Is it possible to sync 1 database between 2 users?

pugmum

I'm thinking of migrating over to 1Password as our previous password app is no longer supported (Wallet). Before I make the move, I want to get clarification on whether it will be a good solution for my husband and I. I am flexible about backing up either to DropBox or iCloud, however I want to make sure that I'll be able to do so with my husband as well in the same manner as we do with Wallet... I have a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, as does he. Every time we make an entry/edit in any of the four devices, we run a sync right after (to MY DropBox account) & everything has been great and stays synced up. But, from what I gather, syncing to DropBox using 1Password would utilize the DropBox app to which I am signed in on MY computer & my husband would use the DropBox account signed in on HIS. Similarly, I'm always signed in on my iCloud account as is he on his iCloud account. Will he be able to sync to MY iCloud or DropBox account to make this work? We want to continue sharing 1 database.

thightower

@pugmum

We, (wife and I) sync our keychain between us. We use the same Dropbox account but you could easily use separate accounts if thats how you have things setup. Via a Dropbox shared folder between your accounts.

We have been sharing a database thru Dropbox since 2009 this way. Though at an earlier time we were using the shared folder and we each had separate Dropbox accounts.

Its not necessary to run a sync immediately after you change something on his end or your end. Dropbox will sync the changes you make almost instantly. Generally all I have to do is look in my list and the entry the wife just made is already appearing. This is on the Macs

The iPhone and iPads we have sync thru the Dropbox (API) if we make a change it updates in the background. It will appear on the Macs. If the other opens a iPhone or iPad a sync will immediately start and it may take a few moments to a few minutes for the new items to appear. I say minutes as the speed really depends on if you are on wifi, LTE, 3G, 2G etc

I think you guys will really love Dropbox syncing.

If you need help setting it up please do let us know. The staff can assist, or myself and various members of the forums can assist as well.

1Password offers a free trial for the Mac app 30 Days.

I suggest you download it to both Macs etc and setup Dropbox syncing and try it before you commit to make sure for yourself it fulfills your needs.

Getting things setup is generally not difficult but sometimes people run into issue's feel free to ask if you need any help.

pugmum

Thanks so much, @thightower . Super helpful. I am in day two of my trial and will continue playing around with things. I really appreciate your speedy response!

Rapidisimo

You can also share a vault now and things are synced between that vault.

pugmum

@thightower , do you ever have problems with syncing. I LOVE the app and have now purchased the computer app from Apple's App store, as well as purchasing the app for our iPhones. I just can't seem to get reliable syncs all of the time. Sometimes I even get a warning message on my iphone, have to uncheck Dropbox sync and then set it up again.

To simplify things, I have both my computer and my husband's computer linked to the same Dropbox account. I'm not sure what else to try to get things working properly but it's definitely not working properly. I made a new subfolder on my iPhone that's not showing up on my Mac and my mac says there are 79 items while my iPhone says it only has 78. It's making me more and more nervous as I continue investing additional time entering all of my data. (I didn't want to import from my old app as I want to do things in an organized way and make sure I'm using the correct categories for each, etc.)

thightower

@pugmum,

Ok lets get things sorted out here :D

Are you having any issues syncing on the Macs ? I hope not as they usually are the least prone to issue in my experience. By your description sounds as if the issue is iOS related.

So if you have the Macs syncing properly then we can rule them out as a possible issue. While focusing on the iOS devices.

So, if you are running the current version of iOS (4.3) there have been reported several issue with syncing and a bug fix is on the horizon. Those bugs affect the syncing of Dropbox and or iCloud. One fix that seems to allow a complete sync is a complete restart of the iOS device. Though not practical it could help if you absolutely needed a sync.

Once we get the initial sync competed things will go much easier etc.

Do also note that some times Dropbox sync throws the warning exclamation point due to 1 part of the sync must finish before the other can be used. Sometimes Dropbox seems to try and send everything and 1Password is like nope. Well grab it again on the next go round.

As to the item counts the folder is the issue from my understanding. (I don't use them) But anyway the folder is counted an item

The Mac App Store version of 1Password from my understanding needs the keychain in Dropbox but it must be in the specified location. The keychain must be in the Dropbox folder and inside that folder you would need another folder called 1Password, and in that folder you would place your keychain.

I like visuals better so here it is :)

edit as to the item count I am going to assume its due to the bug in the iOS app at the moment. Probably the sync is stopped or hung.

I just restarted my iOS v 4.3 app and my sync went up about 20 items so I would also guess you would experience the same thing. If you did a restart.

I will tell you a little story way back when I came from a Windows environment and using Roboform. I came to 1Password and the import went ok but the first time I tried Dropbox syncing I was like no way in hell. blah blah blah. I put it down for a couple days did some research here in the forums, Its since that time I have never left and continue here to this day. Anyway I picked it back up and learned a lot of things and most of the issues I hard headedly brought on myself. 1Password has gotten much better and more user friendly since the early days of syncing.

What I am getting at is don't give up we will get you sorted. Its easy to get discouraged but once you get familiar and you get things setup. Your like I wouldn't do without it anymore.

Since my early days with 1Password , I have became a moderator at Dropbox as well as here. I do this for fun because I love the product, both here and at Dropbox.

pugmum

You are awesome, @thightower. Thanks for your help. (Cute dog, too!)

Yes, I do have the keychain in the right spot. Thanks for the helpful pic

My husband had his computer with him at work all day so only now am I able to have all four devices in front of me, and to my surprise, the one that seems to be giving me trouble is my MacBook Pro. His iPhone, my iPhone and his MacBook Pro all seem to be synced up, from what I can see.

Here's a little experiment I just did...

1) Made a folder on husband's (S) computer called "Folder made on S computer"; showed up almost immediately on my iPhone and on his iPhone;
2) Made a folder on my (B) iPhone called "folder made on B phone"; took about 30 seconds and then it showed up on husband's iPhone but after a good minute and a half, still hasn't shown up on either laptop;
3) Made a folder on husband's iPhone called "folder made on S iPhone"; showed up within ten secs on my iPhone. After a good minute, still haven't seen it show up on either computer
4) Made a folder on my laptop called "folder made on B computer"; after a good minute, hasn't shown up anywhere else.

Several minutes later, nothing has changed so, in summary...
• on husband's laptop I see:
-folder made on S computer (as that's where I created it)

• on my laptop I see:
-folder made on B computer (as that's where I created it)

•on husband's iPhone I see:
-folder made on S iPhone (as that's where I created it)
-folder made on B iPhone
-folder made on S computer

•on my iphone, I see:
-folder made on S iPhone
-folder made on B iPhone (as that's where I created it)
-folder made on S computer

So, if I create something on either iphone, it seems to go to the other iPhone and to my husband's computer. If I create something on my husband's computer, it goes to both iPhones but not my computer. If I create something on my computer, it goes nowhere else.

Does this help?

thightower

@pugmum Do you have multiple Vaults set up or just one primary ? Is he using a Mac also ?

Edit: If both are on a Mac are both of you on 1Password v4? Also are you or more correctly did you try v3 before updating to v4 if thats the case.

Do you have the preferences on both computers setup to sync to the same location ? Whats the last sync time on your Mac specifically ?

thightower

@pugmum

I will assume both of your computers are connected to wifi through out the day. i.e No huge file transfers or anything like that which could slow Dropbox down. Not usually an issue with 1Password but I have seen it take some time to catch up.

Also this here is related to Dropbox specifically are you by chance on 10.7.5 ? In my times in their forums 10.7.5 has the most issues with syncing or I should say the most odd ball issues from time to time. I have never seen those relate to 1Password just curious mainly.

pugmum

@thightower
-one primary vault only
-yup, he's on a mac too; both running 10.8.5 (just debating this morning about whether I should go to Mavericks but haven't yet)
-started with V4 of 1Password on our MacBook Pros in demo mode, then purchased and installed via the App store
-I have both of our computers' Dropbox apps linked to the same Dropbox account which was a bit of a drag… had to unlink him from his own Dropbox account which he was using to backup our accounting software. While I did briefly investigate the prospect of one Mac linking to two different Dropbox accounts at the same time, it looked a bit complicated so I didn't want to 'go there'. I'll just start backing up his accounting software to my Dropbox from herein
-when I check in preferences on my laptop, it tells me my last sync was 12 seconds ago, yet all of those files that are on all three other devices still aren't showing up on it :-(
-yup; we are all connected throughout the day. On my iPhone I usually stay off wifi but am always connected by 3G or 4G; on our computers we always have access to the Internet either by wifi or ethernet

pugmum

I just decided to "change syncing" on my mac (without clearing the dropbox). when I set it up again, my Mac was up to date. Made a new file on it which immediately showed up on my iPhone; made a new file on my iPhone which immediately showed up on my mac. Good news if it continues but a) I did have it all working before with 4 devices before things went awry; and b) I don't know what's doing on my husband's devices as he's got them with him at work now. Time will tell…

Do you think I'm risking things updating to Mavericks?

thightower

@pugmum

Just got in from work, let me look over what you wrote.

LOL, I think or rather hope you will be pleasantly surprised that alls ok.

Re Mavericks. I think you will like it I have been running it ever since they first seeded it to the Developers, I had some issues along the way which is expected. However I ran every single one of the betas from 1Password on Mavericks. I never had any issues other than normal things with a new beta app. Probably more correctly is that, I never had an reason to think it wouldn't work with 1Password from day one. I was sure going to put my 2¢ into making it work asap. :P

I have a few backup process to make sure I don't loose data. That being said always have more than one source of data backups. I use CrashPlan in addition to CarbonCopyCloner I have on occasion used Time Machine. I do keep 95% of my data in Dropbox but remember its a syncing tool and not really designed as a true backup service.

I think you will like Mavericks. I sure do and some of the enhancements seem to be a really good thing for some older machine's and even my newer 2012 Mac. I know I will be updating every Mac that I admin for friends and family. In addition to those of my immediate family.

I don't know your level of desire for change but for me if I were a normal average every day user. I would wait about 1 month before updating. Why ? Just in case there are those occasional bugs that manage to slip through. Especially true if you will be updating in place. I will be doing a clean install this evening or tomorrow. As thats always a good idea IMHO after running so many betas of Mavericks.
Countless people have already updated, so I am sure if there are issue it wouldn't be long before they are seen.

But a straight answer I do thing its a good thing to update. But as always its your personal preference.

ps..Thanks Ill tell winter you like his picture.

The pup is my 1st Siberian husky, I rescued him from a guy whom, I sincerely believe was going to set him out on the side of the road. He was working on the job site I was working on. He asked everyone if they wanted him. One guy said yes then backed out and I sure wasn't going to let him be put out. So the wife drove 3 hours 1 way to pick him up. He's my history making pup. He was probably a month or so old when I got him, He couldn't have been weaned very long at all. Since then I have added 11 more rescue dogs of my own. I have a huge family of dogs. They all now range from 8 - 10 years old.

I tell you my pups are better than some of the people I know. Since your a dog lover Ill share a something that use to be in my forums profile for so many years. I removed it during one of the forum changes though.

thightower

The forum seems to not be rendering my images correctly tonight here are the direct links to those items.

edit : fixed it

pugmum

Your dogs are beautiful!!!! I'm a big supporter of adopting rescue animals. We are up to three dogs and six cats now and I think we're getting a new kitty tomorrow who apparently came very close to being coyote food last week.

I'm about to get my hands on my husband's computer and iPhone to see if everything is still syncing up on his devices. Wish me luck!

pugmum

I'm one happy camper. It all works!

Now my next question (sorry)… I don't see tags showing up on my iPhone. Am I missing something?

thightower

No no tag support yet in iOS. I am waiting on that myself. I would have replied sooner but the forum didn't notify me of a post.

MikeT

HI @pugmum,

Tags and Smart Folders are not supported in the iOS app yet, it is something we'd like to support in the future.