Recovering Old Master Password

Arthur Lustig

I set an password many years ago but simply the file containing the information no longer exists. I know that there is supposedly nothing to do. In that case, I am dead in the water and simply cannot use 1-Password. There should be a backdoor of some kind.
Art Lustig

Stephen_C

While I feel your pain I really, really don't want there to be any back door to the data I keep in 1Password.

Edit: have you tried typing in any old password three times to see if you created a password hint (which will then show) when you created your original master password?

Stephen

Arthur Lustig

Well then I will delete the programs and find a more sane program! The world will not end if someone did hack me. And anyway there always is a way to hack in. A random password generator is one way so this is all a bit silly isn't it! It would be even easier to shut someone out by distorting the password. Try that for your next product: call it the nuclear option!
Former Customer

Plato

@Arthur Lustig‌

I don't really know what you expected from 1Password but it's obviously not the product for you.

Megan

Hi @Arthur Lustig‌

I'm so sorry to hear that you're feeling frustrated with 1Password. And I don't really blame you - being unable to access your data is a crummy situation.

Unfortunately, what @Stephen_C points out is true. For your privacy and security, your master password is known only by you. We cannot reset it for you and you cannot change it without entering the old one. There is also no "back door" to access your data without the master password. If there were, that would be a security hole that criminals could exploit to steal your information.

... but simply the file containing the information no longer exists.

I'm a bit confused by this statement. Are you unable to get into your database because you have forgotten your Master Password? Or is your password database missing?

If you have forgotten your Master Password:

If you think you know what the password is, but it is not being accepted, please try some of these tips.

• If you have accents such as è, î and so on, try replacing it with the regular character such as e for è and see if that’ll get you in.
• Try leaving the caps lock on and/or off. You can also try copying and pasting your master password in a text editor. Make sure it’s an editor that doesn’t sync to the cloud automatically (you wouldn’t want to expose your password in clear view). Copy the password and then paste into the master password field in 1Password.
• If you entered the password hint for this data file, 1Password will show it automatically in a prompt after every three incorrect attempts. Confirm it’s the right hint that you entered because if not, you may be looking at a different data file.

Please try each tip, for we have found them to be the most common causes of this problem. If you cannot remember the password, you will need to restore from a backup or start over. You can do a restore from File > Restore, or you can Start Over.

If you've really never stored anything in your 1Password data file then starting over is really easy -- but you'll want to make sure and provide a good "password hint" so you don't forget the master password again.

If you are unable to locate your 1Password database:

Please give us just a bit more detail on the situation: 1Password makes frequent backups, so there is a chance we can get your data back for you (although it will require you to enter your Master Password.)

If you provide us the version numbers of 1Password (and your operating systems) we can give you instructions on how to generate a Diagnostics Report so that we can confirm if you have backups or data stored somewhere on your system.