Feature Request: Custom categories, the ability to create and edit categories [under consideration]

grcobb
grcobb
Community Member
edited April 2015 in iOS

I've looked at a lot of Password/Secure Data apps in the last week and liked the look, feel and usability of 1Password the best. The way information is presented has a new & fresh look to it where a lot of the others look like the design of the screens has not been updated in years. Based on that and the features listed for the Pro Version, I made the purchase.

The description of the Pro features listed in the documentation that lead to the purchase are:

The Pro Features include:
     -Creating, editing and viewing all other categories, including Wireless Routers, Software licenses and more
     -Organizing items with folders and tags
     -Accessing and syncing multiple vaults
     -Viewing attachments
     -Creating custom fields

I have not been able to figure out how to do the first item, 'Creating, editing and viewing all other categories'. Creating implies I can make new ones; editing implies I can change and save exiting ones.

A search of this forum and on Google for creating categories shows that users have been asking for this feature for several years and are still asking for it. This is the primary feature I use in another 'Wallet' program to organize my data. Some of the ones I have used include Airline Frequent Flyer Info, Hotel Info, Auto Info, Cloud Service Info, Eye Glasses, Insurance, Sizes, House & Office Access Codes, Gov't Company ID Numbers, etc. I'll look at some of the existing ones to see if they will work. So far, I've used the Router Category and found out that it is a real pain to have to reconfigure the fields and layout of a new item within a category each time I add an item to that category so only the fields and the layout important to me are shown.

Am I missing something or did I make a mistake buying the Pro version? I understand you have a 30-day money-back guarantee. Hopefully, we'll have this figured out by mid-November.

Thanks.

Comments

  • Hi @grcobb‌

    I apologize for any confusion, but what this statement is indicating is that you can create a edit items in these categories, not the categories themselves. Thanks.

    Ben

  • grcobb
    grcobb
    Community Member

    Hi Ben,

    1. What is an 'edit item'?
    2. The text in your documention says Create, edit and view all other all categories such as .... This implies that you can create them and edit them. Obviously this is not the case. Are there any plans to ever all the user to create new categories or edit existing ones? Hope so since people have been asking for it since version 2.
    3. A better wording would be to just say that it unlocks additional categories and list them all so we know what they are. Also say that the fields of each new item can be edited and not imply that 1Password contains features that it does not. Maybe even state that it can not create new categories so there will be no confusion.

    Gary

  • What is an 'edit item'?

    That is a typo. I meant to say "create and edit items" not "create a edit items."

    The text in your documention says Create, edit and view all other all categories such as .... This implies that you can create them and edit them. Obviously this is not the case.

    That is not the case, correct.

    Are there any plans to ever all the user to create new categories or edit existing ones? Hope so since people have been asking for it since version 2.

    There are no definite plans that I'm aware of but our developers are certainly aware of the desire and are considering this for future implementation.

    A better wording would be to just say that it unlocks additional categories and list them all so we know what they are. Also say that the fields of each new item can be edited and not imply that 1Password contains features that it does not. Maybe even state that it can not create new categories so there will be no confusion.

    I will ask our wordsmiths to take a look at this. Thanks for the feedback!

  • @grcobb‌

    Could you please clarify for me where exactly this specific wording is found?

    Thanks.

  • grcobb
    grcobb
    Community Member

    https://guides.agilebits.com/1password-ios-kb/4/en/topic/pro-features-faq

    Skip down a little to "What are the Pro Features?"

  • grcobb
    grcobb
    Community Member

    I may have found a clumsy workaround. Make an entry with the fields and layout I want for the different Categories/Types. Setup a Dropbox Sync. Load the Windows 1Password program. Copy the item I created and fill it in with the new data. Let it sync with Dropbox and it will be on the phone. Clunky and I don't like it but I guess I don't have a choice.

    Suggestion...The Boxer email app has a forum section where users submit suggestions and other users get to vote on them. I would put Category creation and editing at the top of the list. But that's just me.

    Thanks.

  • robbertv69
    robbertv69
    Community Member

    I also would like the categories being more editable.
    So id like to separate my OSX and IOS licenses/receipts, instead having them all in the one 'software license Category.
    I know i can alternatively separate them by using tags (thus tag folder) but still.
    Now there are some default Categories to choose from, but why not the ability to create your own?
    Or otherwise edit excisting ones. Not everyone has a Server, Database, Rewardprogram.
    And surely most users have no Huntinglicense, which i believe shouldn't excist as option by default in the first place.
    Many people believe: hunting = animal cruelty...

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @grcobb‌

    Your workaround is pretty decent! Many users have kept custom templates of custom fields that they use often.

    In situations like this, it's often difficult to find a balance between having enough categories to fit most users' needs, and overwhelming users with a billion options that they'll never use. We're not certain that we currently have the right balance here, and we're constantly re-evaluating how we define categories. Unfortunately, changing this up is no easy feat.

    We sincerely appreciate your feedback in this matter.


    Hi @robbertv69‌

    Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here! I apologize if you dislike the Hunting license category - the good news is that it will never show in your sidebar if you don't have items stored there. :)

    Now there are some default Categories to choose from, but why not the ability to create your own?

    Many users have suggested this feature, and we'd love to implement something like this, but there is a lot of work to be done in the backend to make this work. I'm not a developer, so I'm not privy to all the nitty-gritty details, but implementing this is no small feat.

  • Silvio
    Silvio
    Community Member

    Hi - just purchased 1password - but very very disappointed that there appears to be no way to create custom categories - not sure how I could have missed that one - can this really be???? Please let me know how to add custom categories. Thx

  • MikeT
    edited November 2014

    Hi @Silvio,

    I'm sorry you're disappointed and for the misleading statement, there is no support for creating custom categories in 1Password 5 at all.

    The Pro features is referring to creating and editing category items in non-Pro categories, not customizing categories itself. I've informed our docs team to correct this ASAP.

  • Kiwibird
    Kiwibird
    Community Member

    Yes!!! I need a feature to edit/add categories. I downloaded this app and really like it, but this is a major let down that I cannot edit categories... I have so many categories that I don't use but don't have ones that I need....

  • Thanks for the feedback, @Kiwibird‌. :)

  • lmhinman
    lmhinman
    Community Member

    I would just like to add my voice to this chorus. Perhaps if there were a limited number of user-definable categories (say, four), that would satisfy the vast majority of customers and still keep the programming disruption to a minimum. I, for example, wold live to have a category for subscriptions to keep track of magazine and journal subscriptions.

  • Thanks for the feedback, @lmhinman. I will add your vote. :)

  • arpumas
    arpumas
    Community Member

    I am a new user who was dissapointed to learn there is not an option to add new categories. I travel a lot and have memberships with most of the frequent flier / car rental / hotel membership programs. Feels like a major miss to someone who frequently needs to quickly find that data on the run.

    Please add my name to the large and growing number of users who requests the ability to create our own categories. This programming hole is one that puts my continued use and willingness to recommend your product at jeopardy.

  • Hi @arpumas,

    There is a "memberships" category that it sounds like would hold the information you're looking to store. :)

    But thanks for the vote for this feature!

    Thanks!

  • ardelio
    ardelio
    Community Member

    I'm running: 1Password 5
    Version 5.3.BETA-30 (530030)
    Agile Beta

    I ditto the comments above about ultimately for many including myself, the inability to create my own categories is going to be a deal breaker. One such program that does allow this is mSecure. However, yours has a better interface and integration into OS X and iOS and I'm trying to slowly transfer over my data. However, I'm limited by the lack of categories that are needed to keep different data organized.

    I'd like to suggest that short of the user being able to create their own category (as explained above by you it is technically challenging), how about making a much broader list of pre-defined categories created by AgileBits? This might be able to accomplish 90% of the needs of your users, since once a category exists, it can be customized (e.g. this feature already exists for the given categories). Probably the majority of users don't have a need for a "hunting license" category but I dare say nearly all have a need for an "insurance" category! Further, you could send out a Survey Monkey to your users to evaluate what are the most needed categories to direct your efforts.

  • MrC
    MrC
    Volunteer Moderator

    Hi @ardello,

    There is a better method for you to transfer your data in one shot.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni
    edited April 2015

    Hi @ardelio ,

    Thanks so much for your feedback here! Requests for custom categories, or the ability to create user-defined categories are plentiful, and it is something we are looking into. However, as has been mentioned above, it's no simple change to implement.

    For now, I think it's important to note that Secure Notes has gotten an awesome update in 5.3 for iOS (with a compatible update coming soon to Mac). Instead of being a simple text field, you can now add custom sections and custom fields. This makes the category a lot more powerful for storing information that doesn't quite fit into an existing category.

    demo data shown

    I'm pretty stoked about this update, as it has made this category infinitely more useful to me, and I hope that it helps you as well, while we look at how we can better improve our category offerings for all users.

  • mvasilakis
    mvasilakis
    Community Member
    edited April 2015

    lol at the change from Hunting License to Outdoor License.
    I like the new changes. They really show the product is progressing. I would like to see a photo field in the future. I know I can add attachments but I would like to drop a jpeg or png of my drivers license, pilot license, and CCP (or hunting license lol) and have the ability to organize it's location in the record.

    I give a +1 to a few hard coded user defined categories. Maybe even a preference for changing the name of the category. (This would also solve the "outdoor license" issue that seems to offend robbertv69 and I'm sure he's not the only one.) Right now I am making templates in the Membership field to store the mfgr and serial numbers of certain products that I require secure access to :D. That's a pain because I need to create smart folders to read those records and your smart folder criteria are not robust enough to make it happen without quite a bit of clunky wizardry. Yes it's possible, no it is not elegant.
    Also now the Membership category is a PITA to use because I need to sift though what is an actual Membership and what is not.

    The Drivers License category can be changed to Licenses (Which is how I'm sure many people use it anyway) and Outdoor license can be made untitled with a new title linked to a field in Preferences... That's one custom category that can be offered without recoding the entire database.

    Just some food for thought. Not exactly custom categories but it may solve the ∞ requests that myself and many others have made. And I gotta be honest I check back every release since I've bought the program to see if any mention of custom categories has been made.
    Have a great day and thanks again for a solid product.

  • Hi @mvasilakis ,

    Thanks for the great suggestions! We'll look at these when planning new features. FYI, I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the reason for the name change was to accommodate fishing, camp-fire permits, and other outdoor activities that are restricted in various places.

  • kvramesh
    kvramesh
    Community Member

    Like grcobb I read somewhere that categories could be edited and opted for 1Password. While I like some of the cool features (touch ID) are much appreciated, the following are real let downs:

    1. Inability to create new categories (development team may look at e-wallet features - please note that I have no relationship whatso ever with eWallet other than being a paid application user). Existing categories are not sufficient ..while there is "marketing pitch" on usage of Secure Notes as an alternative - it does not equal new category.

    2. Inability to sync with Google Drive and OneDrive.

    3. Better import mechanism (for those like me who migrated from other apps).

    I hope the above are not part of a loooooooooooooooooooong term strategy and can be implemented quickly than test the patience of paid users.

    Thank you.

  • Thanks, @kvramesh.

    it does not equal new category.

    You're right, it doesn't, but hopefully it works well enough to hold most folks over until we can come up with another solution. :)

    Better import mechanism (for those like me who migrated from other apps).

    @MrC Has done extensive work on importers and we greatly appreciate his efforts. That said we definitely want to improve the overall experience for first time users even further and import would certainly be part of that. Unfortunately import will only ever have the potential to be as good as the export from whatever apps folks are coming from. If they give us garbage we can't turn it into a diamond.

    Inability to sync with Google Drive and OneDrive.

    More/different sync options are being looked at.

    I hope the above are not part of a loooooooooooooooooooong term strategy and can be implemented quickly than test the patience of paid users

    As you probably know we don't discuss timelines, even vaguely in most cases, but I can say you're not the first to request any of these things and as such they are already on the radar. That doesn't mean that for sure they are coming to the product, but that they are definitely getting fair consideration.

    Thanks!

    Ben

This discussion has been closed.