How do I efficiently maintain multiple computers and users with a 1Password Family account?
I've found dozens of messages in several threads, asking for a better way for an individual within a family to be able to get access to their 1Password Family account Private Vault, while logged into any of the accounts on any of the computers owned by the family. Many compelling reasons were offered by many different 1Password Family customers, explaining why it would be easier and better for the user and their family, for each member of the family, (or at least some family members), to be able to access their private vault from any account at any time, so that all members of the family could do their work and tasks with the greatest efficiency. However, among the many valid and diverse reasons for wanting this feature, I did not see anyone describe the use case that is most important to me, even though I know it to be a common scenario. I would like to add this need to the many that have already been described for the topic.
In my family, I am the IT person. In every family that I know well, one person takes the lead role in keeping all the computers running properly. She, he, they, or ri may have more interest, more skills, more time, or a personality that likes taking care of details. This person takes care of a significant percentage of the computer maintenance tasks on all computers and in all accounts, often including updating the OS, updating virus protection, running scans, installing new apps, updating apps, making backups, explaining and training at many levels, troubleshooting and searching for solutions to problems a different user is having, confirming that the backups are functional, and trying to figure out the current problem that one of the family members is having RIGHT NOW, at a point of crisis, time pressure, or extreme frustration on the part of that second family member.
This second person may not have kept certain important data, such as login names, passwords, serial numbers, authorization codes, or profile details; or may not remember where they put the needed data. Therefore, the family IT person needs to maintain their own record and archive of information for many members of the family. 1Password is a logical and effective place for the IT person to store this information for all family members.
All of this leads to frequent times, when the family IT person could help more quickly and more effectively, if that person could access all of their 1Password data easily and quickly from any account being used on any computer by any family member at a given moment.
In the threads discussing this need, 1Password staff members have expressed a range of responses from outright disdain: "It's not broken. We have no plans to make 1Password for Mac a multi-user app."; to (willful?) misunderstanding of the user needs: "I'm not sure we can justify rewriting our software to add a feature that the OS already supports" (several customers/users had already explained why the OS features do not solve their problem); to offering sympathy and hope: "We appreciate the feedback. It's understandable that switching OS profiles is not convenient for some users, and we will definitely take all this feedback into consideration when we make decisions on these features in the future."
Since these discussions and requests go back more than three and a half years, it looks like the staff member message expressing disdain may have been more accurate than the one offering hope. In fact, the longest thread that I found on this subject has been closed to further comments. This suggests that 1Password no longer wants to hear anything from its customers on this subject, but perhaps there is another explanation.
My question is about the current status of all of these similar customer requests. Is there a reason for hope that 1Password will help us meet our needs? Has there been a change in 1Password that isn't mentioned in these forum discussions? Or should we despair of any change in 1Password in this regard? Assuming the latter, what are the most effective work-arounds that you would suggest? In the other threads, I didn't see any practical advice, except 'stop using your computer in the way that you and your family members prefer'.
1Password Version: 7.8.7
Extension Version: I use Safari primarily
OS Version: macOS 11.5.2
Comments
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Is there a reason for hope that 1Password will help us meet our needs?
I am not aware of plans to make 1Password support multiple users at the moment, sorry.
Assuming the latter, what are the most effective work-arounds that you would suggest?
In my opinion, it's still the option to create a separate user account in the operating system, and installing 1Password there. If you are responsible for all of these devices and you are regularly using them, a separate user account just for you sounds useful. Would that work for you?
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Thanks for your response, ag_ana. It appears that you didn't read my message thoroughly. As I explained in detail in my previous message, multiple times, our family uses separate user accounts on each computer. Here is one of the shorter paragraphs, where I reference this aspect of the problem.
"All of this leads to frequent times, when the family IT person [me] could help more quickly and more effectively, if that person could access all of their 1Password data easily and quickly from any account being used on any computer by any family member at a given moment."
I put a lot of time and detail into my previous message, as AgileBits requests, with the hope of giving enough data to get a useful answer. In this, I have obviously failed. In your penultimate sentence above, you suggest that having "a separate user account just for you sounds useful." I already have a separate user account just for me on every computer in the house. I have more than one user account on some of the computers. However, this doesn't help with the problem that I described so carefully in my first message. As you know, each user account is well isolated by the OS from the other user accounts. When I am trying to help my wife, for example, with issues relating to her account, we, or I, will be logged into her account. The fact that I have a separate user account on the computer does me no good as long as I am working in her account. While I am working in her account, I need to access data that I store in my 1Password account. But the 1Password app doesn't allow me to access my 1Password data that is stored in another user account. Or if it does, please tell me how.
Even if I temporarily switch to my user account, I can't copy password data back and forth between two different user accounts. In this sense, the separate accounts make the task at hand harder, or at least no easier.
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