously debated not posting again at that point, but the deficiencies of mini are so great, and I want to see them fixed, so here I am.

  5. Copying a username or password to the clipboard. Why do I have to navigate through two context menus to get to the copy option? What purpose does it serve to have another layer, when both of those only show the one "Copy" option? There's some random "Type in window" text that appears below the Copy option, however, I have no idea what it's trying to do there or where that text is coming from? Further examination shows that it's trying to let you send data to another open application, but I'm unsure why I would want to send my password to the Network and Sharing Center window, when sending it to the clipboard lets me put it anywhere.

  6. There's a maximize button on the title bar, but it doesn't appear to do anything. Probably rightfully so, but if clicking it doesn't serve any purpose, it should be removed.

  7. Allow us to change the default behavior of double clicking the tray icon. I'd like it to open 1Password (not mini) by default, but I can't find a way to do that.

  8. A login/password I added from a website tonight via the browser extension shows in the main 1Password application under "All items", however, when searching "All items" in mini, the credential is not found. I can only assume that some sort of sync needs to happen, or mini not refresh in real time.

I hope some of the developers read this feedback and find it useful. My intentions are to help improve the app for others, so they don't experience the frustrations that I've run into tonight.

Thanks,
Tom


1Password Version: 7.4.753
Extension Version: 4.7.5.90
OS Version: Win10
Sync Type: Dropbox

Comments

  • I hope you'll forgive me for not delving into a ton of detail on some of these points, @Jedis. It's not that we don't appreciate the feedback (we do), but that you're preaching to the choir here. Mini has needed a redesign for a while, but we've spent much of our time since 1Password 6 playing keep up and catch up and are only just getting to a point where we can start tackling some larger projects like giving mini a makeover. With that said, I can actually help with a few of these things so hopefully that's a plus for the moment. :+1:

    I clicked on a credential to open it, and instead of opening it into a new window/tab, it opened it in this way

    That's "go and fill" and while the default is to open in the current tab, you can swap it to new tab:

    1. Open mini.
    2. Click the icon at the very bottom (settings)
    3. Hover over "open Logins in .." and select "New tab".

    Copying a username or password to the clipboard. Why do I have to navigate through two context menus to get to the copy option?

    You don't. There's a little copy icon next to any copyable field when you hover over it in the context menu. It's in the submenu too since Type in Window is there and the icon can (obviously) get overlooked, but it's ultimately a bit redundant. You can also tab to select an item, press Ctrl + Shift + C to use the quick copy menu and copy either username or password, depending on your selection.

    A brief note on type in window is that it is meant for signing into apps rather than browsers where 1Password isn't able to fill like it normally does. Some folks strongly dislike the clipboard (and not without reason, even if the clipboard doesn't bother me specifically) so this gives them an option when needed. We've since implemented drag to type which is the better option here 9 times out of 10, but there are still places that can't work (like in certain VMs) where type in window does, and so it lives to fight another day.

    There's a maximize button on the title bar, but it doesn't appear to do anything. Probably rightfully so, but if clicking it doesn't serve any purpose, it should be removed.

    Yes, it should, but I don't believe we can get rid of it at the moment. We originally had a custom titlebar for 1Password and mini was definitely a bit part of that decision. It made sure mini didn't have title bar because the reality is that none of those buttons do anything that isn't better accomplished by just clicking outside mini or pressing Esc. The custom title bar was sadly trouble, so we had to go back to Windows default title bar which I'm almost certain means we're just stuck with what we get. That said, rumor has it we'll get some goodies for improving that in the hopefully not-too-distant future so fingers crossed. And, of course, I'll double check I'm right that we aren't able to make any changes. I don't think we can, but I have a nagging sense of doubt so I don't want to be too emphatic.

    Oh and incidentally, I strongly suspect that the custom (lack of) title bar was the reason for the hamburger menu. It was the only drag point at one time, if I'm remembering correctly, and is now something of a relic. That might be easy enough to get rid of if I'm right so I'll at least ask. No harm there and at least it's one thing off your list if I am.

    I'd like it to open 1Password (not mini) by default, but I can't find a way to do that.

    I can't give you double-click (yet), but Ctrl + click and Ctrl + Shift + \ will both open the main app.

    A login/password I added from a website tonight via the browser extension shows in the main 1Password application under "All items", however, when searching "All items" in mini, the credential is not found.

    This is actually a normal, run of the mill issue and nothing to do with design. There is no "sync" between the main app and mini. The entire mini UI is wholly rendered by the main app and they pull from the same database. If the main app has it, mini (can) have it. Two things to check:

    1. Make sure the vault this item is in is selected in mini OR that you've got All Vaults selected AND the vault it's in is included in All Vaults. All Vaults settings are found in 1Password > Settings > Vaults.
    2. Make sure the item itself is not set to "never display in browser". Edit the item in the main app, scroll down to "display" make sure that option isn't checked. Uncheck it if it is, save, make sure it's now in mini.

    Chances are the above will get it to pop up, but let me know if it's still stubbornly absent.

    So, some final thoughts. Mini needs work. We know it does. If you've ever taken a gander at 1Password for Mac's mini or 1Password X you'll notice they are a ton different and don't suffer from many of the issues you noted. These are more representative of the direction mini is headed and we hope to see Windows using a similar mini down the road. We've just polished off our first larger project with the 7.4 release and many of its major performance improvements that were desperately needed which means we're onto the next as soon as we squash some lingering issues with this latest release. Will that next big thing be mini? I don't know. We try not to commit to any specific timing on future development, particularly with bigger projects like mini. But, it is and has been on the list and we will get there.

This discussion has been closed.