1Password became too fragmented and overcomplicated
I've been using 1Password for 7 years, and always been happy with it. It's been easy to use, intuitive, yet powerfull. Now with each new version, the great delicious soup was seasoned with a plenty of new ingredients. Well, it's still a good soup, but I have to put some disgusting bits aside and I'm affraid it may become inedible soon…
Since the last version, many of 1Password features are either not applicable or not comprehensible for me. I don't understand them, I don't need them, I don't want them. While many actions are more complicated to do, or even are lost for good.
A simple example: the "last generated password" was removed. I often test online applications, I create a testing account (using the Password Generator), then I have to open it in other browsers (without 1Password plugin — like IE on Windows, or an embeded browser in a screenshotting application etc.). It used to be easy: I copied the last generated password, and used it for manual login. Now, it's much MUCH more complicated. Or, if the login page is kind of non-standard and 1Password stores the login info wrong, the generated password may be lost. Again, I can solve it, but in a more complicated way than just easily copy the last generated password and fix it simple… In fact, the Password Generator was removed completely from the 1Password app UI. You can't find it. Such a great feature, providing really good pronouncable passwords, and it's hidden deep in the application as a dropdown only. If I sometimes need a random password (yes, it happens for real!), I have to mimic creating a new login to access the Generator.
So much for the lost features. On the othe hand, there are other features I don't get at all. Vaults. Wifi-sync (on the desktop computer). Watchtower (nobody can have an idea what's this for, unless they turn it on – and then, probably, it can be guessed. I don't want it, though.). And the fragmentation…
I believe, the fragmentation is the biggest issue of 1Password. You started once with a reasonable set of categories – logins, identities, SW licences, bank/credit cards, secure notes. And yet you are fragmenting them and adding more and more specific information categories — applicable for only someone, and if so, then often not matching specific needs… Well, there is a special category "server". I guess, only IT geeks will use such item. And if, it doesn't match many configurations — let's try and add an FTP-only server, a VPN access, SVN/git server etc. There is a plenty of variations and you can't ever cover them all.
There are also many US-specific categories. AFAIK 1Password is to be used worldwide, and US is just a part of the market. Driving licence is perhaps major ID in the USA, but many other countries use varisou versions of an personal ID card; and their driving licences look different and contain other values the the predefined template 1Password offers. Credit cards are most popular in the US, while debet cards linked to a banking accounts are more frequent in Europe or other parts of the world. Social security number or Outdoor licence are very US-specific feature — while different items would be missing in other countries… etc. I want to say one thing: the more categories you add and the more fragmented data you provide, the more new issues you are generating and the more complicated the UI will be for users.
I tried to categorize my data (and I'm using 1Password really intensively and storing many information in here) according to your categories, but I gave up soon. It just wasn't possible. I finished with the secure notes, with title prefixes to keep similar things grouped, and using tags to create my own "categories". You know, there are many things to be stored in 1Password, but there is no other place than secure notes for it anyway. Like various hardware items – from computers and home electronics (name, model/serial nr., warranty expiry date etc.), PINs/PUKs of my wife's and kid's mobile phones, my satelite provider info and cryptoworks card ID, to technical information of my car (ID, VIN, tire info, radio lock code etc.). I store here also information about people – like personal ID# (similar to the social security nr in the US) of family members, cloth sizes of my wife and kids, my mother's banking account nr etc. Many various information. And many times I was happy to have them in my mobile 1Password with me, many times it was a life-saver.
As most of the existing categories are not applicable for me, secure notes solve the problem. If custom fields could be added here as well, it perhaps would be an universal tool — in combination with tags and smart folders, it will cover any specific category I can imagine. There are only several special categories in 1Password with a special function: logins (providing automatic login in browsers), identities (providing autofill in browsers), credit cards (for online payment form prefill), maybe software licenses (to be added automatically from various software bundles). All the rest are just static database items. I think it's a very bad idea to fragment them even more. In fact, I belive you should go the opposite direction and reduce them, i.e. in favor of custom templates. Special added features shouldn't be category specific, but value specific. Universal "secure notes" with any custom set of values (with tags and smart folders) will do all the show, and the user can combine any category they need; you (or even third party developers) can provide thousands of templates of any kind to be added/removed on demand. I really believe if you go on with the fragmentation and will add new and new features and categories, you'll kill this great tool. At least for me. Please keep it simple.
(Just for info: I'm a pro UX analyst and UI designer, so I believe I know what I'm talking about.)
Comments
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In fact, the Password Generator was removed completely from the 1Password app UI.
You don't specify which version of 1Password you're using. I'm not familiar with the Apple versions, but 1Password for Windows definitely does have this feature. Use the New Item button and select Password from the list.
Wifi-sync (on the desktop computer).
For syncing devices without using a public cloud, for the ultra-paranoid.
Watchtower (nobody can have an idea what's this for, unless they turn it on – and then, probably, it can be guessed. I don't want it, though.).
That's nice. You don't want it, so it should be there. The idea behind this is to have a service that collates lists of known security flaws to ensure that users get to know when their passwords may have been compromised.
I believe, the fragmentation is the biggest issue of 1Password. You started once with a reasonable set of categories – logins, identities, SW licences, bank/credit cards, secure notes. And yet you are fragmenting them and adding more and more specific information categories — applicable for only someone, and if so, then often not matching specific needs… Well, there is a special category "server". I guess, only IT geeks will use such item. And if, it doesn't match many configurations — let's try and add an FTP-only server, a VPN access, SVN/git server etc. There is a plenty of variations and you can't ever cover them all.
Two points here:
1) The categories are being consolidated in the new opvault format.
2) When the existing category templates don't meet your needs you can add custom sections and fields. There's no custom templating system per se but you can create a blank item with the custom fields you want, save it in a _Templates folder and then use the Duplicate function to create new items from the saved template.
There are also many US-specific categories. AFAIK 1Password is to be used worldwide, and US is just a part of the market.
I sort of agree with here, but short of a completely customisable category system, they're never going to be able to cover everyone. Driving license and Passport seem like reasonable choices to me.
That said, given that most people only ever have one driving license and one passsport, I suppose they could both be consolidated with the Identity category (renamed to Person). Alternatively you could put Passport in with Identity and merge Driving Licence and Outdoor License into a single "Licence" category.
You know, there are many things to be stored in 1Password, but there is no other place than secure notes for it anyway. Like various hardware items – from computers and home electronics (name, model/serial nr., warranty expiry date etc.)...
This has been discussed before:
https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/18707/feature-request-hardware-serial-numbers-category/p1I store here also information about people – like personal ID# (similar to the social security nr in the US) of family members, cloth sizes of my wife and kids, my mother's banking account nr etc.
Use an Identity record and add custom fields.
As most of the existing categories are not applicable for me, secure notes solve the problem. If custom fields could be added here as well, it perhaps would be an universal tool — in combination with tags and smart folders
Custom fields do exist!
The Mac versions have tags and smart folders. Windows doesn't yet, but you can use normal folders in the mean time.I belive you should go the opposite direction and reduce them, i.e. in favor of custom templates
I agree, although as I noted above, there is a workaround.
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Hi @pixycz
Thanks so much for taking the time to write such detailed feedback here! I think that @RichardPayne has covered a lot of the important points here, so I'll try not to repeat what he has already said.
I get the sense that one of your major points of frustration here is the current organization of categories. And believe me, you're not the only one to suggest changes here. Everyone has an opinion on which categories are infinitely useful, and which ones should be tossed out. Unfortunately, very few of these opinions agree. ;) To ensure that you're not forced to deal with all of these secondary categories, they won't be visible in your sidebar unless you have items stored in them. So, as long as you don't create a Hunting License entry, you can, for the most part, be blissfully unaware of its existence.
We are listening to all the feedback we receive about categories, and we would love to make some changes here, but it involves a lot of re-organizing in the backend ... and then the big question becomes: which categories, and what form do they take? As Richard says, it will be hard to cover everyone!
Again, we really appreciate you sharing your thoughts here. If you have any further questions or concerns, we'd be happy to help!
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To ensure that you're not forced to deal with all of these secondary categories, they won't be visible in your sidebar unless you have items stored in them. So, as long as you don't create a Hunting License entry, you can, for the most part, be blissfully unaware of its existence.
Maybe on the Mac, but on Windows they are not hidden:
and then the big question becomes: which categories, and what form do they take? As Richard says, it will be hard to cover everyone!
My personal preference would be a custom category system combined with a template system. From a data structure point of view it shouldn't even be that hard. You have a 2 digit category id field and I can't see people needing more than 90 odd categories. The field data is stored as encrypted blobs so adding new fields shouldn't be a problem.
That way you can please everyone. You create new vaults with a default set of categories to cater for most people but everyone can configure as they like.
The hard bit would be get all of the GUIs up to speed but it's mostly boiler plate code.0 -
Hi @RichardPayne,
Thanks for clarifying! I apologize for missing that. I tend to agree with you on the custom category/template system - I'll pass that suggestion along. :)
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