Importing from 1Password 4 backup of mac into windows

praveenpg

Hi,

I have 1password app (purchased through App store) for Mac and IOS (iPhone and iPad) and would like to import it to my new install of 1password 4 for windows. I tried importing the *.1p4_zip file from mac backup, but consistently get an error that *.1p4_zip is not a valid 1Password file. I would not want to manually create all the password entries one by one as I have a lot of them. My decision to buy 1password for windows depends fully on whether I can import the same or not.

Regards,
Praveen

svondutch

Please do not import your Mac backup. Please set up syncing. Instructions are here: https://guides.agilebits.com/1password-windows/4/en/topic/sync-options

DBrown

As noted in the documentation, backups created in 1Password on any of the supported platforms are intended and suitable for restoration to 1Password only on the same platform.

As @svondutch‌ writes, what you want is to sync your data among all the platforms on which you're using 1Password, and the article he links describes all your options.

praveenpg

Thanks a lot for the quick response. Followed the instructions (Changed from icloud syncing to dropbox syncing) as per the link. It is all working great now.

DBrown

That’s great news, @praveenpg—thanks for letting us know!

Michael_D

So if you no longer have access to a windows computer (as I don't) and I moved from windows to a MAC am I SOL at this point. Are you saying there is absolutely no way to restore data from 1 OS to another using the same fundamental application? If so this is a huge issue, I do not see "cloud" as a secure viable option at the moment given the data breaches. Looking for a viable solution.

DBrown

That's correct: the backups created in 1Password on any of the supported platforms are intended and suitable for restoration to 1Password only on the same platform, as noted in the documentation.

Cross-platform sharing is called "syncing" and is also covered in the documentation. Dropbox is the sync tool that works on all four platforms, at this time.

Do you have your 1Password (the .agilekeychain) stored anywhere? If so, that can be the start of a solution.

Michael_D

I do have the last backup I made before wiping my windows laptop (securely) for donation. I didn't think we had lost the ability to bring data in from one OS to another. At any rate what would be the best course of action since I won't be doing any cloud storage and will only rely on proper desktop syncing. I mean I have what 5 or 6 cloud storage accounts and rarely do I use them, iCloud, Drop Box, Google, SkyDrive, etc. Is iCloud an option at all or is Drop Box it? I only have the base storage now and don't see any reason to invest into theirs when Google or Apple offer a more seemless integration option.

So back to the start, I do have the last .zip file from my backup, how do I get it to DropBox so I can restore it to my MBP?

RichardPayne

Only Dropbox is supported on both Windows and Mac.
You should note that at present iCloud really isn't seamless on Windows. You can't actually sync your files.

So back to the start, I do have the last .zip file from my backup, how do I get it to DropBox so I can restore it to my MBP?

Is that the 1Password auto-backup? If so then you can't restore it directly, even from Dropbox.
Is it is a general system backup then it should hopefully include your .agilekeychain folder.

Basically, the .agilekeychain folder is what 1Password for Windows stores your data in. That folder can be anywhere, but if it live in your Dropbox folder then it is also synced to the cloud. 1Password for Windows also backs up your .agilekeychain folder into a .zip file in (by default) your My Documents folder.

The .agilekeychain data is cross-platform. If you have a copy of the .agilekeychain then you can copy it to Dropbox and then sync it down to the Mac. 1Password for Mac does not read and write to the .agilekeychain for it's day to day use. It only uses the .agilekeychain to sync. Its day to day data is stored in an internal database. I don't know 1PfM4 well enough to tell you whether you can sync to a local .agilekeychain to avoid Dropbox entirely in this case.

If you don't have a copy of the .agilekeychain folder and only have the .zip auto-backups then, I think, you would have to use a copy of 1Password for Windows to restore it back to a .agilekeychain folder. You could do this on your Mac system in two ways:

1) Install 1Password for Windows using Wine.
2) Install Windows in a virtual machine, and then install 1Password for Windows.

Obviously the latter is a lot of work so I'd suggest trying Wine first.

[Deleted User]

@Michael_D‌

So if you no longer have access to a windows computer (as I don't) and I moved from windows to a MAC am I SOL at this point. Are you saying there is absolutely no way to restore data from 1 OS to another using the same fundamental application? If so this is a huge issue, I do not see "cloud" as a secure viable option at the moment given the data breaches. Looking for a viable solution.

Importing a backup created on Mac to the Windows application is impossible, but I don't think the opposite (your case) is true.

Because isn't the backup created on Windows just a zipped .agilekeychain or .opvault? I changed the backup's extension to the standard .zip, then extracted it. I renamed the resulting folder 1Password.agilekeychain. What happens when you try and open that file in 1Password for Mac?

svondutch

In 1Password 3, the backup format used to be cross-platform. Unfortunately, they abandoned this on Mac starting with 1Password 4.

You can unzip your backup on Windows. The resulting folder is named 1Password.agilekeychain. You can copy this to your Mac and then configure this thing called "Folder Sync": https://guides.agilebits.com/1password-mac/4/en/topic/sync-with-local-folder