macOS Application/Extension Clarification (& possible Quick Access bug)

bspachman

Hi there--

I'm slowly starting my migration to 1P v8. I tried a few of the early versions, but the experience was not refined yet (compared to what my family has been used to with 1P7 and earlier versions).

However, OTPs and Passkeys are the coming wave, and since I still need to manage the passwords for all family members, upgrading to 1P8 will eventually become necessary :-)

A few questions--macOS related (my iOS questions are in the other forum):

• It looks like 1P Mini (the menu bar app) is dead, right? Is there any compelling reason to keep the 1P menubar item in the menu bar?
• Confirming that in order to use the old standard CMD-\ for autofilling passwords in various browsers (I rotate between Safari, Brave, Orion, and Arc) that the proper extension still needs to be installed on each browser? The main app doesn't really have anything to do with this, right?
• Confirming that at least the Safari macOS extension gets installed in my 'Applications' folder?

...and a possible bug (or I'm misunderstanding the expected behavior):

• Activate the Quick Access window/dialog
• Search for a piece of 1P data (I tried using just a regular password)
• CMD-Shift-O, or accessing through the sub-menu (right arrow, then 'Open in 1P') only opens that item in 1P if the 1P application window is already open.
• If the 1P application window isn't open, then the command simply opens 1P and puts the focus in the search bar.

Thanks in advance for answers and advice!
brad

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1Password Version: 8.10.16
Extension Version: 2.15.1
OS Version: macOS 14.0
Browser: Safari, Brave, Orion, Arc

Dave_1P

Hello @bspachman! 👋

Thank you for the questions! I'm excited to hear that you're migrating to 1Password 8, I'll respond to your questions below:

It looks like 1P Mini (the menu bar app) is dead, right? Is there any compelling reason to keep the 1P menubar item in the menu bar?

I recommend that you leave the menu bar icon turned on since it allows 1Password to continue running in the background so that you have access to features like Quick Access, Universal AutoFill, and integration to the browser extension even if 1Password's main window is closed.

Confirming that in order to use the old standard CMD-\ for autofilling passwords in various browsers (I rotate between Safari, Brave, Orion, and Arc) that the proper extension still needs to be installed on each browser? The main app doesn't really have anything to do with this, right?

Installing 1Password into each browser will give you the best experience when it comes to saving and filling both passwords and passkeys in each browser. You can find the modern extension here: Get 1Password for your browser

However, you can also fill passwords into browsers (and other Mac apps) that don't have the extension installed by using 1Password's Universal Autofill feature: Use Universal Autofill in apps and browsers on your Mac

Confirming that at least the Safari macOS extension gets installed in my 'Applications' folder?

Yes, 1Password for Safari is a modern Safari Web Extension and you'll see it in your Applications folder after installing it.

If the 1P application window isn't open, then the command simply opens 1P and puts the focus in the search bar.

I'm sorry that you're running into an issue where the correct item isn't opening from Quick Access. Our developers are aware of the issue and are investigating, I've added your report to the internal work item open for the issue.

Let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂

-Dave

ref: dev/core/core#24165

bspachman

Dave, thanks for the quick turn-around and answers. Some follow-ups...

It looks like 1P Mini (the menu bar app) is dead, right? Is there any compelling reason to keep the 1P menubar item in the menu bar?

I recommend that you leave the menu bar icon turned on since it allows 1Password to continue running in the background so that you have access to features like Quick Access, Universal AutoFill, and integration to the browser extension even if 1Password's main window is closed.

Understood. I'll never use the menu bar icon now that 1P Mini is gone (RIP), so that's what utilities like Bartender are for :-)

Confirming that in order to use the old standard CMD-\ for autofilling passwords in various browsers (I rotate between Safari, Brave, Orion, and Arc) that the proper extension still needs to be installed on each browser? The main app doesn't really have anything to do with this, right?

Installing 1Password into each browser will give you the best experience when it comes to saving and filling both passwords and passkeys in each browser. You can find the modern extension here: Get 1Password for your browser. However, you can also fill passwords into browsers (and other Mac apps) that don't have the extension installed by using 1Password's Universal Autofill feature: Use Universal Autofill in apps and browsers on your Mac

I think you've muddied the waters a bit for me here. After carefully reading the "Use Universal Autofill" page you linked to, it seems like I DON'T need the browser extension(s) installed in order to use 1P--CMD-\ will work as it always has.

So...what are the browser extension(s) for? Is there a table with feature comparisons between the extension and Universal AutoFill? I'm not entirely clear what you mean when you say that the browser extensions give you 'the best experience'. It feels like 2 ways of accomplishing the same thing to me.

Perhaps I'm fighting decades of 1P experience--I'm not certain if I was a v1 user, but I certainly found notes in my archives that I started using 1P no later than 2009--maybe v2? :-)

Thanks for your insight!
brad

Dave_1P

@bspachman

Thanks for the reply. You can definitely use Universal Autofill's Command-Backslash shortcut to fill usernames and passwords into websites even if you don't have a browser extension installed.

The browser extension is needed for other things like filling credit cards, addresses, passkeys, etc... You can also use the browser extension to save new logins or update existing logins with strong and smart passwords suggested by the extension. The following article gives an overview of the features included with the browser extension: Get to know 1Password in your browser

-Dave

bspachman

Dave--

That's great, thank you! As I shift my mental model, I'll start by mapping the current state of the browser extension(s) to what 1P Mini used to do. I do tend to abhor the visual clutter of the 1P icon showing up in form fields, so thanks to the team for making that something I can turn off (I think I found that setting in the browser extension settings instead of in the 1P application settings).

One final question--if I'm happy using browser extension(s) and connecting them to the main application, do I really need the Universal AutoFill setup? Won't CMD-\ work solely with the browser extension? Similar to my iOS question in the other thread, what is Universal AutoFill bringing to the party that the extension(s) do not?

Onwards with the learning!

Dave_1P

@bspachman

Thanks for the reply. Universal Autofill allows you to fill into other Mac apps, not just browsers where the extension is already installed. For example, you can fill your password into the following places:

• macOS system prompts so that you don't need to type your Mac's admin password.
• Terminal.
• Mac apps like Zoom and Office and more.

Our article on Universal Autofill has a great overview of the features available: Use Universal Autofill in apps and browsers on your Mac

-Dave

bspachman

Yep--great refresher! Thank you!

Dave_1P

It's my pleasure. 🙂

-Dave