Recovering item modified while sync was not working
I modified an item in a vault 1Password for Teams account in the 1Password app on my Mac (changing the password). I noticed that this change did not sync to my iPhone or to 1Password.com. I'm not sure why that was the case but suspect it might have something to do with MFA requirements for the Teams account. The app didn't provide any feedback that there was an issue with the sync, and items in my 1Password for Families vaults were syncing fine.
In an attempt to debug this I tried signing out of the Teams account on my Mac and signing in again. I guess I should have had the foresight to export the vault first, because when I signed in again the local modification to that item in question was gone and had reverted to the previous version on 1Password.com. Sync is working now ...
Is there any way to recover that local modification? I believe it was just this one item, but frustrating nonetheless. If "Sign out..." has the potential for data loss it's a bit misleading, especially for those of us who've been using the product for many years prior to the introduction of 1Password.com.
1Password Version: 8.10.3
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 13.3
Browser:_ Not Provided
Referrer: forum-search:sync failed
Comments
-
Hi there @kocolosk
I'm not sure why that was the case but suspect it might have something to do with MFA requirements for the Teams account.
This is quite possible. If, for example, your 1Password Teams account requires Duo authentication and this had expired, your changed made while "offline" wouldn't sync to or from 1Password.com. Without knowing more about your specific setup, I couldn't say this for sure, however.
If "Sign out..." has the potential for data loss it's a bit misleading
When you click Sign Out, the confirmation prompt shows "Vaults associated with this account will no longer be accessible on this system." because the local copy of the data for that account is about to be removed. By definition, the local data will be lost, and only the data on 1Password.com will be authoritative. This is similar to how any changes you might make to your email inbox (while offline) would also be lost if you signed out on your computer.
Do you remember seeing a crossed-out cloud near the top-right corner of 1Password? This "offline indicator" would show you if there was a problem connecting to 1Password.com, or signing in to one or more of your 1Password accounts. Clicking it, or the banner that appears at the bottom of the window in those cases, would trigger 1Password to reauthenticate, and you'd be prompted to re-enter your account password or perform two-factor authentication again if necessary.
The offline indicator looks like this:
(The 🐞 icon will show as a ❓ if you're using the Production version of 1Password, rather than a Beta or Nightly like me.)
Let me know if that rings a bell and I'll be here to help.
— Grey
0 -
Hi Grey, I'm fairly certain I did not see an offline indicator, I recall seeing the "?" with the red "new notification" indicator next to the "New Item" button and clicking on it to see if it might have something useful to offer. I think I would have noticed the cloud indicator. Then again, I already had my suspicions that my vault was offline.
I do see the "Vaults associated with this account will no longer be accessible on this system." text on the confirmation prompt. I have to say, that doesn't sound like "we're deleting your local data", it just sounds like I won't be able to access the cloud copy of the vault in 1Password.com account.
This is similar to how any changes you might make to your email inbox (while offline) would also be lost if you signed out on your computer.
I'm not so sure about that analogy. I just tried it in macOS Mail. I disconnected from the internet, drafted a message, cleared a few messages from my inbox, then disabled the account altogether. Then I reconnected the internet, re-enabled the account, and my local changes (both to the IMAP inbox and my outgoing message) synced successfully. No data loss.
Lesson learned, I guess. I need to update my mental model of 1Password's data handling for the 1Password.com era. I will keep an eye out for the offline indicator the next time I need to reauthenticate with Duo -- if I don't see the offline indicator, is there anything I can collect to help debug that UI issue?
0 -
I'm fairly certain I did not see an offline indicator
Would that also mean that you don't recall seeing a banner along the bottom of the window? I'd be interested to learn more about what happened in this case if we can, although as you mentioned, sync is working correctly now.
I disconnected from the internet, drafted a message, cleared a few messages from my inbox, then disabled the account altogether. Then I reconnected the internet, re-enabled the account, and my local changes (both to the IMAP inbox and my outgoing message) synced successfully.
Disabling a mail account in macOS isn't quite the same as signing out completely. Signing out completely tells macOS "stop syncing, and remove my local data". Disabling the account tells macOS "pause syncing, and hide my local data from the Mail app". Your Mail.app database is still present, but is just not visible in the Mail app itself. That explains why your offline changes were synced when you re-enabled the account – syncing was essentially unpaused.
Under normal conditions (which I appreciate these weren't), a 1Password account is either signed in with all of your data visible*, or it's signed out and nothing is visible or stored on disk.
*If you have Travel Mode turned on, any vaults not marked Safe For Travel would be hidden.
We don't offer any sort of disabling functionality like you found in Mail, because of the uncertainty it can cause about whether the account's local data is still there or not. In the Mail example, you were expecting your Mail database to be gone because you couldn't see it in the Mail app, and yet, it was there all along but hidden. We want it to be very clear with your 1Password data: if you're signed in, it'll be visible in the app. Otherwise, it's gone from your device.
if I don't see the offline indicator, is there anything I can collect to help debug that UI issue?
In this case, 1Password got a bit stuck where the account was signed in, but the session wasn't authenticated with 1Password.com. If you find that situations like that arise, you can try locking 1Password (from the 🔽 menu at the top of the sidebar) and unlocking it again. Unlocking 1Password will trigger a sync attempt, so if 1Password tried to sync and found it needed two-factor authentication such as Duo to continue, you should be prompted for it then. If locking and unlocking didn't work, the next step would be to fully quit 1Password by right-clicking it in the menu bar and clicking Quit, then open and unlock it again. After that, we'd suggest restarting your computer. If there was still a problem by that point, it would usually be best if we help you out while the issue is happening, so that we can gather information and recommend next steps.
0 -
Would that also mean that you don't recall seeing a banner along the bottom of the window?
Correct, I don't recall seeing that either.
We want it to be very clear with your 1Password data: if you're signed in, it'll be visible in the app. Otherwise, it's gone from your device.
That's certainly a defensible position. I'm mostly grumpy that there wasn't more UI friction before undertaking a destructive action, especially since the app should be able to tell that there are local un-synced changes in the vault that will be lost when signing out. It does sound like the app is supposed to provide more feedback than I was getting, so that's good at least.
Thanks for the debugging steps, I'll pay close attention the next time this happens and reach out to support if it makes sense to do so.
Adam
0
